Dispatches from Fourteen Light-Years Away
No. 2 · The Untranslatable Word · May 20, 2026
I collect words that don’t translate into English. I have a list in my phone that’s long enough to be a problem. But I’ve always been fascinated by language, so here we are.
Today’s word: verschlimmbessern. It’s German and means to make something worse by trying to improve it.
Last week I added chili flakes to a soup that was too bland. The soup needed salt. I now had a spicy, bland soup and a partner who suggested, very gently, that I stop rescuing dinner and just order something. That’s verschlimmbessern in the kitchen.
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In my books, it looks like this: my hero decides to court my heroine by bringing her food every morning. The food is gray. It tastes like wet chalk. She has no idea it’s courtship. He notices she doesn’t seem thrilled, so he adjusts. Different combinations. A formal note about nutritional content. Every adjustment makes the situation more confusing, not less, because the problem was never the food. He’s speaking a language she doesn’t know exists yet.
His species doesn’t have a word for verschlimmbessern. Their systems either work or they don’t. Humans and human relationships are messier than that. Which is honestly better for comedy.
Every language has these gaps. A feeling exists but there’s no word for it, so sometimes we borrow from another language. The Japanese have koi no yokan — the sense when you meet someone that falling in love is inevitable. That’s what makes writing about language so exciting.
I’m going to bring you one of these words every now and then. They all end up in my books eventually, because playing with language is fun 😊
The first book in the series comes out very soon. If you want a story about two people reaching for each other across a gap that words can’t quite bridge, you can pre-order it now.
Hit reply and tell me: what’s a word from another language that you wish existed in English? I’ll add it to the list. It’s already out of control. One more won’t hurt.
Signing off, Millie
P.S. Next time: the thing my alien hero got wrong this week. It involves a compliment. It does not end well for anyone.
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