Maaliwalas

[schatzi]

There are so many Tagalog words out there that have no literal English translation. My father just spent 30 minutes trying to explain to me what maaliwalas meant...and the closest I got to its English counterpart is: pleasant. Lukewarm. He doesn't even want me to use nice. Then he started ranting about people who use nice to desribe something

Comments

[milkhoney]

yeah, that definition for maaliwalas seems apt. as for gigil, i'm thinking sort of..."glee"...or like the lyrics of that one bjork song. "violently happy." it's a good word, though. i saw a good match for makulit once ("persistently annoying").

...i can't believe he smacked that child. and came on to you. some people are just not fit to be parents.

[jmibanez]

... gigil could also mean "violently wanting to do something but holding out".

[schatzi]

and as for gigil...i never thought of it as violent...but come to think of it, it is. only it's like sugar coated violence. hello kitty violence.

[schatzi]

i saw a good match for makulit once ("persistently annoying").

i like that! heehee. i'm gonna start using that. "you're being persistently annoying!"

[anonymous]

Good one for makulit :D As for maaliwalas, it's usually either used to describe a face, or a place (i.e.) a house. For the house I'm sure it relates to the house being a "factory of comfort." For the face hmm...something that's yeah, pleasant or pleasing to look at, "bright" (maliwanag)in the figurative sense, gives you a good feeling in general. You're right, some words are just hard to explain...