25 June 2009

Words and the City


Spent a long weekend at the sea, which I really enjoyed. Have been reading on Eat Pray Love there (I am a slow reader indeed), and came to a point that made me think. The book said each city had its own word. Like Rome's word was SEX. Then I asked myself which was the word of Plovdiv. AYLAK? The word aylak is of Turkish origin and means lazy (that's how a Turkish girl once explained it to me). We use it to define a state of idleness when you really enjoy doing nothing. To me it sounds pretty close to what the Italians call dolce far niente. Or that's what I imagine it is... Yes, I believe that's the word that describes Plovdiv. It is not so popular in the rest of the country. People here very often build a sentence with it in reply to the usual "How are you doing?" Hah, not very encouraging for someone eager to achieve...
Then I thought about the cities I'd lived in before. Which are their words? What should be the word of Sofia? For me Sofia was a lot about COMPETE. Is there someone else thinking the same or was it only my Sofia competing?
And which is the word of Leipzig? Ist schon lange her... It's been really a long time since I lived there, and I can't say now which word matched Leipzig then. But I am sure there is one.
And what are your words for your cities?

2 comments:

Maria and Vincent said...

Много ни хареса сръвнението с думата "айляк", мислехме си за "спокойствие", но ти по-добре си я избрала :-). А на София може би най-добре подхожда думата "jungle" ;)

Iva said...

Хм, да, като се замисля, по времето, в което живях в София, още не беше стигнала в развитието си до джунгла. Но сега май много й отива, някакъв особен вид джунгла от градски тип :)