tension

Tension isn't the word I want. The word I want doesn't exist in English. I can't translate my Norwegian word: spenning, a word that speaks of tensions between points but also the excitement and thrill of disharmonies, the jarring fascination of a half-tone chord, the fear-induced high of adrenalin. When I write or speak in English I never think of this spenning, it's not a part of my vocabulary and so it's invisible. When I think in Norwegian it's an important aesthetic quality that I seek and enjoy.

What other words and ideas am I missing? There are concepts in each language that can't be expressed in other tounges, interstitial ideas that don't fit into the rigid categories that our words lock us into. Sometimes we can slip through language and read between the lines, see other meanings in the links or in the movement of lips, the rhythm of keystrokes.