The Germans seem to have a word for everything-- I'm sure this is because they just cram all the descriptors into one spaceless string of letters, but that doesn't make it any less cool to me. My personal favorite is one that means "a face badly in need of a fist"
This leads me to wonder if they have words for faces badly in need of other things...stories, for example.
My whole life I've found that apparently my face constantly says: tell me about your life. It happens on trains, planes, busses, streets, and restaurants. It happens when the storyteller has had a great day, an awful day, or just your run of the mill average day. It happens with kids and old people, suits and homeless folks, men and women, introverts and extroverts, all sorts of people from all walks of life.
I've always thought of it as a super power of sorts. And I love it, really I do, but still it catches me off guard time and again.
Today, for example, I was in line at the airport coffee shop for a cup of tea to keep me company while I waited for my flight to Iceland. The line was long, but moving quickly, efficient if a little cold...and then I showed up... I ordered my tea, she asked for my name and where I was headed.
"Kate, and I'm going to reykjavik"
"and then?" she asked, glancing at my backpack with a smile.
"home...er...New York-ish?
She told me about the time her friends went to New York and how jealous she was that they got to see the big apple and asked why I left. When I told her about Franklin, she told me about her time studying in England and how she wished she had stayed longer and about her flat and her roommate and his cat. Fifteen minutes later, I knew large parts of her life story and it was a good thing there was another register open... I got my tea and she went back to manning the register with nothing but a courteous smile for the next in line.
People are strange and wonderful creatures.
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