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[Baffler]

-snip-

This makes me wonder, what is the English for sotter, or greip, or smore, or pleiter, gloaming or glunching or well-henspeckled? I can only find a couple of these myself.

[Muz]

gedik (Malay), adj - Describes a woman or girl who is very excitable and cheerful in a manner in order to flirt with men. Similar to the japanese 'genki girl', but more like faking the energy to look attractive.

[Sheb]

I've got another one.
Suchar.

Normally it stands for hardtack, but in Poland it's the equivalent of "dry joke" (ie. a joke that nobody got and didn't laugh).
Naturally, the unquestionable champion of Polish suchars is Karol Strasburger.

How do you pronounce that?

[Mesa]

I've got another one.
Suchar.

Normally it stands for hardtack, but in Poland it's the equivalent of "dry joke" (ie. a joke that nobody got and didn't laugh).
Naturally, the unquestionable champion of Polish suchars is Karol Strasburger.

How do you pronounce that?

Sue-harr.

[Owlbread]

-snip-

This makes me wonder, what is the English for sotter, or greip, or smore, or pleiter, gloaming or glunching or well-henspeckled? I can only find a couple of these myself.

There is no English equivalent for those words.

[Sheb]

Can you define them for us?

[NobodyPro]

-snip-

This makes me wonder, what is the English for sotter, or greip, or smore, or pleiter, gloaming or glunching or well-henspeckled? I can only find a couple of these myself.

There is no English equivalent for those words.

smore - A sweet snack consisting of a chocolate bar and toasted marshmallows sandwiched between graham crackers?

gloaming - Twilight; dusk?

[scriver]

I believe we have been over those words before. Conclusion was that indeed, there are English equivalences. Or at least very close to equivalent.

[Owlbread]

The subtle differences are everything, scriver.

Most of these words are Doric Scots i.e. from the North East (apart from gloaming which is universal) so I don't tend to use them

Sotter - This does have some English equivalents but they miss the subtleties. It means a kind of "mess", but where "mess" can mean something dirty, sotter refers only to a jumble or untidiness, or something difficult, or a muddle/state of confusion. It's the Doric equivalent of "fankle", which is the word I would use. In Doric it is apparently close to "fash" as well, which means to worry with gusto and without self control.

Greip - When the book that the quote is from was written, nobody in Scotland had heard of a "pitchfork". A greip is basically that; a two or three pronged farming instrument with the prongs fitted to the handle like a spade. This obviously has an English equivalent nowadays.

Smore - Now this tends to mean "smother" in old Scots, but I interpreted this as a Doric spelling of "smurr" meaning the horrible sort of drizzle you tend to get in Scotland where drizzly rain is constantly coming down in little droplets, but it's everywhere and really thick with volume and it makes you feel all wet and horrible. I always think of the kind that you get in Strathclyde in the maritime climate where it lasts all day.

Pleiter - To splash your way through something damp. You "pleiter" your way through a bog. That sounds straightforward enough to translate but it's possible to talk of the "weary pleiter of the land" and stuff like that.

Gloaming - hard to describe. It refers to the pleasant "gloom" that the sun creates in the sky when it is either going down or going up. It can be used to refer to the dawn or the dusk.

Glunching - I think it means "gurning and sulking at the same time".

Kenspeckled - easily recognisable, well known but in a more personable sense; it's not like you'd be nationally "kenspeckled", you'd be "kenspeckled" in a town by the locals or something.

There's another excellent Scots word I'd forgotten to say, just as an aside. It's one that everyone uses when they come here, even English people. It's "dreich", pronounced "dreekh" with the "ch" like the German "ch". It is used solely in connection with wet weather and means "bleak, dark, miserable, cheerless, wet, horrible and unpleasant". 

[Helgoland]

Heh - there's the German "Dreck" (dirt), which is also used as a mild curse ("Ach, Dreck!"), an adjective ("Dreckswetter", really similar in meaning to dreich), and - in the Rhineland - for earth. My mother was a bit shocked when my parents moved here and she heard that usage for the first time
A (Rhinelandian) equivalent to dreich might be "usselig" (with a soft s sound, and the ch is pronounced ç!). "Usseliges Wetter" is the kind you get in late autumn, when there's loads of rain and wetness, and it's cold, but you are still wearing your summer mantle so you get all wet and cold yourself, and there's dead leaves everywhere, and everything's gray, and you just missed your bus.
The best thing to do when the weather is usselig is to make some cocoa, light a fire, wrap yourself up in a blanket, and watch that Usselswetter from inside.
"Usselig" can, however, refer to other things too: A run-down house or flat that hasn't been properly cleaned in ages, most likely because the inhabitants were either too sick or just didn't give a fuck, may be usselig. Or a really old bathroom where the dirt and grime has gotten into every pore, so bad that cleaning is hopeless. Or a guy who really isn't taking care of himself, with a stubbly beard and unwashed clothes and hair. But it needn't be that bad: Your kitchen may be usselig in the morning if there's still dishes in the sink, a few bread crumbs nobody has bothered to cleaned up are lying around, and the chairs probably aren't put in order, either. Get cleaning, you lazy bum - that place is presentable at all!
And, of course, you can feel usselig too: When coming down with the flu, or recovering from a hangover - it's that feeling of listlessness and desire for quiet. Not something terrible, but something you'd rather avoid.
I believe many people would say this was their favourite Rhinelandian word. We like to complain - we are German, after all.

For sotter I'd suggest "Tohuwabohu" - apparently from the bible, but nobody knows that anymore. You'd find a tohuwabohu in a child's room immediately after a playdate, or maybe when there's too many people in the kitchen, and they all want to help with the cooking.

So yeah, two German (well, close enough) loanwords to be absorbed into all you guys' languages. Tohuwabohu and usselig.

[Sheb]

We have crachin in French, from cracher or spit. It's that kind of really light rain that goes for days and days and days and it just feel like the very air is wet.

[scrdest]

Heh - there's the German "Dreck" (dirt), which is also used as a mild curse ("Ach, Dreck!"), an adjective ("Dreckswetter", really similar in meaning to dreich), and - in the Rhineland - for earth. My mother was a bit shocked when my parents moved here and she heard that usage for the first time
A (Rhinelandian) equivalent to dreich might be "usselig" (with a soft s sound, and the ch is pronounced ç!). "Usseliges Wetter" is the kind you get in late autumn, when there's loads of rain and wetness, and it's cold, but you are still wearing your summer mantle so you get all wet and cold yourself, and there's dead leaves everywhere, and everything's gray, and you just missed your bus.
The best thing to do when the weather is usselig is to make some cocoa, light a fire, wrap yourself up in a blanket, and watch that Usselswetter from inside.
"Usselig" can, however, refer to other things too: A run-down house or flat that hasn't been properly cleaned in ages, most likely because the inhabitants were either too sick or just didn't give a fuck, may be usselig. Or a really old bathroom where the dirt and grime has gotten into every pore, so bad that cleaning is hopeless. Or a guy who really isn't taking care of himself, with a stubbly beard and unwashed clothes and hair. But it needn't be that bad: Your kitchen may be usselig in the morning if there's still dishes in the sink, a few bread crumbs nobody has bothered to cleaned up are lying around, and the chairs probably aren't put in order, either. Get cleaning, you lazy bum - that place is presentable at all!
And, of course, you can feel usselig too: When coming down with the flu, or recovering from a hangover - it's that feeling of listlessness and desire for quiet. Not something terrible, but something you'd rather avoid.
I believe many people would say this was their favourite Rhinelandian word. We like to complain - we are German, after all.

'Shabby'?

[Mesa]

Not a loanword per se, but you know this disease called cholera?
It's also a fairly popular Polish swear. You have been warned.

[Helgoland]

'Shabby'?

No, not at all! 'Shabby' implies poverty or neglect; 'usselig' just sort of happens.

[Avis-Mergulus]

Not a loanword per se, but you know this disease called cholera?
It's also a fairly popular Polish swear. You have been warned.

And a really mild Russian one. And, from what I know of Dutch profanity, probably Dutch. Disease-swears are quite common, actually.