As someone who loves language and would, if able, engage in serious study of linguistics, I found a book at the library the other day that really caught my attention. It's called, In Other Words: A Language Lover's Guide to the Most Intriguing Words Around the World. What it contains is words from a large assortment of different languages that are untranslatable into English and usually a distinctive, cultural part of a language. It really is quite interesting. The introduction mentions the word sisu, a Finnish word I loved the first time I heard it. It says this of the word:

"It is 1939 and two Finnish foot soldiers are pinned down in a battle during the war between Finland and Russia.

'We're outnumbered,' one soldier says. 'There must be over forty of them, and only two of us.'

'Dear God, it'll take us all day to bury them!' exclaims the other.

Finnish people tell this story, along with a variety of others, to illustrate the national characteristic known as sisu. Sisu, says Professor Kate Remlinger at Grand Valley State University, is an untranslatable word, meaning something like a dogged and proud refusal to lie down and be beaten. 'The way people talk is a reflection of their worldview, their history, and their upbringing,' she says, observing that the idea of sisu is so important to the Finns that, three generations after emigrating to the United States of America, it continues to infuse local Michigan dialect and culture."

I like that. And it explains why the guy who sometimes visited the house next to my in-laws had one of those novelty plates tacked on the front of his massive Ford F-250 Super Duty pickup that said SISU in huge letters.