Since one can never have too much extraneous information clogging one’s inbox, I’ve subscribed to the Wordcraft “Word of the Day” email. Many days the word is one I already know, or, since I don’t aspire to David Foster Wallacian writing, is too arcane to be of interest.

But yesterday’s email was kind of fun. The theme is untranslatable words: words that don’t exist in English but should. The email first introduced a book on this subject, “They Have a Word for It,” by Howard Rheingold, then gave the word of the day, the German Korinthenkacker (core-IN-ten-COCK-er): “a person overly concerned with trivial details, [Literally, ‘raisen-sh*tter’]”:

The Korinthenkacker is the guy whose desk has every item perfectly in place, neatly aligned. The Korinthenkacker is the guy who insists on figuring the precise to-the-penny amount (plus tax) owed by each of six people who have dined together at a restaurant. The Korinthenkacker, says Rheingold, is “anyone who couldn’t find a forest because he or she is too busy applying a magnifying glass to an inspection of the bark of one tree.”

I agree, a very useful word; I plan to bandy it about, liberally, the second it catches on :-)