Awumbuk

[ pronounced aWUMbuk ]

From the Baining People of Papua New Guinea, a feeling of lethargy that descends when a house guest finally leaves.

• From the TEDTalk below (at about 10:45), by Tiffany Watt Smith, which includes a bunch of emotions where there are no words in English, but which you may well have experienced, but never had one single word to describe them! Or which you may go out and try to see if you can conjure up the feeling from hints in its definition for where and/or under what conditions one might experience it.

From the belief that guests shed a heaviness into the air of your home so they can travel more easily, leaving that heaviness with you! So those Baining people leave a bottle of water out to absorb this heaviness and ease the burden.

It might take the right house guest to make this happen for you, but you have probably felt this before, and can again if you pay attention to your feelings after having house guests in the future. Water bottle outside is optional. 🙂