shvizut
n.— «The Jewish soldier has had to invent a colorful language to express such extreme emotional states as shvizut (state of being depressed, dispirited, and fed up with everything; literally: “broken penis”) and zula (an ultimate state of being relaxed and laid back).» —“A guide to slang in the IDF” by Gabriel Reiss Jerusalem Post (Israel) Dec. 4, 2004. (source: Double-Tongued Dictionary)
Further reading
In the 15th century, the word respair meant “to have hope again.” Although this word fell out of use, it’s among dozens collected in a new book of soothing vocabulary for troubled times. Plus, baseball slang: If a batter...
Asthenosphere, a geologist’s term for the molten layer beneath the earth’s crust, sparks a journey that stretches all the way from ancient Greece to the author of Uncle Tom’s Cabin. Plus: What the heck is a dogberg? It’s when...