I had to laugh because although I just formally learned the word imbulzeala (em-boolzy-ala) the other day, visitors and foreign residents in Romania have been asking me about the phenomenon for years. This is a classic Romanian word, constructed from a root word bulz, which means something like “clot” or “clump” or “clod”. As DEX helpfully informs us, when your mamaliga gels into a little … Continue reading WOTD: Imbulzeala
Well yesterday was Easter for Hungarians, Germans and pretty much all the foreigners here in Romania but for the Orthodox church that won’t happen until next Sunday. A useful word to know here in Romania at this time of year is denie (denny-eh) which refers specifically and only to the Orthodox masses held each day during the week before Easter (aka this week right now). … Continue reading Word of the Day: Denie
You know sometimes I forget that some of my readers are at the very first rung of the ladder in terms of understanding Romania and the Romanian language. I had someone ask me the other day about an extremely common phrase. Time to cover the basics! When saying “thank you” the common way to say it (which applies to most situations) in Romanian is multumesc … Continue reading Word of the Day: Thank Ya Very Much
One of the more fun things you can do in the Romanian language is spontaneously create adjectives from acronyms. One of my favorite is “otevist”, which you won’t find in any dictionary but means “of or relating to OTV” based on the way those letters are pronounced in Romanian (o te vi + st). OTV is short for Oglinda TV or “Mirror” television. It is … Continue reading Word of the Day: Otevist
Just about every week someone new asks me to justify why I live in Romania. I guess I should start a new category of posts just to list all of these answers, which are far too numerous to fit into a single article. One of the simplest reasons is cash money, (pronounced kish by most Romanians). From the first day I got here right up … Continue reading After The Flood Had Swept Over, The Kingship Was In Kish
All Things Romania 