Good morning, it’s Tuesday, June 30 and you can expect a cloudy morning (mid 70s).
Why Angelenos feel personally responsible for the weather.
The German language is famously good at naming the fantastically specific.
The language bursts with compound words that capture particular psychological states or nuanced situations — single words that require a whole sentence in English to get one’s point across.
There are the big ones that have made their way into English usage, like schadenfreude (the pleasure derived from someone else’s pain) or wanderlust (the strong desire to wander or travel). But there are also plenty of other magnificent terms that have yet to become English loanwords, like verschlimmbessern (making something worse while trying to improve it), waldeinsamkeit (the feeling of being alone in the woods), kummerspeck (literally “grief bacon,” or the weight gained from emotional overeating) and kopfkino (literally “head cinema,” or the playing out of scenarios in your head like a movie).
Every now and then, you encounter a feeling so specific and universal that it, too, deserves its own German word. That’s how I felt when I read L.A. Material contributor Anna Holmes’ new story about the strange pressure Angelenos feel to deliver perfect weather when they have visitors in town.
The weather your friends expect when they land at LAX. (Photo by Jonathan Blair/Corbis via Getty Images)
Surely, you know the feeling: You never explicitly promised balmy sunshine when your friends booked a trip from some lesser clime. But it does feel implied. Then the forecast suddenly turns, and you’re left not just chauffeuring an out-of-towner who thinks dinner downtown is reasonable after a day in Venice, but also feeling personally responsible for June Gloom (or November rain).
READING MATERIAL
NEWSOM’S LAST BUDGET: Gov. Gavin Newsom signed his final budget as governor Monday — a $351.7-billion spending plan which takes effect July 1. Education and Medi-Cal are the two largest costs for the state, the L.A. Times reports.
SEE YOU IN COURT: LAHSA filed a lawsuit against the federal government Monday, asking a judge to block the Trump administration from suspending funding for L.A.’s embattled homelessness agency.
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