Tankespjärn. [tan:kəspjɛ:ɳ]

A Swedish word, kind of. Not found in any dictionary, it’s a word utilizing one of the most helpful and fun aspects of the Swedish language, the ability to merge two words into one.

Tankespjärn consists of two words.
Tanke which means thought.
Spjärn which means to resist, to brace against, to use as a starting point upwards/onwards. Sort of. There actually isn’t any one word in English that accurately describes what I mean with the word spjärn in this context.

This is what it sounds like (click on the word): tankespjärn

As a word-mashup, tankespjärn – for me – points to those moments where you hear or see or learn about something, and your face scrunches up, and you go Huh? because what you just heard, saw or learned simply doesn’t fit within the framework of your current understanding of reality.