Favorite Foreign Words/Phrases

The BBC has an online supplement called "Magazine," which I have just discovered on its fifth birthday.

So they posted a list of some of their favorite, most read, most emailed, etc. articles. One of these articles covers reader submissions of their favorite words and phrases from other languages. There's some humorous, handy stuff in here. My favorite:

1. "My favourite is the French 'l'esprit d'escalier', or spirit of the staircase. This is used to describe the precise moment a person comes up with a clever retort to an embarrassing insult. It is usually after leaving the party, and walking down the stairs that the quip comes to mind."

And it is worth noting at this point that they wrote an entire article devoted to a foreign word in one of Bill Clinton's speeches. I feel the word is actually my fo' rizzle favorite. But it ain't on the list. So I guess I can't pick it. Anyway, the word, you ask?

Ubuntu.