aperçu (plural aperçus)
— a comment or brief reference that makes an illuminating or entertaining point

stalking horse

— a false pretext concealing someone’s real intentions

— a political candidate who runs only in order to provoke the election and thus allow a stronger candidate to come forward

litotes
— a figure of speech wherein understatement is used to emphasize a point by stating a negative to further affirm a positive, often incorporating double negatives for effect (eg: “She’s not bad looking” can literally mean she is average-looking, or it can mean she’s very good looking)

zersetzung

— repressive persecution as practiced by the East German Stasi

The Dunning-Kruger peak

— that surge of self-confidence one gets when one acquires some small amount of skill in a thing and, emboldened by that skill, decides that they are awesome at that thing

hapax legomenon

— lit: something said only once. A word which appears only once in ancient texts (and therefore, its definition is difficult to fully understand)

From Merriam-Webster

nostalgie de la boue

— lit: yearning for the mud. Attraction to what is unworthy, crude, or degrading

From Merriam-Webster