Wonderful World
Tuesday, October 30th, 2007 11:25 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caddymanOn a lighter note, there was an excellent article in yesterday’s Times concerning the imminent publication of a book with the snappy title, Toujours Tingo: literally “always borrowing from a neighbour until there is nothing left” from the French and Pascuense (Easter Island). The author, who rejoices in the equally snappy name of Adam Jacot de Boinod is a former researcher for Stephen Fry’s BBC” TV show QI. The book is a list of words in foreign languages for which there is no direct English equivalent.
Apparently this will be the revised volume. Originally there were such words as the Japanese bakushan, (a woman who looks better from behind) and the Farsi nakhur (a camel that won’t give milk until its nose is tickled). To these choice mosels, he has added the German tantenverfuhrer which describes a man whose excessively good intentions suggest suspicious motives (we used to have the word poodle-faker, but it has dropped out of use, sadly). The Finns have the word poronkusema to describe the distance a reindeer can travel without taking a “comfort break”. The denizens of the Gilbert Islands have a phrase for the brother-in-law who comes around rather too frequently: butika roka, while the Portuguese have pesamentiero to describe someone who habitually attends funerals to get at the free refreshments.
Other goodies include:
Gwarlingo (Welsh): The rushing sound of a grandfather clock as it limbers up to strike the hour;
Chapponer (Gallo dialect of French): to stick your finger up a chicken’s jacksie to see if it is going to lay an egg;
Oka-shete (Ndonga language, Namibia): difficulties in peeing caused by eating frogs out of season;
Pisan zapra (Malay): the time needed to eat a banana;
And my personal favourite, which is in some ways a reversal of the trend, where English has the word, the ever-reliable Tok Pisin creole of New Guinea, which describes a helicopter as magimiks belong Yesus.
Apparently this will be the revised volume. Originally there were such words as the Japanese bakushan, (a woman who looks better from behind) and the Farsi nakhur (a camel that won’t give milk until its nose is tickled). To these choice mosels, he has added the German tantenverfuhrer which describes a man whose excessively good intentions suggest suspicious motives (we used to have the word poodle-faker, but it has dropped out of use, sadly). The Finns have the word poronkusema to describe the distance a reindeer can travel without taking a “comfort break”. The denizens of the Gilbert Islands have a phrase for the brother-in-law who comes around rather too frequently: butika roka, while the Portuguese have pesamentiero to describe someone who habitually attends funerals to get at the free refreshments.
Other goodies include:
Gwarlingo (Welsh): The rushing sound of a grandfather clock as it limbers up to strike the hour;
Chapponer (Gallo dialect of French): to stick your finger up a chicken’s jacksie to see if it is going to lay an egg;
Oka-shete (Ndonga language, Namibia): difficulties in peeing caused by eating frogs out of season;
Pisan zapra (Malay): the time needed to eat a banana;
And my personal favourite, which is in some ways a reversal of the trend, where English has the word, the ever-reliable Tok Pisin creole of New Guinea, which describes a helicopter as magimiks belong Yesus.
