Product Description

Did you know that people in Indonesia have a word that means ‘to take off your clothes in order to dance’? Or how many words the Albanians have for eyebrows and moustaches? Or that the Dutch word for skimming stones is plimpplamppletteren? Drawing on the collective wisdom of over 154 languages, this intriguing book is arranged by theme so you can compare attitudes all over the world to such subjects as food, the human body and the battle of the sexes. Here you can find not only those words for which there is no direct counterpart in English (such as the Japanese age-otori which means looking less attractive after a haircut), but also a frank discussion of exactly how many ‘Eskimo’ terms there are for snow, and a vast array of information exploring the wonderful and often downright strange world of words. Oh, and tingo means 'to take all the objects one desires from the house of a friend, one at a time, by asking to borrow them'.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #105751 in Books
• Published on: 2006-10-05
• Original language: English
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Stephen Fry
A book no well-stocked bookshelf, cistern-top or handbag should be without.

The Economist, 24 September 2005
'The Meaning of Tingo' may well prove to be the must-have British stocking-filler for 2005

The Times, 22 September 2005
...compulsively perusable