Lifelong friend Liz Razovich sent me a list of words culled from a book that I ordered for myself: The Meaning of Tingo, by Adam Jacot de Boinod.
Here’s a sample:
Tingo: A Pascuense language word from Easter Island that means borrowing items from a pal’s house, one by one, until there is nothing left.
Kummerspeck: a German word that literally means “grief bacon” but refers to the excess weight gained from emotion-related overeating.
Bakku-shan: Japanese for a woman who “seems pretty when seen from behind but not from the front.”
Ulykkesbilen: Danish for an “ill-fated car.”
Nakkele: From Tulu, India, this describes a man who licks whatever the food has been served on.
Drachenfutter: A German word that is “dragon fodder” when translated literally, but means the peace offerings made by guilty husbands to their wives.
Backpfeifengesicht: German for a face that cries out for a fist in it.
Jacot de Boinod perused over 280 dictionaries and trawled 140 websites to prepare the book. “What I’m really trying to do is celebrate the joy of foreign words (in a totally nonjudgmental way) and say that while English is a great language, one shouldn’t be surprised there are many others having, as they do, words with no English equivalent,” he says.
Some of the reviews of the book on Amazon are a bit harsh, accusing him of a “casual” approach to the translations and research. But Jacot de Boinod hasn’t lost any time creating an entire franchise around this one idea. Hey, all the more power to him. The book is fun, and I’m always on the look out for that.
Sounds delightful. Now I will have to discourage Rumpole from bringing me “drachenfutter” edibles, especially cheeses, bread and wine, as a way to prevent me from the condition of “kummerspeck”. As he wisely said, some years ago that having a bit of excess”avoirdupois” ensured that I would not be one of those women who were “bakku-shan”. Was it not the famous French Actress Jeanne Moreau who once quipped “at a certain time in a woman’s life, she has to trade her ass for her face”? G
Well done, G!
I love these words, adding more words for concepts we wouldn’t fathom in the English language. What fun!
Now I want this man to tell me why the Italians use the same word for “Why” and “Because.”
[…] “a face badly in need of a slap.” in common usage, it is reserved for a certain kind I am not the Backpfeifengesicht your fist is looking for « Slow Muse I found Backpfeifengesicht at @aplusk on twitter and the link http://bit.ly/ zlwtD They used the […]
The Wonder of Whiffling is a tour of English around the globe (with fine
coinages from our English-speaking cousins across the pond, Down Under
and elsewhere).
Discover all sorts of words you’ve always wished existed but never knew,
such as fornale, to spend one’s money before it has been earned; cagg, a
solemn vow or resolution not to get drunk for a certain time; and
petrichor, the pleasant smell that accompanies the first rain after a
dry spell.
Delving passionately into the English language, I also discover why it
is you wouldn’t want to have dinner with a vice admiral of the narrow
seas, why Jacobites toasted the little gentleman in black velvet, and
why a Nottingham Goodnight is better than one from anywhere else. See
more on http://www.thewonderofwhiffling.com
(from an email from the author)