The Meaning of Tingo: And Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World

A garden of delights for the word obsessed: a funny, amazing, and even profound world tour of the best of all those strange words that don't have a precise English equivalent, the ones that tell us so much about other cultures' priorities and preoccupations and expand our minds. Did you know that people in Bolivia have a word that means "I was rather too drunk last night and it's all their fault"? That there's no Italian equivalent for the word "blue"? That the Dutch word for skimming stones is "plimpplamppletteren"? This delightful book, which draws on the collective wisdom of more than 254 languages, includes not only those words for which there is no direct counterpart in English ("pana po'o" in Hawaiian means to scratch your head in order to remember something important), but also a frank discussion of exactly how many Eskimo words there are for snow and the longest known palindrome in any language ("saippuakivikauppias"--Finland). And all right, what in fact is "tingo"? In the Pascuense language of Easter Island, it's to take all the objects one desires from the house of a friend, one at a time, by asking to borrow them. Well, of course it is. Enhanced by its ingenious and irresistible little Schott's Miscellany/Eats Shoots and Leaves package and piquant black-and-white illustrations throughout, The Meaning of Tingo is a heady feast for word lovers of all persuasions. Viva Tingo! A garden of delights for the word obsessed: a world tour of the best of all those strange words that don't have a precise English equivalent, the ones that tell us so much about other cultures' priorities and preoccupations and expand our minds. Did you know that people in Bolivia have a word that means "I was rather too drunk last night and it's all their fault"? This collection of trivia from more than 254 languages also includes a frank discussion of exactly how many Eskimo words there are for snow. So, what in fact is "tingo"? In the Pascuense language of Easter Island, it's to take all the objects one desires from the house of a friend, one at a time, by asking to borrow them. Well, of course it is.--From publisher description Cover Page......Page 1 Title Page......Page 5 Copyright Page......Page 6 Contents......Page 7 Foreword......Page 9 Acknowledgements......Page 13 Meeting and Greeting......Page 15 From Top to Toe......Page 27 Movers and Shakers......Page 43 Getting Around......Page 53 It Takes All Sorts......Page 59 Falling in Love......Page 75 The Family Circle......Page 89 Clocking On......Page 101 Time Off......Page 115 Eating and Drinking......Page 127 Below Par......Page 139 From Cradle to Grave......Page 145 Otherworldly......Page 157 All Creatures Great and Small......Page 163 Whatever the Weather......Page 177 Hearing Things......Page 185 Seeing Things......Page 193 Number Crunching......Page 199 What’s in a Name?......Page 215 A garden of delights for the word obsessed, this book is a funny, amazing, and even profound world tour of the best of all those strange words that don't have a precise English equivalent, the ones that tell so much about other cultures' priorities and preoccupations A whimsical linguistic tour of foreign words and phrases that do not have precise English-language equivalents includes such entries as the world's longest-known palindrome and the Dutch rendering of the sound of Rice Krispies cereal.