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

Boinod, Adam Jacot De

Couverture souple

ISBN 10 : 0143038524 ISBN 13 : 9780143038528

Editeur : Penguin Group USA, 2007

Synopsis

A divine gift for the word-obsessedÂ-a deliciously eccentric world tour of words that have no English equivalent The countless language freaks whoÂ've worn out their copies of Eats, Shoots and Leaves will find inexhaustible distraction in The Meaning of Tingo. Where else will they discover that Bolivians have a word that means Â"I was rather too drunk last night and itÂ's all their faultÂ"? As for tingo, on Easter Island it means Â"to take all the objects one desires from the house of a friend, one at a time, by borrowing them.Â" Organized by themes such as food, the human body, and sex and love, this irresistible book combs through more than 254 languages in search of those gorgeous oddities that have no direct English counterpartÂ-words so strange and apt that if they didnÂ't exist, they would have to be invented. Highlights from The Meaning of Tingo: · mencomet (Indonesian): stealing things of small value such as food or drinks, partly for fun · scheissbedauern (German): the disappointment one feels when something turns out not nearly as badly as one had hoped · mono-no-aware (Japanese): appreciating the sadness of existence · mahj (Persian): looking beautiful after disease · plimpplamppletteren (Dutch): the skimming of a flat stone as many times as possible across the surface of the water · koshatnik (Russian): a dealer in stolen cats · ava (Tahitian): wife (but also means whisky)

A propos du livre

Présentation de l'éditeur

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'.

Biographie de l'auteur

Adam Jacot's interest in foreign languages was first piqued when doing research for the TV programme QI, hosted by Stephen Fry, and subsequently developed into a full-blown obsession. While compiling this book, he read approximately 220 dictionaries, 150 websites and numerous other books on language.

Détails de l'édition

• Éditeur: Penguin Group USA
• Date d'édition: 2007
• Langue: anglais
• ISBN 10: 0143038524
• ISBN 13: 9780143038528
• Reliure: Broché
• Nombre de pages: 209
• Coordonnées du fabricant: non disponible
• Personne responsable: Purmerul LTD; https://strengholt.nl/en/; ; 22 Liuleburgaz Str., floor 4, app. 9; Plovdiv; Bulgarie