HOME | BESTSELLERS | NEW RELEASES | PRICE WATCH | FICTION | BIOGRAPHIES | E-BOOKS |
The Meaning of Tingo: And Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World Book
* Excludes Voucher Code Discount Also available Used from £N/A
-
Product Description
A divine gift for the word-obsessed?a deliciously eccentric world tour of words that have no English equivalent
The countless language freaks who?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 "I was rather too drunk last night and it?s all their fault"? As for tingo, on Easter Island it means "to take all the objects one desires from the house of a friend, one at a time, by borrowing them." 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 counterpart?words so strange and apt that if they didn?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)
- 0143038524
- 9780143038528
- Adam Jacot De Boinod
- 27 February 2007
- Penguin Books
- Paperback (Book)
- 224
- Reprint
Would you like your name to appear with the review?
We will post your book review within a day or so as long as it meets our guidelines and terms and conditions. All reviews submitted become the licensed property of www.find-book.co.uk as written in our terms and conditions. None of your personal details will be passed on to any other third party.
All form fields are required.