I have another book similar to this called The Meaning of Liff, which is much funnier than this book simply because it's meant to be funny.

For example:
"Polloch(n) - one of those tiny ribbed-plastic and aluminium foil tubs of milk served on trains enabling you to carry one safely back to your compartment where you can spill the contents all over your legs in comfort trying to get the bloody thing open."

I mean, who hasn't done that!? Genius!

If this book was aimed at being funny it would be much more entertaining. As it is, the words are incomprehensible (apart from the French and German ones - and only because I took these subjects at school) and so you have no real chance to memorise them to impress your friends with your command of... inanity.

My favourite way of reading the book was to forget about the words (in fact, I didn't bother reading most of them) and concentrate instead on the meanings. In this way, I could use each little phrase/meaning as a momentary meditation where I tried to imagine myself into the scenarios and scenery being described.

I therefore particularly enjoyed the words that dealt with happiness and sunshine, and not so much the ones about death and horror.

Plus - I think the author has been duped by internet descriptions of some of the words. For example, the meaning of 'Tingo' as expressed in the book is something like 'gradually stealing the contents of someone's house by borrowing them and not bringing them back'. I found this definition on a site called 'Urban Dictionary' dated 2009. I can just imagine someone making this up and posting it on this site for the author of this book to find and base a whole book on. Either that or he posted it himself.

Either way, it's me as a reader that's ending up as the fool.

The other mention I found of 'Tingo' is that it is a Latin word that means 'saturate/soak' or 'tinge' as in when you soak something in a dye to give it a tinge of purple (for example).

Still - the mental picture of people emptying other people's houses by borrowing stuff is mildly amusing - so long as it's not me they're borrowing from.

Off you go - fly, fly!

I like silly things on the history of language and this looked short enough to enjoy and get back out quickly. One for April.

Borrowed this recently. An informative book about the idioms of languages throughout the world, by a QI elf.

Picked up at the York BookCrossing meetup.

I like books about linguistics and this one is perfectly distracting for a short while. I don't think it's fair to compare it with The Meaning of Liff because all the definitions in that were invented specifically for humorous purposes, whereas this is just listing definitions of words that really exist. For me, the humour comes from the idea that a people would trouble to think up a word for a very specific eventuality, yet when you read it you think "why on earth don't we have an equivalent?" (for example, the Indonesian phrase "goyang kaki", which means relaxing and enjoying oneself as problems are sorted out by others - I'm sure we can all think of people for whom that would be a useful description).

It has its limits, and of course it's mostly useless knowledge unless you're a linguist and you might actually need to learn this stuff.

My favourite phrase in the whole book is from the people of Vanuatu - "oldfella Pili-Pili him b'long Missy Kween" - which is how the Duke of Edinburgh is addressed when he goes on state visits there. I for one would love to see his face when this happens.

Released at the York BookCrossing meetup.

A compendium of those untranslateable words, not a deep read but entertaining on a shallow level. Can't remember any of the words now though

Back in the system!

A mildly amusing book of funny and surprising words from around the world - good to dip into.

To be taken to the October meeting of the York Bookcrossing circle in the Eagle and Child, Petergate.

Free!