Adam Jacot De Boinod

Did you know, that in Germany a young man with suspiciously good manners is called Tantenverf rhrer (literally, aunt seducer), that in Namibia there is a word for walking on tiptoe through warm sand or that, in Welsh, gwarlingo is the rushing sound a grandfather clock makes before striking the hour. Whether you are physiggomai (Ancient Greek - e...

Drawing on the collective wisdom of over 280 languages, this book is arranged by theme so that you can compare attitudes all over the world to such subjects as food, the human body and the battle of the sexes. Here, you find not only those words for which there is no direct counterpart in English, but also those that sound confusingly the same.