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

by Adam Jacot de Boinod

Book Overview

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... This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1594200866
• Release Date: March 2006
• Publisher: Penguin Press HC, The
• Length: 224 Pages
• Weight: 0.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 7.3" x 0.8" x 6.0"

Customer Reviews

The meaning of Tingo

Reading that is fun for anyone interested in languages and/or writing. As a writer I am always trying to make my language and therefore my thinking richer and subtler. "The Meaning of Tingo" helped, while giving enjoyment at the same time. I like an author with a sense of humour. But the main merit of the book is that, by encouraging an understanding of different cultures, it contributes to building a peace loving world.

This is a unique, eye-opening and charming book

This is an amazing written piece of poetry and comedy at the same time. The different chapers are very imaginative, and the translations are beyond belief!!!! It just shows how crazy the world is, when you look at it close up!! Diffinetly worth a read - this is an awesome planet, and this book is an awesome book

A hilarious introduction to language and its less-than-universal meanings

THE MEANING OF TINGO AND OTHER EXTRAORDINARY WORDS FROM AROUND THE WORLD is a hilarious introduction to language and its less-than-universal meanings. Where other books provide funny insights based on a single culture, THE MEANING OF TINGO draws upon dictionaries and dialects of more than 254 languages, providing a welcome difference to the myriad of language books which are focused on English phrases and oddities. Common slang and phrases such as 'seeing red' are given their more worldly companions in Spanish, Chinese, Japanese, Russian and more. Diane C. Donovan, Editor California Bookwatch

Useful Words, Strange Words, Funny Words

In England and in America, Rice Crispies are famous for going "Snap, crackle, pop!" However, they do not do so everywhere. In Germany, they go "Pif! Paf! Pouf!" In France, they go "Cric! Crac! Croc!" In Spain, they go "Cris! Cras! Cros!" And in Holland, where they have graduated beyond monosyllables, they go "Knisper! Knasper! Knusper!" The miracle of the polyglot Crispies is one of the many surprises to be found in _The Meaning of Tingo: And Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World_ (The Penguin Press) by Adam Jacot de Boinod. The book is a lighthearted compilation of curiosities, mostly words for most of which there is no equivalent in English, words for which de Boinod confesses he has a quiet obsession. As a catalogue of miscellanies, the book is fully entertaining, but it sometimes raises (and cannot answer) profound questions about the differences of cultures. There are plenty of words here for which it would be useful to have English equivalents. "Schadenfreude" is such a useful word that it is one of the few here which I have heard English-speakers using already. It is German, and means literally "damage joy", and signifies the feeling of malicious pleasure we get when misfortune comes to someone else. English really needs a word for the catchy tune that gets stuck in your head against your volition, but German already has it: "ohrwurm", which literally means "ear worm". There are many other words here that make a reader think "How can they possibly have needed one word to describe that?" For instance, as in the title, the meaning of "tingo" is from the Pascuense language of Easter Island, and is "to borrow things from a friend's house, one by one, until there's nothing left." One supposes that it is an exaggeration, but how common is unscrupulous borrowing among Easter Islanders that such hyperbole requires a single word? Colors are universal, so how can we explain that English and Japanese have seven named colors in the rainbow, but the Shona of Zimbabwe have but four for the spectrum, and the Basa language of Liberia has only "ziza" for red/orange/yellow and "hui" for green/blue/purple? Would not those Basa-speakers have been able to tell that red and yellow are distinctly different? Lacking words for the two, could they not express the difference, or could they simply not see it? There are also surprising correspondences between languages. We say "so-so" for mediocrity, and for some reason repetition is used in many languages to express this concept: "tako tako" in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, "cosi cosi" in Italian, or "atal atal" in Occitan are just a few. _Tingo_ is a book to dip into for a bit of a laugh or puzzlement, but it is well organized, with chapters on greetings, love, death, eating, and so on. It has interesting sidebars on such things as whistle languages or one-letter words ("u" in Samoan is an enlarged land snail). Readers will be entertained and will have renewed admiration for th

Hilarious, but also useful

How many times have you run into a situation where you thought, "I wish they had a word for that". If you have, The Meaning of Tingo is for you. This very cool little book has words and definitions from hundreds of languages that will make you laugh - and nod knowingly, as well. Wish I could get my point across more effectively in a short review, but I clearly lack "sprezzatura" (Italian) - the effortless technique of a great artist. That's Page 109, by the way. Perfect gift for that great Jeopardy player at your house.