They Have A World For It: A Lighthearted Lexicon of Untranslatable Words and Phrases

by Howard. Rheingold and Howard Rheingold

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• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0727821393
• ISBN13: 9780727821393
• Release Date: January 1988
• Publisher: Severn House
• Length: 240 Pages
• Weight: 0.64 lbs.

Customer Reviews

On the tip of my tongue...

How many times have you thought to yourself, 'I wish there were a word for this' ? Sometimes a feeling, sometimes an object, sometimes a description simply defies a simple one or two word construction, but rather involves lengthy comparison and development to get the point across, and often (particularly in conversation) doing such development leads away from the main topic of discussion. Despite the vastness of the English vocabulary and the rich depth of heritage (a heritage strong on borrowing and adaptation), there are simply some things the English language lacks. I was reminded of this when writing a review on an archaeology book, in which the varying sense of history come through rather more clear in German than in English, where alternate words for history lose the historical sense. This reminded me of the wonderful book by Howard Rheingold: They Have a Word for It: A Lighthearted Lexicon of Untranslatable Words & Phrases. Originally published in 1988, it is now back in print, and was a recent selection in one of the book clubs to which I am an over-subscriber. Rheingold is the author of many books, many on topics of technology, creativity, and intelligence. Perhaps he is best known for The Millennium Whole Earth Catalog, published in 1994. `This book is meant to be fun. Open it at random and see if you don't find something that will amuse you, entertain you, titillate your curiosity, tickle your perspective. But you should know that reading this book might have serious side effects at a deeper level. Even if you read one page as you stand in a bookstore, you are likely to find a custom or an idea that could change the way you think about the world. It has to do with the insidious way words mold thoughts.' Indeed, this is true. The old dictum, 'don't think about elephants', is very true for this book. Each page will cause you think and ponder beyond the box of the English language. Given Rheingold's technological interests, part of this book was researched, assembled, and created on early computer bulletin board services (BBS), which yielded for Rheingold both new friendships as well as interesting contributions of untranslatable words. Rheingold offered dinner to contributors of valuable additions. `Thinking about the right kind of untranslatable words creates a certain state of mind. I found myself looking at the mundane elements of everyday life through a new kind of lens, which revealed to me dimensions in my familiar environment that I simply had not seen before because I hand't known how to look.' Words define who we are and how we see the word. Whether one lives in a literate society or not, whether one has other forms of intelligence (see Gardner's `Frames of Mind: The Theory of Multiple Intelligences') such as musical, mathematical, etc., the way people are socialised and educated in most every society since the advent of language has been in terms of language, both oral and written. Humans have striven to put things into ev

Useful words from the world

I love languages. Each one has their own words and phrases that are entirely untranslatable without several sentences of explanation. As I have learned Italian over the last few years (in order to converse with my wife's relatives) I have found certain phrases in English that just don't translate into Italian directly. Now the tables are turned, as this book provides me with some Italian phrases that have a much deep meaning than might be imagined.The author, Howard Rheingold, has collected words for a lot of different languages, including Chinese, Hindi, Italian, French and even Hawaiian. In fact, one of my favorites comes from that language. ho'oponopono (HO-OH-poh-no-poh-no). It means "solving a problem by talking it out", something that I do on a regular basis (even if I am only talking to myself!)Italian gives us attaccabottoni ("a doleful bore who buttonholes people and tells sad, pointless tales.") I have run into a few of these in my life, so it is nice to have a new word with which to reference them. (SMILE)Each time I flip through the book I find more and more interesting words. Rheingold encourages you to start using the words in your vocabulary and I think I just might try. That way, the next time a friend bangs his or her thumb with a hammer you can reply "uffda", a Swedish "word of sympathy, used when someone else is in pain."

Some of the words are just plain funny!

Rheingold (the editor of one of the editions of the Whole Earth Catalog) likes to collect unusual words from other languages. Some of the words are useful: e.g. "attaccabottoni" for someone who grabs the conversation and won't let you go. Or "Korinthenkacker" (literally "raisin crapper") for a boss that obsesses on insignificant details.Some of the words are hilarious: e.g. "buritilulo" for the New Guinea highlands practice of comparing yams to settle a dispute. I imagine two folks standing next to a pile of root vegetables, one saying to the other "Ah! Your yams are incredible! I concede!"And some of the words just seem to be good to know about: "mokita" for the truth everybody knows but nobody speaks;"razbliuto" for the feeling a person has for someone he or she once loved but now does not.Anyway, I loved it. Do I use the words? No. But it think it is amazing how many strange and wonderful concepts humans have honored with their own words.

A fun and interesting reference for language lovers

This book is a lot of fun and well put together. Approximately 150 foreign words and phrases are divided into 11 sections, including family, business, politics, beauty, psychology, love, etc. One or two pages are used to describe each word, giving the pronunciation as well as its use in the native tongue and applicability to English. Words are taken primarily from the Romance languages -- French, Italian and Spanish -- but also from Chinese, Japanese, Navajo, Sanskrit, Bantu and at least a dozen others.There is an interesting introduction, a bibliography and an index.In the introduction the author mentions that he culled these samples from a list of hundreds; this might be an instance where an accompanying web site giving all of the words considered might be a lot of fun and very useful.Highly recommended.

Invaluable book for those who love weird words

I'm orderinga second copy of this book because I'm about to wear mine out. This book is full of weird words like kora, the hysterical belief that one's penis is shrinking and mbuki-mvuki, to shuck off clothes in order to dance. I mean, how many times do you want to describe that feeling and just cant come up with a word? Well, this book has them. We often give out awards where we name folks the most likely to Mbuki-Mvuki and so on -- they're a riot. Anyway, I love the book.