hlohlwe (Tsonga, South Africa) a forehead with corners devoid of hair (applied to a person whose hair is receding)
tako-nyudo (Japanese) a baldy (literally, octopus monk)
Oeuf-tête
The French, in particular, have a fine range of expressions for this challenging condition:
avoir le melon déplumé to have a plucked melon
avoir une boule de billard to have a billiard ball
ne plus avoir de cresson sur la cafetière no longer to have watercress on the coffeepot
ne plus avoir de gazon sur la platebande no longer to have a lawn on the flowerbed
avoir la casquette en peau de fesses to have a cap made out of buck skin
être chauve comme un genou to be as bald as a knee
avoir un vélodrome à mouches to have a velodrome for flies
Well-armed
We have upper and lower arms and elbows, but the Swedes have a word for the opposite side of the arm from the elbow – armveck. Other useful words stress the practical uses of these appendages:
kwapatira (Chichewa, Malawi) to carry something tucked under the arm
cholat (Malay) to dig with the elbow or the hand
athevotho (Bugotu, Solomon Islands) to swing the arms, wave or clear away smoke
On reflection
Japanese birthdays
In the West, the birthdays that are particularly celebrated are those of coming of age: 18 and 21. In Japan, the older you get the more solemnly your birthday (sanga) is celebrated. The birthdays of especial importance are:
40: shoro, the beginning of old age, since Confucius said: ‘When I was forty I did not wander.’
61: kanreki, the completion of the sixty-year cycle; the celebrant wears a red cap and a red kimono and is congratulated by everybody for having become ‘a newborn baby once more’
70: koki, rare age, so called because the poet Tu Fu said that it was a privilege for a person to reach the age of seventy
77: kiju, long and happy life
88: beiju, the rice birthday
These last two birthdays gain their names from the similarity of the Japanese ideograms for ‘joy’ and ‘rice’ to those for the numbers 77 and 88 respectively.
Handy
In the Tsonga language of South Africa they have the expressive word vunyiriri, the stiffness of hands and feet felt on cold wintry mornings; while the Telugu language of India describes kamikili, the hand held with fingers bent and separated. However they’re positioned, their uses are manifold:
apphoteti (Pali, India) to clap the hands as a sign of pleasure
aupiupiu (Mailu, Papua New Guinea) to flick an insect off the body
ka-cha-to-re (Car, Nicobar Islands) to hang down by one’s hands
duiri (Buli, Ghana) to pass one’s hands over skin so that the hairs stand up
pamamaywáng (Tagalog, Philippines) placing the hands on one’s hips
geu (Bugotu, Solomon Islands) to thrust one’s hand into a bag
And two are even better than one:
raup (Malay) to scoop up with both hands
anjali (Hindi) the cup-shaped hollow formed by joining the two palms together
chal (Car, Nicobar Islands) to lift up something heavy using both hands
kaf faksara (Rotuman, South Pacific) to clap the hands with one finger bent inwards to make a hollow sound
Digital
‘Without fingers,’ say the Moroccans, ‘the hand would be a spoon.’ And where indeed would we be without our essential digits?
gamaza (Arabic) to take with the fingertips
gutól (Tagalog, Philippines) snipping with the fingernails
menonjolkan (Malay) to push one’s fingers into someone’s face
tstumi-oidagana (Yamana, Chile) to offer one’s finger or any part of oneself to be bitten
sena (Sinhala, Sri Lanka) the time that elapses while snapping the thumb and forefinger ten times
Doigt de seigneur
In French, starting from the one nearest the thumb, you have index; majeur – biggest finger; annulaire – ring finger; and, last but not least, auriculaire – literally, the ear finger, because it’s the only one small enough to stick in your ear. But if your digits don’t stop there, you have to go to the Luvale language of Zambia for the sambwilo, the sixth finger or toe.
Expansive
In the Malay language, they use the space between the fingers for a series of useful measurements:
jengkal the span between thumb and finger
jengkul the span between thumb and index finger
telunjok the span between thumb and the joint of the bent index finger
ketengkeng the span between thumb and little finger
Classified
Further down the body, one reaches those parts generally described as private. In Southern Africa, they appear to have thought more than most about keeping it that way:
phindzela (Tsonga, South Africa) to cover one’s private parts carefully
tswi (Tsonga, South Africa) to expose one’s private parts by bending forward
ikokomela (Setswana, Botswana) to look at one’s own private parts
Peppers and Parasols
The Japanese have a memorable vocabulary to describe their (male) genitalia:
imo a potato, a penis that is short and fat
tō garashi a red pepper, a penis that is small and pink
gobō a burdock, a penis that is large and tubular
kenke small, tight testicles (literally pickles)
karakasa a paper parasol, a penis that is unusually top-heavy
Map of the world
French slang uses even more elaborate metaphors. A penis is either une anguille de calecif, an underwear eel, or un cigare à moustache, a cigar with a moustache. In similarly fanciful fashion, breasts are described as une mappemonde, literally, a map of the world (spread across two hemispheres).
Bum deal
Round the back, it seems, we are free to be frank, especially in East Africa and the Philippines:
shuri (Swahili) a person whose buttocks stick out more than those of the average person
tuwad (Maguindanaon, Philippines) to make one’s buttocks project
egkisu-kisu (Maguindanaon, Philippines) to move the buttocks little by little
pinginyika (Swahili) to move the buttocks with a circular motion when walking or dancing
Milk bottles
When it comes to the legs, English has no word to describe the back of the knee. Irish Gaelic calls it the ioscaid, the Swedes knäveck, while the Native American Dakota language calls it hunyoka-khmin. Other languages are similarly descriptive about both the appearance and the movement of our lower half:
euischios (Ancient Greek) with beautiful hips
melkflessen (Dutch) bare legs which have not been suntanned (literally, milk bottles)
kerchiholl (Albanian) having thin lower legs
anyula (Tsonga, South Africa) to open one’s legs indecently
hiza ga warau (Japanese) the wobbly feeling you have in your legs after dashing up several flights of stairs (literally, my knees are laughing)
Thin as a rake
When it comes to the whole package, there are differences of opinion about how substantial you should be. In general, the modern world applauds the skinny, even as our languages hark back to a less prosperous age in their comparisons:
ser magro como um palito (Portuguese) to be as thin as a toothpick
zo mager als een lat zijn (Dutch) to be as thin as a wooden latch
po ru zhu (Mandarin) thin as paper
flaco como un güin (Cuban Spanish) thin as a sugar-cane flower
kostur slab (Macedonian) thin as a skeleton
loksh (Yiddish) a noodle, a tall thin person
Bacon buoy
While fatties come in for all kinds of criticism:
vuthikithiki (Tsonga, South Africa) body fat which shakes at every step
juyaku-bara (Japanese) a paunch (literally
, company director’s stomach)
tivili (Sinhala, Sri Lanka) a person with three dents in his belly (from fatness)
foca (Spanish) a very fat woman (literally, a seal)
yongzhong (Chinese) too fat and clumsy to move
gordo como una buoya (Cuban Spanish) fat as a buoy
abspecken (German) losing weight (literally, de-baconing)
fai prima a saltargli sopra che girargli intorno (Italian) it’s faster to jump over him than go round him (because he’s so fat)
Illusory
Not, of course, that you can always judge from appearances:
Sitzriese (German) someone who is actually quite short but looks tall when they’re sitting down (literally, sitting giant)
edtiudan (Maguindanaon, Philippines) to pretend to be lame
IDIOMS OF THE WORLD
You cannot make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear
rozhdennyj polzat letat ne mozhet (Russian) if you’re born to crawl you can’t fly
on ne peut faire d’une buse un épervier (French) you can’t turn a buzzard into a sparrowhawk
al draagt een aap een gouden ring, het is en blijft een lelijk ding (Dutch) even if the monkey wears a golden ring it remains ugly
fare le nozze con i fichi secchi (Italian) to celebrate a wedding with dried figs
10.
Dressed to Kill
siku utakayokwenda uchi ndiyo siku utakayokutana na mkweo (Swahili)
the day you decide to leave your house naked is the day you run into your in-laws
A memorable smile
Whatever Nature has provided you with, you always have the chance to make your own improvements:
sulong (Iban, Sarawak and Brunei) to decorate the front teeth with gold (formerly brass)
nyin-susu (Bambara, West Africa) to blacken someone’s gums for cosmetic purposes
pen bilong maus (Tok Pisin, Papua New Guinea) lipstick
False friends
Rock (German) skirt
veste (French) jacket
romp (Afrikaans) skirt
cilinder (Hungarian) top hat
gulp (Dutch) fly (in trousers)
Hairdressed to kill
And hair is one very obvious place for the drastic makeover:
rikuruto-katto (Japanese) a short haircut supposed to impress prospective employers (literally, recruit cut)
wu-masweeswe (Kalanga, Botswana) shaving the hair in a sinuous outline across the forehead
emperifollado(a) (Latin American Spanish) dressed to kill, particularly when it involves a complicated hairdo
Topfschnitt (German) a certain haircut that looks a bit as if the hairdresser put a saucepan on someone’s head and cut all around it (literally, saucepan cut)
Frigate
Make sure not to overdo it:
cerone (Italian) excessive make-up applied on one’s face (literally, grease paint)
itoyewaton (Dakota, USA) to wear anything that makes one look frightful
age-otori (Japanese) formally styling one’s hair for a coming-of-age ceremony, but looking worse than before
Verschlimmerung (German) an improvement for the worse
die Fregatte (German) a heavily made-up old woman (literally, frigate)
yubisakibijin (Japanese) a woman who spends a lot of her salary tending to her fingernails
On reflection
Ugly beautiful
Though there are hundreds of poetic English words for different beautiful colours, there are very few for those at the less pleasant end of the spectrum. The Ojibway of North America say osawegisan, which means making something yellow with smoke, nicotine-stained. The Pali of India have a word for the bluish-black colour of a corpse – vinilaka – which literally means resembling neither father nor mother. The Amerindian Mingo words for the basic colours are just as evocative:
uiskwanyë’ta’ê’ the colour of rotten wood (brown)
unöwö’ta’ê’ the colour of limestone or plaster (white)
uyë’kwææ’ê’ the colour of smoke (grey)
tsitkwææ’ê’ the colour of bile (yellow)
Berlin backsides
Just because you can’t see your own backside doesn’t mean that others can’t. The Germans certainly notice these things:
Arschgeweih a large symmetrical tattoo on the lower back, just above the bottom, resembling the shape of antlers
Liebestoeter unattractive underwear (literally, love killer)
Maurerdekoltee a bricklayer’s cleavage (the part of a man’s backside you can see when he stoops deeply and his trouser waistband goes down a little bit)
Sails set
All over the world, people enjoy escaping from their intractable shape in a fine outfit:
kambabalegkasan (Maguindanaon, Philippines) the act of wearing new clothes
sich auftakeln (German) to get all dolled up (literally, with all sails set)
housunprässit (Finnish) trouser creases
fifi (Argentinian Spanish) a fashion-conscious man, dandy
kopezya (Mambwe, Zambia) tipping his hat down over his eyes
pagalong (Maranao, Philippines) to look at oneself in the mirror
Kangaroo teeth
Though what works in one place won’t necessarily work in another:
nastā (Hindi) a hole bored in the septum of the nose
wo-kûs’-i-ûk (Maliseet, Canada) a necklace of claws
kechchai (Tamil) little tinkling bells tied to the legs
wowoodteyadla (Kaurna Warra, Australia) two or four kangaroo teeth bound together with hair and covered with grease and red ochre, worn on the forehead by fully initiated men
okpukpu (Igbo, Nigeria) an ivory bangle worn by women with ten or more children, and sometimes by men to demonstrate their proven expertise
borsello (Italian) a man’s handbag
Hand-me-downs
‘Those who have fine clothes in their chests can wear rags,’ say the Italians, but in other parts of the world it’s not always true that the higher up you are in society the more likely you are to dress down:
s chuzhovo plecha (Russian) second-hand clothes (literally, from a stranger’s shoulder)
kamaeieia (Gilbertese, Oceania) to wear a garment until it is in tatters
xúng xính (Vietnamese) to be dressed in oversized clothes
mabelebele (Setswana, Botswana) the rags and tatters worn by a madman, a pauper or a traditional doctor
Designer knitwear
The two extremes of women’s intense relationship with clothes are chronicled by the Japanese. At one end there is nitto-onna, a woman so dedicated to her career that she has no time to iron blouses and so resorts to dressing only in knitted tops; and at the other there are ippaiyoku, women whose every garment and accessory are made by the same designer.
Fashionista
Most try to keep up with what everyone else is wearing, but there will always be some, thankfully, who remain gloriously independent:
cowichan (British Columbia, Canada) a vividly patterned sweater
buddi (Tamil) someone who wears thick glasses
lambung (Maguindanaon, Philippines) to wear very big clothes
agadagba (Igbo, Nigeria) men’s underpants woven from a mix of cotton, grass and tree bark
arse gras (Tok Pisin, Papua New Guinea) a bunch of tanket leaves stuck into a belt to cover a man’s backside
So village
For as long as clothes have been around, people have sneered or laughed at what others have chosen to wear:
topeewalla (Hindi) one who wears a hat, generally a European
kampungan (Indonesian) someone who is incredibly out of fashion, outdated (literally, so village)
hemdsärmelig (German) someone who behaves very rustically (literally, shirt-sleeved)
ta-oiny (Car, Nicobar Islands) clothes-wearing foreigners
samopal (Russian) home-made clothing sold under commercial labels (literally, a home-made cap gun)
Clodhoppers
&
nbsp; Though hopefully not what they put on their feet:
gállot (Sami, North Scandinavia) a shoe made out of hide taken from the head of a reindeer
fittocks (Scots) the feet of stockings cut off and worn as shoes
kirza (Russian) imitation leather boots
innesko (Swedish) an indoor shoe
jorg (Scots) the noise of shoes when full of water
Barely there
But then again isn’t one of the most enjoyable things about dressing up coming home and stripping off ?
huhu (Rapanui, Easter Island) to take off one’s clothes in one go, with a pull
byambula (Tsonga, South Africa) to walk in the open completely naked
Just make sure that when you get dressed again there’s no confusion …
vrenge (Norwegian) the action of putting right clothes which are inside out
lopodutes (Ancient Greek) one who slips into another’s clothes
terchausser (Gallo, France) to put the right foot into the left boot and vice versa
embasan (Maguindanaon, Philippines) to wear clothes while taking a bath
IDIOMS OF THE WORLD
I Never Knew There Was a Word For It Page 18