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The Meaning of Tingo

The Meaning of Tingo is a great new book from Penguin Press, both funny and enlightening. We are aware of how many "missing" words there are in English, despite the fact that we have millions of words and phrases to choose from, when we see the clever words and phrases in other languages covering objects and concepts for which we have no counterpart in English. In Japanese, there is the word pakupaku which means "to eat in big mouthfuls or take quick bites," while Hawaiian has muka, "a smacking sound with the lips, indicating that the food is tasty." Adam Jacot de Boinod took his interest in foreign languages to and developed somewhat of an obsession for collecting wonderful words and phrases from foreign language dictionaries. His humorous and interesting assortment describes things for which we have no concise expression in English. We all know how much English borrows from foreign languages (ad hoc, croissant, feng shui, kindergarten), so Jacot de Boinod suggests that there is an off-chance that some of the words and phrases in The Meaning of Tingo will eventually enter the English vocabulary. Perhaps 'akapu'aki'aki? That's from the Cooks Islands and Maori, meaning "to belch repeatedly."