Weird and wonderful foreign phrases ... that just don't translate

English is a rich and wonderful language - but sometimes it's just not good enough.

For example, have you ever searched around in vain for a word to describe someone who gets excited by eating garlic?

Or wondered why there isn't a nice pithy term for a person who is only attractive if they're standing quite far away?

Other languages do have such words. The extraordinary variety of international speech is captured in Toujours Tingo, a new book which draws on more than 300 languages exploring the areas where English fails us.



So try these words for size ...

Kaelling - Danish: a woman who stands on her doorstep yelling obscenities at her kids.

Pesamenteiro - Portuguese: one who joins groups of mourners at the home of a dead person, apparently to offer condolences but in reality is just there for the refreshments.

Kanjus Makkhicus - Hindi: a person so miserly that if a fly falls into his cup of tea, he'll fish it out and suck it dry before throwing it away.

Baling - Manobo, Philippines: the action of a woman who, when she wants to marry a man, goes to his house and refuses to leave until marriage is agreed upon.

Dona - Yamana, Chile: to take lice from a person's head and squash between one's teeth.

Oka/SHETE - Ndonga, Nigeria: urination difficulties caused by eating frogs before the rain has duly fallen.

Rhwe - South Africa: to sleep on the floor without a mat while drunk and naked.

Rombhoru - Bengali: a woman having thighs as shapely as banana trees.

More here.