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 unépervier (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 leavejour house naked is the dayjou run intojour 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
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:
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
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
Don’t judge a book by its cover
ngam tae rup, jub mai horm (Thai) great looks but bad breath
l’abito non fa il monaco (Italian) clothes do not make the monk
quern vê caras nāo vê coraçōes (Portuguese) he who sees face doesn’t see heart
odijelo ne čini čoyjeka (Croatian) a suit doesn’t make a man
het zijn niet alleen koks die lange messen dragen (Dutch) it’s not only cooks who carry long knives
11.
Stretching Your Legs
zemheride yoğurt isteyen, cebinde bir inek taşir (Turkish)
he who wantsjoghurt in winter must carry a cow in his pocket
Travel broadens the mind, they say. But in these days of mass tourism and carbon footprints there’s a lot to be said for staying exactly where you are:
dlanyaa (Tsonga, South Africa) to lie on one’s back with one’s legs apart, gorged with food
lezarder (French) to lie around basking in the sun like a lizard
bafalala (Tsonga, South Africa) to lie face down in the sun, to lie asprawl in the open
naptakhpaya (Dakota, USA) to lie on one’s belly and rest on one’s arms
ngumulo (Tagalog, Philippines) to put both hands under the head when lying down
kagwia (Yamana, Chile) to go upstairs and lie down
Presiding
Not that you have to remain entirely supine to relax:
sumernichat (Russian) to sit outside in the evening doing nothing
seranggong (Malay) to sit with one’s elbows on the table
kem-lo-re (Car, Nicobar Islands) to sit on someone’s knee
upa-nishád (Sanskrit) sitting down at the feet of another to listen to his words
mâhove’êsee’e (Cheyenne, USA) to have a tired bottom from sitting
babaran-on (Ik, Nilo-Saharan) to sit in a group of people warming up in the early morning sun
Go to hell
‘See Naples and die’ we’re all told, but what do you do after you’ve visited these admirably named places?
Ecce Homo, Switzerland
Egg, Austria
Hell, Norway
No Guts Captain, Pitcairn Island
Saddam Hussein, Sri Lanka
Sexmoan, Philippines
Silly, Belgium
Starbuck Island, Polynesia
Wedding, Germany
Enviable
The Yamana people of Chile have clearly had plenty of time to think about the many permutations of sitting: utapanus-mutu is H to sit by the side of a person but not close to him; usata-ponur mutu is to turn round and sit facing someone; mumbu-moni is to sit holding anything between one’s lips; while kupas-aiiua-mutu is to sit envying a person.
Upright
If you get to your feet it doesn’t necessarily mean that you’re on the move:
pratyutthān (Hindi) rising from a seat as a mark of respect
hó’kôhtôheóó’e (Cheyenne, USA) to stand leaning on a cane
suka-a.-moni (Yamana, Chile) to stand dreaming
hangama (Tsonga, South Africa) to stand with one’s feet wide apart (like a man taking up all the space before a fire)
távoeóó’e (Cheyenne, USA) to stand looking goofy
Pedestrian
But once you’ve put one foot in front of the other there’s really no going back:
semeioton (Greek) walking on the spot
diváviharana (Sinhala, Sri Lanka) walking about in the day time
hanyauka (Rukwangali, Namibia) to walk on tiptoe on warm sand
ha shtatin (Albanian) to walk backwards in a bowed position
Tip-tip-toe
Although this simple action comes in many different styles:
vukurukuru (Tsonga, South Africa) the noisy walk of a person in a bad temper
endal (Malay) to walk with the head and shoulders held back and the breast and stomach thrust forward
bikrang (Bikol, Philippines) to walk with the legs apart as if there was some injury to the area of the crotch
onya (Setswana, Botswana) to walk at a slow pace nodding one’s head
lonjak (Malay) to walk affectedly on tiptoe
vydelyvat krendelya (Russian) to stagger, to walk crookedly (literally, to do the pretzel)
uluka (Mambwe, Zambia) a person who walks as if he were carried by the wind
The trees are blazed
Be sure you know where you’re going…
gembelengan (Indonesian) moving around without any certain direction
sakgasakgile (Setswana, Botswana) to wander about like a homeless orphan
… that the way ahead is clear:
jimbulwila (Luvale, Zambia) to walk in an unknown place, where there is no clear path
tlhotlhomela (Tsonga, South Africa) to wriggle one’s way through thick bush
… that you’ve decided whether to cover your tracks:
kodhola (Oshindonga, Namibia) to leave marks in the sand when walking kUdnawadakwaidade (Ojibway, North America) marks on the trees for the traveller to find the trail through the wood (literally, the trees are blazed)
tuuna-gamata (Yamana, Chile) to walk over where others have walked before and thus make the tracks indistinct
… and that the conditions are suitable:
hanmani (Dakota, USA) to walk in the night
tidiwitidiwi (Kerewe, Tanzania) dragging one’s steps through sand or mud
pfumbura (Shona, Zimbabwe) to walk raising dust
splerg (Scots) to walk splashing in mud
shatoka (Lozi, Niger-Congo) to jump from one stone or log to another
False friends
lost (Cornish) tail, queue
halt (Swedish) lame, limping
loop (Dutch) walk, gait
murmur (Persian) to creep
silk (Bashgali, India) to be slippery
That sinking feeling
As what could be worse than losing your footing…
anamni (Dakota, USA) to give way under the foot (as snow does, when there is water under it)
bawela (Tsonga, South Africa) to sink away in deep mud
kawan (Manobo, Philippines) to walk on air above the ground (for example, when walking in the dark and groping for footing, to step and not find footing where you expected it)
… mistaking the ground:
péese’ov (Cheyenne, USA) to step on someone’s fingers
trapu psa (Sranan Tongo, Surinam) to step on someone’s feet in passing
gobray (Boro, India) to fall into a well unknowingly
… or otherwise getting into difficulties:
dungkal (Bikol, Philippines) to trip and fall head first
gadngád (Tagalog, Philippines) falling on one’s nose
kaiyotan (Dakota, USA) to fall in attempting to sit down
ra (Tsonga, South Africa) to fall backwards on something hard
platzen (German) to fall over and burst
af-vegar (Old Icelandic) fallen on one’s back and unable to rise
pipilili (Tsonga, South Africa) to fall and roll a few times before stopping
Beard in the postbox
Oh dear, you’re back where you started:
nu sitter du med skagget i brevladan (Swedish) now you are stuck (literally, now you are sitting with your beard in the postbox)
IDIOMS OF THE WORLD
To carry coals to Newcastle
Eulen nach Athen tragen (German) taking owls to Athens
yezdit’ b Tulu s svoim samovarom (Russian) he’s going to Tula, taking his own samovar
vendere ghiaccio agll eschimesi (Italian) selling ice to the Eskimos
echar agua al mar (Spanish) to throw water into the sea
es como llevar naranjas a Valencia (Spanish) it is like taking oranges to Valencia
vizet hord a Dunába (Hungarian) he is taking water to the Danube
gi bakerbarn brød (Norwegian) to give bread to the child of a baker
vender mel ao colmeeiro (Portuguese) to sell honey to a beemaster
12.
Upping Sticks
suusan tsetsnees yavsan teneg deer (Mongolian)
a travelling fool is better than a sitting wise persong
You can’t spend your whole life flopping around in one place. Sooner or later, whatever traveller’s nerves you may feel, you just have to up sticks and go:
gabkhron (Boro, India) to be afraid of witnessing an adventure
resfeber (Swedish) to be jittery before a journey
andlamuka (Tsonga, South Africa) to pack up and depart, especially with all one’s belongings, or to go for good
bishu (Chinese) to be away from a hot place in the summer
campanilismo (Italian) local pride, attachment to the vicinity (literally, bell tower-ism – referring to the fact that people do not want to travel so far as to be out of sight of the bell tower)
Reindeer’s piss
A journey’s a journey whether you are going near…