TINGO
There are 2 excellent books around called:
The Meaning of Tingo: And Other Extraordinary Words from Around the World
and its sequel Toujours Tingo
That are definately worth a read - Tingo is a word from Easter Island that means "to borrow objects from a friend's house one by one until there are none left". here are some more wonderfully weird words:
Gwarlingo: Welsh description of the sound of a grandfather clock before it strikes.
Pisan zapra: Malay for the time needed to eat a banana.
Layogenic: Filipino for someone good-looking from afar but ugly up close.
Mouton enragé : French for someone calm who loses their temper - literally, "an enraged sheep".
Kati-kehari: Hindi meaning to have the waist of an elegant lion.
Yupienalle: Swedish for a mobile phone - literally, "yuppie teddy" like a security blanket.
Ikibari: Japanese, a "lively needle" and describing a man who is willing but under-endowed.
Tantenverführer: German for a young man with suspiciously good manners.
Fensterln: German for climbing through a window to avoid someone's parents so you can have sex without them knowing.
Stroitel: Russian for a man who likes to have sex with two women at the same time.
Okuri-okami: Japanese for a man who feigns thoughtfulness by offering to see a girl home only to try to molest her once he gets in the door - literally, a "see-you-home wolf"
Trennungsagentur: German for someone hired by a woman to tell her boyfriend he has been dumped.
Momma ko ene: Cheyenne for having red eyes from crying over your boyfriend marrying someone else.
Kanjus Makkhichus: Hindi description of someone so tight that if a fly falls into their tea they'll fish it out and suck it dry before throwing it away.
Tlazlimquiztli: Aztec for the smell of adulterers.
Nosom Para Oblake: Serbian for "he is ripping clouds with his nose", describing someone conceited.
Traer la lengua de corbata: Latin American Spanish for to be exhausted - literally, to have your tongue hanging out like a man's tie
Sjostygg: Norwegian for someone so ugly the tide refuses to come in if they stand on the shore.
Lolo: Hawaiian for someone who would gladly give you the time if only they could read a clock.
Lalew: Filipino word meaning to grieve so much you can't eat.
Nito-onna: Japanese for a woman so dedicated to her career that she has no time to iron blouses and so resorts to dressing only in knitted tops.
Buaya darat: Indonesian for a man who fools women into thinking he's a very faithful lover when in fact he goes out with many different women at the same time - literally, a land crocodile
Chantepleurer: French for singing at the same time as crying.
Hira hira: Japanese for the fear you get from walking into a decrepit old house in the middle of the night.
Les avoir a zero: French for "to have one's testicles down to zero", or be frightened.
Du kannst mir gern den buckel runterrutschen und mit der zunge bremsen: Austrian for "go to hell" – literally "You can slide down my hunchback using your tongue as a brake".
taken from
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