squadretta (Italian) a group of prison guards who specialize in beating up inmates (literally, small squad)
fangfeng (Chinese) to let prisoners out for exercise or to relieve themselves
Kassiber (German) a letter smuggled out of jail; a secret coded message
jieyu (Chinese) to break into jail to rescue a prisoner
alba (Italian) the day one leaves prison after serving time
On reflection
Executive essentials
Conclusions cannot always be drawn about historical connections. Some words are similar in numerous languages. Much linguistic research has led to the theory of an Ur-language (Indo-European) spoken some fifty thousand years ago, from which most other languages have descended. Papa, for example, is used for ‘father’ in seventy per cent of languages across the world.
Meanwhile, essential latterday vocabulary has crossed languages as easily as the jet-setting executive who uses it:
taxi is recognized in French, German, Swedish, Spanish, Danish, Norwegian, Dutch, Czech, Slovak, Portuguese, Hungarian and Romanian
sauna is recognized in Finnish, English, Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, French, German, Dutch, Danish, Lithuanian, Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian, Romanian and Norwegian
bank is recognized in Afrikaans, Amharic (Ethiopia), Bengali, Creole, Danish, Dutch, Frisian (Germany and Holland), German, Gujarati (India), Hungarian, Indonesian, Malay, Norwegian, Polish, Sinhala (Sri Lanka), Swedish and Wolof (Senegal and Gambia)
hotel is recognized in Afrikaans, Amharic, Asturian (Spain), Bulgarian, Catalan, Croatian/Bosnian/Serbian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, Frisian (Germany and Holland), Galician (Spain), German, Icelandic, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Slovak, Slovenian, Tswana (Botswana), Ukrainian and Yiddish
Time Off
il giocare non è male, ma è male
il perdere (Italian)
there is no harm in playing but great harm in losing
Fun and games
Since the start of time the desire to fill it has resulted in a wide range of recreations. Simplest are the games played by children the world over:
toto (Cook Islands Maori) a shout given in a game of hide-and-seek to show readiness for the search to begin
pokku (Tulu, India) the throwing of pebbles up in the air and catching them as they fall
kabaddi (Pakistan) a game where players take it in turn to hold their breath
bakpi (Ulwa, Nicaragua) a game in which one is swung round in circles until dizzy
cnapan (Welsh) a game where each side tries to drive a wooden ball as far as possible in one direction
kula’i wawae (Hawaiian) the pushing of one’s feet against others while seated
kaengurustylte (Danish) a pogo stick (literally, kangaroo stilt)
Frozen walrus carcass
There are games that are highly specific to their culture and environment, such as the Inuit igunaujannguaq, which literally means frozen walrus carcass. This is a game where the person in the centre tries to remain stiff and is held in place by the feet of the people who are sitting in a circle. He is passed around the ring, hand over hand. Whoever drops him is the next ‘frozen walrus carcass’.
Honing your skills
As we grow up, what we look for in a game becomes increasingly challenging:
shash-andaz (Persian) someone who tries to juggle with six balls so that four are always in the air
antyaksari (Hindi) a pastime in which participants recite verses in turn, the first word of each new verse being the same as the last of the preceding one
kipapa (Hawaiian) to balance on top of a surfboard
waterponie (Afrikaans) a jet ski
elastikspring (Danish) bungee jumping
The beautiful game
One game in particular has achieved international pre-eminence, and a range of closely observed terms to describe it:
armario (Spanish) an awkward or unskilled player (literally, a wardrobe)
wayra jayt’a (Quechuan, Peru) a poor player (literally, an air kicker)
cazar (Spanish) to kick one’s opponent and not the ball
ariete (Spanish) a battering ram (centre forward)
verkac (Turkish) passing and running
baile, danze (Spanish) and melina (Italian) two players on the same team kicking the ball back and forth to kill time
roligan (Danish) a non-violent supporter
Taking a punt
Sometimes, fun is not enough; chance or expertise has to be made more exciting by speculation:
yetu (Tulu, India) gambling in which a coin is tossed and a bet laid as to which side it will fall on
quiniela (Spanish, USA) a form of betting in which the punter must choose the first and second-place winners in a race, though not necessarily in the correct order
parani (Cook Islands Maori) to put up a stake at poker without examining one’s cards
The moral perhaps being that it’s better to be the Persian kuz-baz, one who lends money to gamblers, than a mukhtir, one who risks his property in gambling.
Fingers crossed
Some people are born lechero, a Latin American Spanish word for lucky, literally meaning a milkman. Others may be less fortunate:
smolař (Czech) a person dogged by bad luck
apes (Indonesian) to have double bad luck
kualat (Indonesian) to be bound to have bad luck as a result of behaving badly
Break a leg
It’s intriguing that wishing people good luck often takes the form of willing ill fortune on them. The German Hals und Beinbruch, for example, takes the spirit of the English expression ‘break a leg’ and goes one step further – it translates as ‘break your neck and a leg’. The Italians offer an even more gruesome prospect: the cheery wish in bocca al lupo means ‘into the mouth of the wolf’.
The competitive streak
Everyone likes to win, but the methods employed to get ahead range from the inventive to the underhand:
chupar rueda (Spanish) running or cycling behind another to benefit from reduced wind resistance (literally, to suck wheel)
kunodesme (Ancient Greek) tying a string round the foreskin to stop the penis getting in the way during athletics (literally, putting the dog on a lead)
sirind (Persian) entangling legs in wrestling to trip your opponent (also a noose for catching prey by the foot)
poki (Cook Islands Maori) to deal cards from the bottom of the pack (i.e. unfairly)
False friends
boghandel (Danish) bookshop
rain (Arabic) viewer, spectator
arse (Turkish) violin bow
jerk (French) praise for an accomplished dancer
pensel (Swedish) paintbrush
catch (French) all-in wrestling
Crooning
For those without sporting interest or prowess, entertainment can be found in the realms of music…
iorram (Scottish Gaelic) a rowing song
dizlanmak (Turkish) to keep humming to yourself
Ohrwurm (German) a catchy tune that gets stuck in the brain or rapidly obsesses an entire population (literally, an ear worm)
ngak-ngik-ngok (Indonesian) a derogatory reference to the popularity of rock music in the 1960s (which was much despised by the late President Sukarno)
Twirling
… or of dancing
raspar canillas (Spanish, Central America) to dance (literally, to scrape shins)
zapateado (Spanish) the fast footwork and stamping feet used in dancing
mbuki-mvuki (Bantu, Zaire) to take off one’s clothes in order to dance
Ball paradox (German) a ball at which women ask men to dance
verbunkos (Hungarian) a dance performed to persuade people to enlist in the army
Clubbing
The Italians helpfully differentiate between the staff outside and inside a night club: the buttadentro, the one who throws you in, is the person in charge of choosing who gets through the door; while the buttafuori, the one who throws you
out, is the bouncer.
Channel surfing
For those who prefer to stay at home, there’s always the television, or Pantoffelkino (slippers cinema), as it’s described in German. The Romani language of the Gypsies takes a rather sterner view, regarding it as a dinnilos-dicking-muktar, or fool’s looking-box. Those with extra channels seem to be viewed as a cut-above in France, where cablé has now acquired the secondary sense of ‘hip and trendy’.
Hi-tech
Having invented numerous machines to give us free time, we now struggle to come up with others to help fill it:
tamagotchi (Japanese) a lovable egg (an electronic device which copies the demands for food or attention of a pet)
khali khukweni (Zulu) a mobile phone (literally, to make a noise in the pocket)
dingdong (Indonesian) computer games in an arcade
toelva (Icelandic) a computer (formed from the words for digit and prophetess)
xiaoxia (Chinese) small lobsters (new internet users)
The arts
There are some pastimes that are elevated, by their practitioners and admirers, onto an altogether higher plane:
sprezzatura (Italian) the effortless technique of a great artist wabi (Japanese) a flawed detail that enhances the elegance of the whole work of art
ostranenie (Russian) the process by which art makes familiar perceptions seem strange
Verfremdungseffekt (German) a dramatic technique that encourages the audience to preserve a sense of critical detachment from a play (literally, an alienating effect)
Philistines
Those who aren’t impressed by artistic claims have coined a different vocabulary:
megillah (Yiddish) an unnecessarily long and tiresome story or letter
de pacotilla (Spanish) a third-rate writer or actor
Rolling up
In our health-conscious world, can smoking still be regarded as recreation?
segatura (Italian) a cigarette made by mixing cigarette butts (literally, sawdust)
bakwe (Kapampangan, Philippines) to smoke a cigarette with the lit end in the mouth
nakurit’sya (Russian) to smoke to one’s heart’s content
zakurit’sya (Russian) to make oneself ill by excessive smoking
On reflection
Married in a brothel
Some words must remain a mystery to all except native speakers. You would have had to have lived in these places for quite a while to understand how to use correctly some of the following, which in their simply translated definitions contain what seem to us contradictory meanings:
hay kulu (Zarma, Nigeria) anything, nothing and also everything
irpadake (Tulu, India) ripe and unripe
sitoshna (Tulu, India) cold and hot
merripen (Romani, Gypsy) life and death
gift (Norwegian) poison and married
magazinshchik (Russian) a shopkeeper and a shoplifter
danh t (Vietnamese) a church and a brothel
aloha (Hawaiian) hello and goodbye (the word has many other meanings including love, compassion, welcome and good wishes)
Eating and Drinking
olcsó húsnak híg a leve (Hungarian) cheap meat produces thin gravy
Hunting, shooting…
In many parts of the world putting together a meal isn’t always simply a matter of making a quick trip to the local supermarket:
ortektes (Khakas, Siberia) to hunt together for ducks
geragai (Malay) a hook for catching crocodiles
sumpit (Malay) to shoot with a blowpipe
tu’utu’u (Rapa Nui, Easter Island) to hit the mark time and again (shooting with arrows)
ajawy (Wayampi, Brazil) to hit the wrong target
… and fishing
ta’iti (Cook Islands Maori) to catch fish by encircling a rock with a net and frightening them out
kapau’u (Hawaiian) to drive fish into a waiting net by splashing or striking the water with a leafy branch
lihnaka inska wauhwaia (Ulwa, Nicaragua) to slap the water and cause the fish to jump into a boat
nono (Rapa Nui, Easter Island) fish thrown onto the beach by the waves or which jump out of the water into a boat
kusyad (Persian) hard black stone thrown into the water to attract fish
fiskevaer (Norwegian) good weather for fishing
ah chamseyah chay (Chorti, Guatemala) someone who fishes with dynamite
pau heoheo (Hawaiian) a person who returns from fishing without any fish
Global gastronomy
When it comes to the extraordinary things that people around the world enjoy putting in their mouths, it’s certainly true that one man’s meat is another man’s poison:
ptsha (Yiddish) cow’s feet in jelly
poronkieli (Finnish) reindeer tongue
kokorec (Turkish) roasted sheep’s intestines
nama-uni (Japanese) raw sea urchin
Beuschel (German) stewed calves’ lungs
acitron (Mexican Spanish) candied cactus
somad (Sherpa, Nepal) cheese that is old and smelly
calimocho (Spanish) a combination of Coca-Cola and red wine
Gummiadler (German) tough roast chicken (literally, rubber eagle)
marilopotes (Ancient Greek) a gulper of coal dust
ampo (Malay) edible earth
Menu envy
In some cases, though, it’s the unfamiliar word rather than the food itself that may alarm the outsider:
flab (Gaelic) a mushroom
moron (Welsh) a carrot
aardappel (Dutch) a potato (literally, earth apple)
bikini (Spanish) a toasted ham and cheese sandwich
gureepufuruutsu (Japanese) a grapefruit
Can’t cook…
We all know the benefits of lumur (Malay), smearing ingredients with fat during cooking. But even that doesn’t always prevent kanzo (Hausa, Nigeria), burnt food stuck to the bottom of the pot. Perhaps it would help to know the right moment for nisar-qararat (Persian), cold water poured into a pot to stop it getting burnt. The only failsafe way of escaping this is to buy your food boli boli (Aukan, Suriname) – already cooked.
Bon appetit
Now we’re ready to eat…
protintheuo (Ancient Greek) to pick out the dainty bits beforehand, to help oneself first
muka (Hawaiian) a smacking sound with the lips, indicating that the food is tasty
pakupaku (Japanese) to eat in big mouthfuls or take quick bites
parmaklamak (Turkish) to eat with one’s fingers
sikkiwok (Inuit) to drink with your chin in the water
nusarat (Persian) crumbs falling from a table which are picked up and eaten as an act of piety
Boring food
The Japanese are emphatic about how dull food can be: suna o kamu yo na means ‘like chewing sand’. They even have an evocative term for rehashed food: nibansenji, meaning ‘brewing tea for the second time using the same tea-leaves’.