Did you know, that in Germany a young man with suspiciously good manners is called Tantenverfurhrer (literally, aunt seducer), that in Namibia there is a word for walking on tiptoe through warm sand or that, in Welsh, gwarlingo is the rushing sound a grandfather clock makes before striking the hour. Whether you are physiggomai (Ancient Greek - excited by eating garlic) or knedlikovy (Czech - rather partial to dumplings) there are words here to charm and amuse everyone. Drawing on the collective wisdom of over 280 languages and packed with charming illustrations, Toujours Tingo is the perfect book for anyone interested in words, language or the world around them.

Author Biography

Adam Jacot de Boinod's interest in foreign languages was first aroused when doing research for the BBC programme QI and subsequently developed into a full-on vokabulyu (Russian - passion for foreign words). While searching through 280 dictionaries, 140 websites and numerous books on language, he developed an undoubted samlermani (Danish - mania for collecting), became close to being fisselig (German - flustered to the point of incompetence) and narrowly avoided karoshi (Japanese - death from overwork). He is now intending to nglayap (Indonesian - wander far from home with no particular purpose).