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10 Wise Words That Will Make You Laugh

Netscape Fun and Games ^ | 4/25/06 | Netscape Channels

Posted on by twippo

English may be a grand language, but sometimes you need to draw on another language to find the absolute perfect word to describe a situation. This list of 10 words is proof positive.

They were assembled by former BBC quiz-show researcher Adam Jacot de Boinod and published in his new book, "The Meaning of Tingo," which draws on intriguing words and phrases culled from more than 154 languages. It took two years, 280 dictionaries and 140 Web sites, as well as consultations with various foreign embassies, to conduct the research. Why did he write the book? de Boinod told the BBC News, "I'm trying to celebrate the joy of foreign words."

Tingo: A Pascuense language word from Easter Island that means borrowing items from a pal's house, one by one, until there is nothing left.

Kummerspeck: a German word that literally means "grief bacon" but refers to the excess weight gained from emotion-related overeating.

Bakku-shan: Japanese for a woman who "seems pretty when seen from behind but not from the front."

Ulykkesbilen: Danish for an "ill-fated car."

Putzfimmel: German word that means a mania for cleaning.

Nakkele: From Tulu, India, this describes a man who licks whatever the food has been served on.

Katahara itai: Japanese for laughing so hard that one side of your stomach hurts.

Drachenfutter: A German word that is "dragon fodder" when translated literally, but means the peace offerings made by guilty husbands to their wives.

Plimpplampplettere: Dutch for skimming stones.

Backpfeifengesicht: German for a face that cries out for a fist in it.



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To: twippo

Backpfeifengesicht: German for a face that cries out for a fist in it. Howard Dean?



To: twippo

bookmark



by 3 posted onby Talking_Mouse (Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just... Thomas Jefferson)

To: twippo

No Schadenfreude?



by 4 posted onby Koblenz (Holland: a very tolerant country. Until someone shoots you on a public street in broad daylight...)

To: twippo

LOL! The Germans have quite the vocabulary: Drachenfutter and Backpfeifengesicht ROFL!



I always liked "deja vu" myself.







by 5 posted onby phantomworker (What thy hand finds to do, do it with thy might, for there is nothing in the grave where thou goest.)

To: twippo

Widjadidja - A redneck word that asks if you brung yer truck widja.



by 6 posted onby cripplecreek (Never a minigun handy when you need one.)

To: twippo

Thanks and bookmark.



To: twippo

Bakku-shan: Japanese for a woman who "seems pretty when seen from behind but not from the front."



Butterface: English for a woman who "looks good everywhere else but her face.



by 8 posted onby Scribbz (Navy brat and proud!)

To: don-o

Helen Thomas?



To: twippo

*



To: twippo

Learn English.....frikkin foreigners



To: twippo

I am a helpless victim of chronic Putzfimmelophobia.



To: twippo

bump



by 13 posted onby Chickensoup (The water in the pot is getting warmer, froggies.The water in the pot is getting warmer, froggies.)

To: twippo

Bakku-shan: Japanese for a woman who "seems pretty when seen from behind but not from the front."



What about the reverse? Frontu-shan: "seems pretty when seen from front but not from the back" :)



To: don-o

Backpfeifengesicht Howard Dean? ROFL



To: don-o

Moussawi.



To: twippo

I have been a victim of the Bakku-shan many times.



To: twippo

English is a simple language, otherwise it would not have become the "Pidgin" of the world. Try German, Polish or Chinese for complexity.



To: edpc

I have been a victim of the Bakku-shan many times. Those damn beards are hard to see through long beautiful hair from the rear!LOL.



by 19 posted onby Randy Larsen (what he felt when he shot the insurgent with his sniper rifle he responded..."f**king recoil...what)

To: twippo

Bakku-shan: Japanese for a woman who "seems pretty when seen from behind but not from the front." I remember a guy telling me that my friend Caroline was an "O." "An O?" I asked. "Yeah." He said. "You see her from the back and you say Oh!" (lustfully.) "Then you see her face and (wince) go 'Oh!!'"



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