Toujours Tingo

Author: Adam Jacot de Boinod
Penguin, 10.99

THERE ARE 26 letters in the alphabet and five of those letters are vowels. We put these letters together in a seemingly endless number of combinations to make words and sounds that tickle our ear drums and give us information such as, “your car is being towed” or “I love you” or “I’m sorry you’ll have to speak up, I’m wearing a towel.” For every clever word or turn of phrase that we have in the English language, it is certain that every other language has hundreds, even thousands more. Toujours Tingo is a compendium for the amazing array of idioms, axioms, and phrases that will delight your bones and stimulate your smile centres. This book by Adam Jacot de Boinod is a sequel to the bestseller, The Meaning of Tingo.

‘Tingo’ is a phrase that comes from the Easter Islands, which means to steal items from a friend’s house, one at a time, until there is nothing left. There is no other book available today that can give you that information, along with the fact that ‘hiza ga warau’ is a Japanese expression describing that wobbly feeling you have after dashing up several flights of stairs (literally, my knees are laughing).

This compendium is perfect for any logophile and especially anyone with ‘vokabulyu’ (Russian) – a passion for foreign words. It’s a great thing to have for any lull in the conversation, awkward silence, or lazy Sunday afternoon. This book is the proverbial destructor of the frozen water. Sidle up to an attractive girl in a café and tell her that she is a ‘rombhoru’ (Bengali) – a woman with thighs as well shaped as banana trees. Chat with that cute boy on the Magic Bus and tell him that in Chile to have sex standing up is called the Paraguayan way (‘hacerlo a la paraguaya’).

Every subject is covered. From love to arguments, from flirting to sex to relationships. There’s a chapter dedicated to drinks, drinking, and a whole variety of ways to say you’re drunk. Sit down with a glass of Port and ‘gargalacar’ (Portuguese) – drink from the bottle – or perhaps ‘srann’ (Gaelic) – drink as deep as one’s breath will permit until you are literally full of stars and hail – ‘sternhagelvoll’ (German).

Toujours Tingo is fun from beginning to end. This book is definitely a great pick up and will make you laugh until you become a ‘ngisngis’ (Manobo, Phillipines) – go look that one up yourself.

9/10