They Have A Word For It: A Lighthearted Lexicon of Untranslatable Words and Phrases - Softcover

Howard Rheingold

Softcover

ISBN 10: 0874774640 ISBN 13: 9780874774641

Publisher: Tarcher, 1988

Synopsis

Examples taken from more than forty different languages demonstrate the ability of other languages to provide words for objects or thoughts that English lacks

About this title

Review

Which came first: The worldview, or the words to describe it? Very possibly the latter, argues the author of They Have a Word for It. "Finding a name for something," says Howard Rheingold, "is a way of conjuring its existence." While collecting words for this book, Rheingold says he "became sympathetic to the idea that we think and behave the way we do in large part because we have words that make these thoughts and behaviors possible, acceptable, and useful." Rheingold's refusal to pull together words for entertainment value alone--though many of these words, and Rheingold's commentary on them, are highly entertaining--is what has given this book (previously out of print) a kind of cult following.

Hawaiian contributes a word (ho'oponopono) here that means "solving a problem by talking it out"; Japanese, a term (kyoikumama) for a "mother who pushes her children into academic achievement"; Indonesian, a word (kekaku) meaning "to awaken from a nightmare"; and Mayan (some things, it seems, are universal), a concise way to say "stupid in-laws" (bol). While it is the Asian and obscure linguistic groups that seem to come up with the most "powerful" ideas, German wins for packing a whole sentence's worth of meaning into one (albeit long) word. How much happier Strunk and White would rest if we could just say Torschlüsspanik when discussing "the frantic anxiety experienced by unmarried women as they race against the 'biological clock'"; Treppenwitz when referring to the "clever remark that comes to mind when it is too late to utter it"; and Schlimmbesserung when lamenting "a so-called improvement that makes things worse." --Jane Steinberg

From the Publisher

A reprint of the much-in-demand They Have a Word for It, by Howard Rheingold, is first on the list for a new series, The Writer’s Studio. Sarabande Books, a nonprofit literary publisher of poetry and short fiction, began the new series to feature books that challenge, stimulate, and support the writer of poetry and short fiction. These titles will not be how-to books, but books for writers who already know how and are looking for further stimulation, or to deepen and expand their sense of community with other writers. It will be a varied and interesting group of books, dedicated to the pleasures and value of the writing life.

Edition details

• Publisher: Tarcher
• Publication date: 1988
• ISBN 10: 0874774640
• ISBN 13: 9780874774641
• Binding: Paperback
• Language: English
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 224