The Meaning of Tingo

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There's an easy word for your Sunday morning reading…say that three times fast!

It is actually a Dutch word for skimming stones, and sorta looks like how I would imagine that to sound. It's just one of the fascinating words compiled by Adam Jacot de Boinod in The Meaning of Tingo, a collection of extraordinary words from around the world. The book is a celebration of foreign words, and focuses on many of the world's words that have no English language equivalent.

This BBC piece explains that de Boinod believes the dictionaries of foreign countries say more about culture than the guidebooks, an interesting point to keep in mind when traveling. If you want a peek at more of the words included in the book, read this Independent article. The book is currently available through Amazon UK. I'm assuming it will be released in the states at some point in coming months. I'm looking forward to getting my hands on a copy.

Update 10/10/05: It appears Jason Kottke cited the same word as I did in his Tingo post last week, but soon heard from some Dutch folks claiming they knew of no such word. He's got more lowdown on the Tingo lingo controversy.

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