Book Description
I am glad that Peter Charles found words to enjoy in my book "In Other Words." I would also like to clarify a point, which is that his ’ suggestion of a "howler" in my book assumes a statement and a comparison which I never made, and the suggested parallel with Latin and French has no relevance here. In my text I was discussing modern Hebrew, a very different construction from biblical Hebrew, and a new language created with a twentieth century form that rests on the assimilation of influences from speakers from many different origins. For none of these speakers was Hebrew a first language, and for this reason the emergence of modern spoken Hebrew has been likened to a creolization, different only in having a modern historical literature. Academics are by no means sure of how this process came about, but there is every reason to suppose that the widespread use of Yiddish was a significant factor in the forging of modern spoken Hebrew. Some academics take a strong view on this, others a weaker one, but the evidence for Yiddish structure and lexis is all too clear in the writings of, for example, Mendele Mocher Sfarim writing at the end of the nineteenth century, and in other documented sources.
I hope this sheds some light on a subject which remains of great interest to linguists.
CJMoore
Synopsis
Why do we say bete noire and not 'black beast', doppelganger and not 'double goer'? When is it that meanings become lost in translation and it is simply more satisfying to use the original? This wonderfully accessible book gives unique insights into different cultures and languages by looking at the distinctive words they use as well as giving you a whole new vocabulary for those elusive things you never had a word for. Where would we be without saudade, the Portuguese wistful nostalgia which makes their fado music unlike any other in the world? What other word is there for the barefaced gutsy presumption encapsulated by the Yiddish word chutzpah? And wouldn't you like to have a word for that irritating person who buttonholes you to tell you their long stories of woe? They are truly an attaccabottoni (lit. = a person who attacks your buttons). Or what about the Japanese yokomeshi, which means 'horizontal rice', in other words a meal eaten sideways, and describes the difficulty of learning a foreign language - particularly appropriate for Japanese learners, where mastering the written language involves the shift from 'vertical' to 'horizontal' writing. Meticulously researched with dozens of specialist language consultants, and accessibly written by a linguist in the field, this book will appeal to anyone interested in language and world cultures. Exploring the words of different languages by chapter, the volume is lavishly illustrated in colour and extremely browsable. The foreword is written by Simon Winchester. This book is for anyone who has ever travelled and been fascinated by the culture they were visiting. In Other Words is a guide to the linguistic gems that capture a notion, defy translation, and define the cultures of the world.
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