If, on holiday, you try to speak in the local vernacular and the reply comes back in English, offer them a word from their own vocabulary they are unlikely to know.
Long haul
gurfa (Arabic) the amount of water scooped up in one hand.
kontal-kontil (Malay) the swinging of long earrings as one walks.
ho'oponopono (Hawaiian) solving a problem by talking it out.
cotisuelto (Caribbean Spanish) one who wears the shirt tail outside of the trousers.
Short haul
queesting (Dutch) allowing a lover access to one's bed for chitchat.
pesamenteiro (Portuguese) one who habitually joins groups of mourners at a wake, ostensibly to offer condolences but in reality to partake of the refreshments which he expects will be served.
faire une queue de poisson (French) to overtake and cut in close in front of a car (literally, to do a fishtail).
gattara (Italian) a woman who devotes herself to stray cats.
resfeber (Swedish) to be jittery before a journey.
Adam Jacot de Boinod
I Never Knew There Was A Word For It, by Adam Jacot de Boinod is published by Penguin Books
