I Never Knew There Was a Word for It - Adam Jacot De Boinod [38]
Welsh blues
The Welsh for blue is glas, as in the expression yng nglas y dydd, in the blue of the day (the early morning). But glas is a hard-working word. It’s also used in the expression gorau glas (blue best), to mean to do one’s best, and, changing tack rather dramatically, it appears as glas wen (blue smile), a smile that is insincere and mocking. In Welsh literature, glas is a colour that is somewhere between green, blue and grey; it also has poetic meanings of both youth and death.
False friends
blank (German) shiny
hell (German) clear, bright, light
cafe (Quechuan, Peru) brown
Thai dress code
Thais believe that if they dress in a certain colour each day it will bring them good luck. The code is: Monday, yellow (lueang); Tuesday, pink (chom poo); Wednesday, green (kiaw); Thursday, orange (som); Friday, blue (nam ngem); Saturday, purple (muang); Sunday, red (daeng). Black (dam) is not lucky for conservative people and is reserved for funerals; unless you are young, in which case it’s seen as edgy and sophisticated.
Colour-coded
We can be green with envy, see red, or feel a bit blue. Colours have a strong symbolic force, but not everyone agrees on what they stand for:
Red
makka na uso (Japanese) a deep red (outright) lie
aka no tannin (Japanese) a red (total) stranger
film a luci rosse (Italian) a red (blue) film
romanzo rosa (Italian) a pink (romantic) story
vyspat se do červena/růžova (Czech) to sleep oneself into the red (have had a good night’s sleep)
Yellow
jaune d’envie (French) yellow (green) with envy
gelb vor Eifersucht werden (German) to become yellow with jealousy
kiroi koi (Japanese) a yellow (particularly screeching) scream
gul och blå (Swedish) yellow and blue (black and blue)
Black
svartsjuk (Swedish) black ill (jealousy)
hara guroi (Japanese) black stomach (wicked)
être noir (French) to be black (drunk)
mustasukkainen (Finnish) wearing black socks (jealous)
White
andare in bianco (Italian) to go into the white (to have no success with someone romantically)
ak akce kara gun icindir (Turkish) white money for a black day (savings for a rainy day)
un mariage blanc (French) a white marriage (a marriage of convenience)
obléci bílý kabát (archaic Czech) to put on the white coat (to join the army)
Blue
aoiki toiki (Japanese) sighing with blue breath (suffering)
blau sein (German) to be blue (drunk)
en être bleu (French) to be in the blue (struck dumb)
aoku naru (Japanese) blue with fright
blått öga (Swedish) blue eye (black eye)
modré pondlí (Czech) blue Monday (a Monday taken as holiday after the weekend)
Green
al verde (Italian) in the green (short of cash)
vara pa gron kvist (Swedish) as rich as green (wealthy)
langue verte (French) green language (slang)
darse un verde (Spanish) to give oneself greens (to tuck into one’s food)
aotagai (Japanese) to buy green rice fields (to employ college students prematurely)
On reflection
Polyglossary
Two countries, Papua New Guinea with over 850 languages and Indonesia with around 670, are home to a quarter of the world’s languages. If we add the seven countries that each possess more than two hundred languages (Nigeria 410, India 380, Cameroon 270, Australia 250, Mexico 240, Zaire 210, Brazil 210), the total comes to almost 3,500; which is to say that more than half of the world’s spoken languages come from just nine countries.
If we look at it in terms of continents, North, Central and South America have around one thousand spoken languages, which is about 15 per cent; Africa has around 30 per cent; Asia a bit over 30 per cent; and the Pacific somewhat under 20 per cent. Europe is by far the least diverse, having only 3 per cent of the world’s languages.
Number Crunching
c’est la goutte d’eau qui fait déborder