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kverulant (Czech) a chronic complainer, a litigious person

hesomagari (Japanese) perverse or cantankerous (literally, bent belly button)

Warm showerer

The Germans have pinpointed some particularly egotistic types:

Klugscheisser someone who always knows best (literally, smart shitter)

Warmduscher someone who is easy on himself (literally, warm showerer)

Nose in the clouds

And it’s another short step from egotism to conceit:

péter plus haut que son cul (French) to think highly of yourself (literally, to fart higher than your arse)

creerse la ultima Coca-Cola en el desierto (Central American Spanish) to have a very high opinion of oneself (literally, to think one is the last Coca-Cola in the desert)

nosom para oblake (Serbian) he’s conceited, puffed up (literally, he’s ripping clouds with his nose)

khenh khang (Vietnamese) to walk slowly like an important person, to put on airs

cuello duro (Spanish) a snob, stuck-up (literally, hard or stiff neck – from keeping one’s nose in the air)

Impressing

Almost as irritating as the conceited and the pompous are those who fail to see that, as they say in the Kannada language of Southern India, ‘Tumbida koDa tuLukuvudilla’, the pot which is full does not splash:

farolero (Spanish) a show-off (literally, a lantern maker)

m’as-tu-vu (French) a show-off (literally, one who constantly asks other people ‘Did you see me?’)

Spesenritter (German) someone who shows off by paying the bill on the firm’s money (literally, expense knight)

poshlost (Russian) ostentatious bad taste

jor-joran (Indonesian) to compete in showing off one’s wealth

elintasokilpailu (Finnish) keeping up with the Joneses

Sucking up

And yet, despite their obvious failings, both snobs and show-offs are often surrounded by the human equivalent of a benign parasite. As the Spanish say, ‘La lisonja hace amigos, y la verdad enemigos’, flattery makes friends and truth makes enemies:

chupamedias (Chilean Spanish) a sycophant (literally, sock sucker)

banhista (Portuguese) someone who soft-soaps another

digdig (Manobo, Philippines) to praise a person for the quality which he lacks in order to encourage him to develop that quality

jijirika (Chichewa, Malawi) to curry favour by doing more than expected, but not necessarily well

Eejit

Can it get worse? Unfortunately it can:

lū-lū (Hindi) an idiot, nincompoop

gugbe janjou (Tibetan) a stupid person trying to be clever

kaptsn (Yiddish) one who does not amount to anything and never will

eldhus-fifi (Old Icelandic) an idiot who sits all day by the fire

el semaforo de medianoche (Venezuelan Spanish) a person no one respects and of whom everyone takes advantage, a pushover (literally, traffic light at midnight)

Salt in the pumpkin

‘It is foolish to deal with a fool,’ say the practical Japanese, though the Chinese wisely observe that ‘He who asks is a fool for five minutes, but he who does not ask remains a fool forever.’ Such observations reveal what the Catalans call seny, a canny common sense. Others value such qualities too:

ha sale in zucca (Italian) he has common sense (literally, he’s got salt in the pumpkin)

baser (Arabic) one with great insight or one who is blind

Idiot savant

In Italy you are stupido come l’acqua dei maccheroni, as stupid as macaroni water; in Lithuania, kvailas kaip žąsis, as silly as a goose; while in France you can be as stupid as une cruche (a pitcher), un pot (a pot) or un chou (a cabbage). But even idiots are not necessarily all they seem:

adalahendry (Malagasy, Madagascar) a person ignorant yet wise in some things

Spruchkasper (German) a fool full of wise sayings

apo trelo kai apo pedi mathenis tin aletheia (Greek proverb) from a crazy person and from children you learn the truth

Pregnant birds

Although the very young can delight us with their wonderful and surprising remarks, naivety is not, sadly, a state of mind that will work for a lifetime:

creer en pajaritos preñados (Venezuelan Spanish) to be credulous (literally, to believe in pregnant birds)