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See-you-home wolf

Beware those for whom the habit has become more important than the object:

Schuerzenjaeger (German) someone who chases after women (literally, a hunter of aprons)

amoureux d’une chèvre coiffée (French) a man who is attracted to every woman he sees (literally, a lover of a goat whose fur is combed)

buaya darat (Indonesian) a man who fools women into thinking he’s a very faithful lover when in fact he goes out with many different women at the same time (literally, land crocodile)

okuri-okami (Japanese) a man who feigns thoughtfulness by offering to see a girl home only to try to molest her once he gets in the door (literally, a see-you-home wolf)

tlazolmiquiztli (Aztec) the stench which emanates from adulterers

No sweat

For the less sophisticated, courtship can be full of confusing obstacles and hard work:

castigar (Latin American Spanish) purposely to ignore your boyfriend or girlfriend in order to heighten their yearning for you

janeleiro (Portuguese) said of one who spends a lot of time at the front window, especially a young woman who is something of a coquette

talisuyò (Tagalog, Philippines) the work done by a man to win a lady’s hand

shvitzer (Yiddish) someone who sweats a lot (especially a nervous seducer)

otenkiya (Japanese) someone who blows hot and cold (literally, weatherman)

Peppery-hot

So we can only hope that sincere feeling will win the day:

cay (Vietnamese) to be peppery-hot; to have a passion for

an jemandem einen Affen gefressen haben (German) to be infatuated with someone (literally, to have eaten a monkey in someone)

ciğerimin köşesinden (Turkish) to love someone from the bottom of your heart (literally, from the corner of your liver)

avoir des atomes crochus (French) to really hit it off (literally, to have hooked atoms)

Mouth relaxation

Comes the magic moment when the mental can at last become physical:

oxsanïstïr (Khakas, Siberia) to let oneself be kissed

conk (Hindi) the imprint of a kiss

smirikin (Scots) a stolen kiss

şap şap öpmek (Turkish) to kiss by making a smacking noise with the lips

csókolgat (Hungarian) to shower with kisses

cupang (Indonesian) a love bite (literally, Siamese fighting fish)

Spider feet

Then how easy life can be:

afilar (Argentinian Spanish) to chat with your sweetheart

gemas (Indonesian) a feeling of finding something or somebody so cute that you want to squeeze or pinch it

cafuné (Brazilian Portuguese) the loving, tender running of one’s fingers through the hair of one’s mate (from the act of a favoured slave who picked lice out of the slavemaster’s child’s hair)

cwtch (Welsh) to hug and snuggle up in a loving way

faire des pattes d’araignée (French) to touch lightly with the fingertips (literally, to make spider feet)

The Paraguayan way

One thing leads to another and soon events move to a whole new level. As the Russians say, ‘Snyavshi shtany, po volosam ne gladyat’, once you’ve taken off your pants it’s too late to look at your hair:

zulana (Mambwe, Zambia) to undress one another

lapóng (Tagalog, Philippines) sexual foreplay with the breasts

ikibari (Japanese) a lively needle, if a man is willing but under-endowed

Notstandt (German) an emergency erection

hacerlo a la paraguaya (Chilean Spanish) to have sex standing up (literally, the Paraguayan way)

voir la feuille à l’envers (French) to have sex under a tree (literally, to see the leaf from underneath)

rabu hoteru (Japanese) hotels especially for making love

The little death

The Maguindanaon language of the Philippines uses the same word, lembu, to describe both an orgasm and the fat of animals, whereas descriptions in other languages dwell on the intensity of the experience:

şiddetli heyecan (Turkish) literally, drastic excitement

höchste Wallung (German) literally, maximum bubbling

Secrets and lies

Such compelling activity brings with it, in some societies, a whole new set of excitements and problems:

Fensterln (German) the act of climbing a ladder to a woman’s window, bypassing the parents