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Gymnasium (German) grammar school, high school

son (Vietnamese) to be still childless

Daughter in a box

… but not to the point where they overdo it:

onba-higasa (Japanese) a wealthy family’s pampered child (literally, wet nurse and parasol)

curlingforeldre (Danish) parents who do anything to sweep the road of life ahead of their children to ensure that it is free of obstacles (literally, curling parents)

hakoiri-musume (Japanese) a young woman who has always been protected from the harsh realities of life by doting parents (literally, daughter in a box)

ser flor de estufa (Spanish) overprotected, not allowed to become independent (literally, to be a hothouse flower)

Impossible child

‘The child who is one night old,’ say the Arabs, ‘has already learned to annoy its parents.’ It doesn’t stop there:

lundaezi (Lozi, Niger-Congo) to walk in the manner of a disrespectful angry child

riu’ (Iban, Sarawak and Brunei) rushing about and getting in the way (especially of children)

upuk’anaana (Yamana, Chile) to throw away anything cooked, as a naughty child might throw away a fish its mother gave it to eat

bunget (Manobo, Philippines) as a child, to want something one can’t have, get angry and then refuse it when it is finally offered

Dolls’ house

Distractions must be found; and the Yamana speakers of Chile have several delightfully specific words to describe the making of toys for children and how they play with them:

tukau-iyana to put a foot or feet on a doll or a picture of one

utellana to make or put eyes in the head of a figure one carves or draws

tumusgaia to put down with the face upwards, as with some dolls on a table

kaiyena-na to play quietly, as a little child with a toy

manax-soatekana to play with someone else’s toys

Junken a munken

But who needs toys when kids are so delightfully inventive anyway?

goagoana (Setswana, Botswana) to shout at each other in play

chottu (Tamil) a slap on the head with both hands in play

ha-lo-po (Car, Nicobar Islands) to have practical jokes played on one

junken a munken, a sucka sucka po, wailuku wailuku, bum bum show (Hawaiian Pidgin) a kids’ way of deciding who goes first: eeny meeny miney mo

Cheese head

The years race by; things seem to change so fast:

propanach (Gaelic) a well-built boy, beginning to run about

botshegangangatswane (Setswana, Botswana) little boys when still at a stage when they are unabashed by their nakedness

kaaskop (Dutch) a very blond, rosy-cheeked child (literally, cheese head)

timtum (Yiddish) a beardless youth with a high-pitched voice

On reflection

My sister’s toenails look like my grandfather’s

From ‘Around the rugged rock, the ragged rascal ran’ to ‘red leather, yellow leather’, a key part of learning a language is being able to master its tongue-twisters. They are always decidedly odd sentences. One French example featuring the s sound focuses on food:

Combien de sous sont ces saucissons-ci? Ces saucis-sons-ci sont six sous (How much are these sausages here? These sausages here are six cents.)

While a German tongue-twister that offers a lot of practice in the pronunciation of sch portrays a rather dangerous situation:

Zwei schwartze schleimige Schlangen sitzen zwischen zwei spitzigen Steinen und zischen (Two black slimy snakes sit between two pointed stones and hiss.)

Other favourites include:

Kuku kaki kakak kakak ku kayak kuku kaki kakek kakek ku (Indonesian) My sister’s toenails look like my grandfather’s.

Méla babka v kapse brabce, brabec babce v kapse píp. Zmáčkla babka brabce v kapse, brabec babce v kapse chcíp (Czech) Grandma had a sparrow in her pocket and the sparrow made a sound. Grandma pressed the sparrow and it died.

Als vliegen achter vliegen vliegen, vliegen vliegen vliegensvlug (Dutch) If flies fly behind flies, flies will fly like lightning.

Król Karol kupil Królowej Karolinie korale koloru koralowego (Polish) King Karl bought Queen Caroline a coral-coloured bead.

Saya sebal sama situ sebab situ suka senyum-senyum sama suami saya saya sehingga sekarang suami