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engkilu’ (Iban, Sarawak and Brunei) sticks or leaves used as toilet paper

zasedat’ (Russian) to sit on the toilet for a long time (literally, to preside)

Toilet museum

Some insist on trying to make us forget why we’re there at all:

toirebijutsukan (Japanese) a trend whereby young women moving into an apartment alone for the first time will go to extreme lengths to decorate their lavatory, scent it with perfume and stock it with interesting literature (literally, toilet museum)

Spatially aware

We all know these domestic places and spaces; but not all languages have such precise words for them:

bakatoo (Mandinka, West Africa) the space between the bed and the wall

izungu (Mambwe, Zambia) the space between the bed and the ground

caukā (Hindi) a clean corner in the kitchen for having meals; a rectangular slab of stone

Giftschrank (German) a cupboard where things are kept that may only be lent out to someone with special permission (literally, poison cabinet)

antardvā r (Hindi) a private door inside a house

rincón (Spanish) the internal corner (the external corner is esquina)

Besucherritze (German) the gap where the middle of three people lies when two single beds are pushed together (literally, a visitor’s trench)

Crumb thief

The same is true of the clutter we fill our rooms up with; until, as the Russians say, ‘Igolku nygde votknut’, there’s nowhere you can throw a needle:

dur dicki mengri (Romani) a telescope (literally, far-seeing-thing)

hap laplap bilong wasim plet (Tok Pisin, Papua New Guinea) a dish cloth

kruimeldief (Dutch) a hoover (literally, a crumb thief)

Staubsauger (German) a vacuum cleaner (literally, dustsucker)

yötwënukwastahkwa’ (Mingo, USA) radio (literally, people use it for spreading their voice out)

dinnilos dikkamuktar (Romani) television (literally, fool’s looking box)

Flimmerkasten (German) television (literally, flickering box)

Whatever our circumstances, in the end, perhaps, we should just be grateful that we are á-panna-griha (Sanskrit), someone whose house has not fallen in.

IDIOMS OF THE WORLD

To make a mountain out of a molehill

tehdä kärpäsestä härkänen (Finnish) to make a bull out of a fly

se noyer dans un verre d’eau (French) to drown oneself in a glass of water

til ka taad banaana or rai ka pahaad banana (Hindi) to turn a sesame seed into a large tree or to turn a mustard seed into a mountain

arcem e cloaca facere (Latin) to make a stronghold out of a sewer

narediti iz muhe slona (Slovenian) to make an elephant from a fly

14.

Dinner Time

kopeklerin duası kabul olsa gökten kemik yağardı (Turkish)

if dogs’ prayers were accepted it would rain bones from the sky

Rushed breakfast

When it comes to eating there is, of course, no such thing as a typical meal:

munkavacsora (Hungarian) a working dinner

kamatuao (Gilbertese, Oceania) a meal for one who wakes during the night

bulunenekinoo (Mandinka, West Africa) the first meal cooked by a bride

ottobrata (Italian) a country outing or picnic in October

hwyaden (Welsh) the small amount of breakfast a newly married man has time to eat when leaving home for work after intimacy with his new wife (literally, a duck)

My tapeworm is talking

And there are still many parts of the world where you can’t take any kind of refreshment for granted:

kemarok (Malay) ravenously hungry after an illness

hiukaista (Finnish) to feel hungry for something salty

paragadupu (Telugu, India) the state of the stomach before a person has broken his fast

fulumizya (Mambwe, Zambia) to cook quickly for somebody who is very hungry

étaomêhótsenôhtóvenestse napâhpóneehéhame (Cheyenne, USA) being very hungry (literally, my tapeworm can almost talk by itself)

Sampling

Particular skills are often required to make sure you’ve got the very best of the ingredients available:

kupit’ arbuz navyrez (Russian) to buy a watermelon with the right to sample a section

pale (Scots) to test a cheese by an incision