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apocheirotonesis (Ancient Greek) a rejection by a show of hands

chaquetero (Central American Spanish) someone who changes political ideas as easily as changing shirts

porros (Mexican Spanish) thugs who stand around polling stations and intimidate voters

Full poodle

… with leaders directly answerable to us and our interests:

phak kanmuang (Thai) political parties that become active only during or prior to elections

Politpopper (German) politically correct and correctly dressed (literally, a square politician)

göra en hel Pudel (Swedish) a politician, or some other well-known person who has done something bad, publicly admitting being bad but promising not to do it again and humbly asking for forgiveness (literally, do a full poodle)

Muffled

Perhaps we just have to accept that the political mindset is never going to change that radically:

aincātānī (Hindi) the manipulation and manoeuvring, tugging and pulling, a struggle inspired by selfish motives

ficcarsi (Italian) to get access to a group to gain advantages from them

başina çorap örmek (Turkish) to plot against someone (literally, to knit a sock for the head)

akal bulus (Indonesian) a cunning ploy (literally, a turtle’s trick)

akarnok (Hungarian) someone with unscrupulous ambition

Power corrupts

It’s commonly accepted that there are all kinds of unofficial extra benefits to being in power. The phrase in the Sinhala language of Sri Lanka for a local member of parliament, dheshapaalana adhikaari, also means crook and someone born out of wedlock:

sglaim (Gaelic) a great deal of the good things of life acquired in a questionable way

dedocratico (Spanish) an undemocratic appointment to a governmental position

zalatwic (Polish) using acquaintances to accomplish things unofficially

bal tutan parmağini yalar (Turkish proverb) a person who holds the honey licks his finger (a person given a job involving valuables will gain some benefit for himself)

kazyonnovo kozla za khvost poderzhat – mozhno shubu sshit’ (Russian proverb) just even from having once held a state goat’s tail one can make a fur coat (i.e. an official can make money by bribes)

On reflection

Tail between legs

Many everyday English words are derived from other languages. Finding out more about their roots often casts a fascinating new light on the word itself:

accolade derives from the French accoler (to embrace) because knighthoods were initially conferred with an embrace

agony comes from the Ancient Greek agonia (contest): the athletes in training for the Olympic Games put their bodies through intense discipline to reach the peak of fitness, denying themselves normal pleasures and enduring punishing physical tests

coward comes from the Old French couard (tail) and thus we have the image of a dog retreating with its tail between its legs

jargon comes from the Old French word jargoun (twittering), the sound made by birds, incomprehensible to others

muscle is descended from the Latin word musculus (little mouse), a rather apt description of the moving and changing form under the skin, especially of the arms and legs

Talk box

The language of politics is famous for both rollo (Spanish), the long boring speech (literally, a paper roll), and for double speak. All round the world it’s very important to listen extremely closely to what politicans say – and to what they don’t:

borutela (Tsonga, South Africa) to praise another in his presence but malign him behind his back

feleka (Setswana, Botswana) to speak so as to conceal one’s meaning; to be intentionally ambiguous

chíndugirathu (Tamil) to give a sign by pressing with the finger, unobserved by any third party

tok bokkis (Tok Pisin, Papua New Guinea) a way of giving words hidden meanings (literally, talk box)

achakiy (Quechuan, Andes) to say one thing and do something else

Problem solving

The Bambuti people of Congo have no chiefs or formal system of government; problems and disputes are solved by general discussion often involving the