The Greeks Had a Word for It: Words You Never Knew You Can't Do Without

by Andrew Taylor

Do you ever search in vain for exactly the right word? Perhaps you want to articulate the vague desire to be far away. Or you can’t quite convey that odd urge to go outside and check to see if anyone is coming. Maybe you’re struggling to express there being just the right amount of something – not too much, but not too little. While the English may not have a word for it, the good news is that the Greeks, the Norwegians, the Dutch or possibly the Inuits probably do.





Whether it’s the German spielzeug (that instinctive feeling of ‘rightness’) or the Indonesian jayus (a joke so poorly told and so unfunny that you can’t help but laugh), this delightful smörgåsbord of wonderful words from around the world will come to the rescue when the English language fails. Part glossary, part amusing musings, but wholly enlightening and entertaining, The Greeks Had a Word For It means you’ll never again be lost for just the right word.

Genres: Nonfiction, Language, Linguistics

208 pages, Hardcover

First published October 1, 2015

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads data base.

Reviews

[Celine Pattni · Rating 3 out of 5]

Quite interesting to learn some meaningful words from all over the world/ cultures. I liked it but you cannot really consider it as a literature source, it is more like a entertaining funny dictionary! Good if you would like to pose around with using some of these intellectual words :)

[Deborah Pickstone · Rating 4 out of 5]

Andrew Taylor's compilation of words we haven't got in English and he thinks we need. I love books about words and this is a pretty good one, displaying a nice sense of humour on the part of Mr Taylor, who never gets so 'clever' that it irritates. Amusing and interesting.

[Rebecca Fung · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolutely loved learning about funny words from other languages. I've read a few books on words recently and I'm biased as I love learning about new words. They all ranked highly as just compiling interesting words is already a thumbs up from me. It's hard to do it badly when the author's passion for interesting words shines through.

Andrew Taylor's book has some nice categories but what is different about it from some other books I've seen is that:

A. It focuses on foreign words (to English speakers)
B. Instead of compiling a large list of many weird and wonderful words, it has a shorter compilation but a musing and background on each word.

I liked the discussion piece on each word rather than simply a list. It was good to think about the background of the word, the cultural context and usage, especially for foreign words. The different ethnic mixes - Yiddish, Scottish, French, Japanese, Mandarin, etc are a great variety and the reflections on these cultures and how they lend to the concepts behind these words is great value to the word-lover.

[Jonathan · Rating 4 out of 5]

I really did enjoy reading this one, but now I've actually finished it I find it difficult to rate. This is because now it's back on the shelf, what do I do with it? I was thinking of the realistic possibility of appropriating into English some of the words showcased. I took a while to read it to see if any stuck in my brain. There is certainly some good material a wordsmith could really work with. A couple of the words I loved the concept of and may well adopt. For example, I love the idea of early morning picnic breakfast (gokottas) and the unread book pile does deserve a name, but with the latter, I wonder if we should blend together another word. Somehow I can't imagine people saying "this is my tsundoku". This last point perhaps identifies where I struggle most with it. While really enjoyable, how would I use a majority of these words without seeming like a snob?

[Malcolm · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a pleasant read given that its topic is lexicography. It is an idiosyncratic list of loan words or words we should be borrowing from other languages. I see a few of the words I knew made the list, (schadenfreude and hygge) and some I wish I'd known about a long time ago, such as komorebi, the magical atmosphere created by sunlight filtering through leaves, or tsundoku, a pile of books waiting to be read.
While I found the first group of words on Matters of the heart, to be ho hum, the rest of the book was a delight.

[George Boyer · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a nice short read, I love learning about other languages and this book helped satisfy a crave I've recently been having for books about words and linguistics. Overall, if you're interested in languages and what certain words (or lack thereof) can say about that language and it's culture, I'd highly recommend it.

[Alex · Rating 3 out of 5]

It is a great book from the contents of learning words from other languages un english don't have. However the whole book is emphasised around the greek words it contains, which are almost the least represented language, if you're looking for French, German and Japanese this is the book for you.

My conclusion from this book is I want to learn German.

[A_quiet_read · Rating 2 out of 5]

just a collection of the most popular untranslatable words. The explanations were at times too long

[Lucia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Quite boring, often judgy of peoples for no valid reason, and sometimes factually incorrect with translations and descriptions.

[Judith Rich · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very funny little book I was given for Christmas.

My favourite was the Armenian word meaning "the embarrassment of realising you've eaten it all". Which I must learn. As I need to use it whenever I look at an empty packet of nuts / bar of chocolate / family sized quiche.