The secret of its international success is that it has shown respect for all other languages by adopting their words. As someone remarked, ‘The English language leads other languages up dark alleyways and then mugs them for all their good words’. For example: ‘pyjamas’ from Urdu, ‘nosh’ from Yiddish, ‘sofa’ from Arabic, ‘waltz’ from German, ‘cinema’ from Greek, ‘caravan’ from Persian, ‘bog’ from Gaelic, ‘shampoo’ from Hindi, ‘nitwit’ from
