"A delightful treasure house, literally a thesaurus, of linguistic marvels." --from the foreword by bestselling authorSimon WinchesterA colorfullyillustrated collection of more than 90 untranslatable words & phrases & the unique insights they offer into the cultures they come from.Ever racked your brain for a word you're convinced should exist, yet is inexplicably absent from the dictionary? All languages have their limitations-shouldEnglishfall short, the expression may lie elsewhere. That's where this book comes in:a quirky, international lexicon of linguistic gems that capture cultural untranslatables with satisfying precision.Take for example the Japaneseyoko meshi, “a meal eaten sideways,” describing the experience of trying to communicate in an alien tongue, ormono-no-aware, the appreciation of life's sadness. From the distinctive coziness of the Danishhygge, to the unrestrained dis of the Mayanbol(“in-laws” & “stupidity”), to the profound collectivism of the Zulu concept ofubuntu(roughly, “I AM because WE ARE"), thesemots justesare grouped according to language & prefaced with insightful overviews of the relevant cultures by linguistChristopher J. Moore.Embellished with 20 entertaining new untranslatable words & phrases & 90 characterful color illustrations byLan Truong, & with a foreword bySimon Winchester,In Other Wordsis amusing, profound, & unputdownable--a gorgeously packaged gift book to entertain even the most well-versed polyglot with marvels of language from around the world.In 2001Moorebecame a full-time writer. Recently published isWho's Whose?: A No-Nonsense Guide to Easily Confused Words(Bloomsbury, 2004). He is also the author of theNick Revillseries, a sequence of historical mysteries based inElizabethan London& set aroundShakespeare'sGlobe theatre.