{"id":413,"date":"2015-04-21T16:06:27","date_gmt":"2015-04-21T16:06:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/?p=413"},"modified":"2015-04-21T16:06:27","modified_gmt":"2015-04-21T16:06:27","slug":"for-the-love-of-language-tingo-and-other-cool-words","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/for-the-love-of-language-tingo-and-other-cool-words\/","title":{"rendered":"For the Love of Language: Tingo and Other Cool Words"},"content":{"rendered":"

I love words. Since I’m a writer, this probably sounds obvious.\u00a0However, it’s more than simply enjoying little squiggly lines that come together to form thoughts and speech. I love reading and creating (or at least trying to create) fun wordplay and unusual metaphors and similes.\u00a0Alliteration is\u00a0practically my best friend, and from Lord Byron to Shirley Jackson, striking imagery\u00a0in\u00a0poetry and prose\u00a0inspires me again and again. But those aren’t the only ways language can be fun and surprising. Another aspect of\u00a0literature that has long\u00a0fascinated me is how many certain words from other languages have no equivalent in English. Embracing my German roots, I’ve always harbored a particular fondness for the\u00a0ridiculous ‘schadenfreude’ or\u00a0the reveling in the misfortunes of others. German nincompoops notwithstanding,\u00a0there are plenty of other cool words out there that don’t get their due in the English language.\"Tingo\"
\nLast year, I came across an article on the Huffington Post that appealed to my inner word lover: 28 Genius Depictions of Words with No Direct English Translation<\/a>. Artist Anjana Iyer crafted a series of pictures that highlights those elusive words that the English-speaking world is missing out on. A\u00a0couple of standouts\u00a0are Backpfeifengesicht, German for “a face badly in need of a fist” and Shlimazl, Yiddish for “a chronically\u00a0 unlucky person.”<\/p>\n

\"Tingo<\/a>All of Iyer’s artwork is unbelievably lush and gorgeous. But one word struck me more than the rest:\u00a0‘tingo,’ a concept meaning “to gradually steal all the possessions out of a neighbor’s house by borrowing and not returning.” While the\u00a0“split screen” of this piece\u00a0has Iyer’s characteristic whimsy,\u00a0the horror writer in me\u00a0couldn’t help\u00a0but envision something a bit more malevolent.\u00a0In under a minute, I had designed an entire story concept revolving around this heretofore unknown word.<\/p>\n

Earlier this month, the Indiana Voice Journal published my story, which is titled simply, “Tingo.” It follows a woman named April who\u00a0must deal with\u00a0a neighbor that\u00a0asks to borrow more than the proverbial cup of sugar—she wants\u00a0April’s whole life, starting with the paintings on the wall and ending with her husband and son. It’s a definite psychological horror story with tinges of the supernatural, one that’s short and not-so-sweet, so check it out in the\u00a0current issue of Indiana Voice Journal<\/a> if you feel so inclined.<\/p>\n

While preparing this blog, I couldn’t help but feel that it wouldn’t be complete without including\u00a0Anjana Iyer’s\u00a0original depiction of tingo. After all, that was\u00a0where I found my initial inspiration. So I contacted Ms. Iyer, and she was gracious enough to give me permission to use her illustration. Can I just admit I\u00a0basically squealed like a\u00a0total fan girl when an artist whose work I’d been admiring from afar responded to me? Yes, I will admit that.<\/p>\n

So please visit Ms. Iyer’s site here<\/a>. She’s an incredible artist, and everyone should know her work. Plus, I can guarantee you’ll learn a few new words along the way. If nothing else, her artistry will provide you the most enjoyable vocabulary lesson of your life. And from a word lover like me, that’s really saying something.<\/p>\n

Happy reading!<\/p>\n

First image copyright of Bill Homan. Second image copyright of Anjana Iyer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I love words. Since I’m a writer, this probably sounds obvious.\u00a0However, it’s more than simply enjoying little squiggly lines that come together to form thoughts and speech. I love reading and creating (or at least trying to create) fun wordplay and unusual metaphors and similes.\u00a0Alliteration is\u00a0practically my best friend, and from Lord Byron to Shirley […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[21],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-fiction","tag-indiana-voice-journal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":426,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions\/426"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.gwendolynkiste.com\/Blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}