Whether you’re a crossword solver, cryptogram fan, Scrabble addict, or Sudoku savant, The Language Lover’s Puzzle Book is guaranteed to tease your brain and twist your tongue. Puzzle master Alex Bellos begins in Japan, where we can observe some curious counting:
boru niko = two balls
tsuna nihon = two ropes
uma nito = two horses
kami nimai = two sheets of paper
ashi gohon = five legs
ringo goko = five apples
sara gomai = five plates
kaba goto = five hippos
Now, how do the Japanese say “nine cucumbers”?*
a) kyuri kyuhon
b) kyuri kyuko
c) kyuri kyuhiki
d) kyuri kyuto
Bellos finds the intrigue–and the human element–in a dizzying array of ancient, modern, and even invented tongues, from hieroglyphs to Blissymbolics, Danish to Dothraki. Filled with unusual alphabets, fascinating characters, and intriguing local customs for time-telling, naming children, and more, this is a bravura book of brainteasers and beyond–it’s a globe-trotting, time-traveling celebration of language.
*The word endings depend on shape: Flat things end in -mai and spherical things end in -ko. Cucumbers are long things (like ropes and legs), so they end in -hon. The answer is (a)!
Author: Alex Bellos
Binding Type: Paperback
Publisher: Experiment
Published: 11/09/2021
Series: Alex Bellos Puzzle Books
Pages: 416
Weight: 1.1lbs
Size: 8.98h x 5.98w x 1.18d
ISBN: 9781615198047
Language: English
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