Biting the Wax Tadpole: Confessions of a Language Fanatic [Hardcover]

Elizabeth Little (Author)

Book Description

Release date: November 1, 2007

In this decidedly unstuffy look at the staid world of languages, Elizabeth Little uses her favorite examples from languages dead, difficult, and just plain made-up to reveal how language study is the ticket to traveling the world—without leaving the comforts of home. Little’s exploration of “word travel” includes:

• Shona, a language lacking distinct words for “blue” or “green”
• Why Icelandic speakers must decide if the numbers 1-4 are plural
• Which language is the only one lacking verbs
• Just what, exactly, the Swedish names of IKEA products mean

Fully illustrated with hilarious sidebars, Biting The Wax Tadpole also addresses classic cases of mistranslation. For example, when Chinese shopkeepers tried to find a phonetic written equivalent of Coca-Cola, one set of characters they chose were pronounced “ke-kou ke-la.” It sounded right, but it translated literally as “bite the wax tadpole.” Not quite what Coke had in mind, but in this off-kilter ode to the words of the world, it’s just another example of language taking you someplace interesting.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In her debut book, writer and editor Little searches in linguistic nooks and crannies for the quirks, innovations and implausibilities of the world's languages, threading witty pop culture references through tapestries of language trivia written with the not-so-linguistic reader in mind. (The title refers to the mistranslation in Chinese of Coca-Cola.) Little strips linguistics of its academic drudgery, showing how the Tangut language uses verbs by translating phrases like Johnny Cash's lyric I shot a man in Reno just to watch him die; referring to pop-culture icons like Al Gore, Jabba the Hutt and the Smurfs to get the point across; and covering every language from Yoruba, a West African language, to the verbless Kelen, invented as an experiment by a Berkeley undergraduate. The book contains charming anecdotes, witty sidebars, attractive illustrations (by Ayumi Piland) and comprehensive linguistics lessons on topics ranging from the well-known (Verbs conjugate, nouns decline) to the obscure (the disjunctive adjective: The most infamous English example is 'hopefully,' that famed bête noir of addled prescriptionist fussbudgets). Little's strong sense of humor never overwhelms her love of languages in this fascinating yet educational introduction to linguistics for a wide, pop-savvy audience. (Dec.)
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Review

“Charming anecdotes, witty sidebars, and attractive illustrations … Little’s strong sense of humor never overwhelms her love of languages in this fascinating yet educational introduction to linguistics for a wide, pop-savvy audience.”
–Publishers Weekly

“Biting the Wax Tadpole is witty, sassy, and laugh-out-loud funny. Little convincingly demonstrates that, as she puts it, ‘language is nothing less than a great adventure.’ So is her book.”
–Kitty Burns Florey, author of Sister Bernadette’s Barking Dog

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 184 pages
• Publisher: Melville House (November 1, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1933633336
• ISBN-13: 978-1933633336
• Product Dimensions: 7.4 x 0.7 x 8.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,614,716 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

27 of 28 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars The wittiest book on the quirks of language you'll ever find! December 11, 2007

By Michael J. Hines Jr.

Format:Hardcover

Little's look at the world of languages, their common traits, and their huge range of differences, will introduce everyone but the most well-informed of linguistic scholars to the unique and at times amusing quirks of language. From languages that click, to languages with only three names of colors, Little takes us on a grand tour through both time and space, broadening our horizons and understandings of history and culture as evidenced by the way people have used language.

The real charm of the book, however, is Little's frequent use of pop cultural references, witty remarks, and double entendres, to make what could be a dry topic turn out simply effervescent. Any reader will be infused with Little's own passion for languages after turning just a few short pages.

15 of 16 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Riddled with Errors! November 21, 2008

By Max Varazslo

Format:Paperback

A bona fide language fanatic myself, I bought "Biting the Wax Tadpole" with high hopes. I looked forward to learning something new about languages spoken off the beaten track, as it were. I was disappointed almost immediately. First-time author Elizabeth Little simply gets too many otherwise easily verifiable facts completely wrong.

A few examples... In the first chapter she opines, "If English were to decline the word 'bar' using the Hungarian system, it might look something roughly like this..." Why "something roughly"? Couldn't she simply outline the declension of an authentic Hungarian noun? Instead she takes an English noun -- not even the immediately recognizable Hungarian equivalent -- and adds a list of mismatched case endings to it. Words in some languages, like Chinese and Japanese, are presented in their native scripts; others are only transliterated, though not always accurately. In Korean, for instance, the proper name "Chachi" would be spelled differently from the slang word for "penis." The author stops short of admitting she's perpetuating a nearly forgotten urban legend, but that's exactly what she's done. So much for scholarship...

Still not convinced? Nouns denoting nationality in Swahili, like "Mchina" ("Chinese person"), are not gender-specific. The author mistransliterates the sample Greek verb she uses to illustrate the Middle Voice (epaideusamen) as "epaideusan" (which is the plural of the third person past tense form she used in an earlier example). In the next chapter she confuses the German words for "new" and "nine," which are similar but not identical.

And so on. While some of the information may be useful to beginners, with errors of this magnitude the book is mostly unreliable as a reference.

The book is undeniably witty -- but shouldn't we learn something valuable while we're laughing? I'm honestly amazed that no one took the time to vet the manuscript before it was published.

10 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars A Fun Look at World Linguistics January 26, 2008

By Scott Martin

Format:Hardcover

As a professional writer, I really should have much more than a passing interest in the finer points of grammar and linguistics. So, to assuage my guilt, I periodically try to find a book that will help me learn more about English and its illogical curiosities, not to mention its austere technicalities. It can be a bit embarrassing. For example, if someone who knows that I'm a writer asks me to define the copulative then I'll try to change the conversation to football, which I find fifty times more interesting than grammar. Of course, it depends who's asking.

This book caught my eye initially because it's yellow. Every other book about the language is light blue, dark blue, light mauve, taupe, or fawn. I also liked the title which is as strong a non sequitur as Monty Python's Flying Circus. Most books about linguistics have dreary titles and a dreary layout. Memo to publishers. Try this next time...The Hooters Monthly Guide to Semantics and Participles, or Debbie Does Declensions. This approach might increase sales and interest.

While Biting the Wax Tadpole is a serious look at a serious subject, Elizabeth Little writes with a warm, self-effacing, and generous style that makes the technical interesting and fun. To be honest, some of the work is a bit deep for me and might be best for, say, a tenured professor of linguistics, but the the journey around the world's languages is a crazy ride that makes me appreciate my native language and hope that I never get caught in Swaziland trying to find a square meal. I, for one, am glad that we don't have masculine and feminine nouns with no logical way to determine gender. Imagine what the political correctness mafia here would do with that system! Look at what they have organized, as Little points out, with "alumni."

Anyway, this book is a must for anyone who loves language and/or works in the field. Biting the Wax Tadpole provides an intriguing and witty introduction to how we communicate. And it's yellow.

I hope that Elizabeth Little writes many more books--on many more subjects.