Wind head

September 21, 2022 @ 7:51 am · Filed by under Humor, Idioms, Lexicon and lexicography, Phonetics and phonology

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GT transcription and translation of the Hindi:

ye chaacha ‘lallantop’ hai.

chaacha ne sar par solar plet lagaaya hai aur usase pankha jod ko kadee dhoop mein mast thandee hava ka aanand le rahe hai.

ये चाचा ‘Lallantop’ है।

चाचा ने सर पर सोलर प्लेट लगाया है और उससे पंखा जोड़ को कडी धूप में मस्त ठंडी हवा का आनंद ले रहे है।

This uncle is 'Lallantop'.

Uncle has put a solar plate on his head and is enjoying the cool breeze in the hot sun by connecting the fan.

This comes from a channel featuring a wry kind of Indian humor.  If you want to experience more of it, including a video of a woman wearing a fine saree about to get splashed by a motorcycle on a muddy road, click here.

Reminds me of the "Wilbur" channel, where we find such things as this hilarious video showing how to use an Indian squat toilet:  "How to use Eastern Latrine: Wilbur Sargunaraj" (8/8/10)

That, in turn, reminds me of this Language Log post, "Toilet: A Love Story" (9/1/18), where I describe the charpi ("toilet") I used in Nepal, with links to the famous Chinese toilet revolution and other delightful topics, including lexicography and phonology.

Finally, going back to the original tweet at the top of this post, it brings to mind this Mandarin expression:

chūfēngtóu

出風頭

lit., "produce / emit wind head", i.e., "show off; (to seek to) be in the spotlight"

In trying times like these, a breath / puff of comic relief or cool air is what we need to survive.

 

Selected readings

  • "Toilet: A Love Story" (9/1/18)
  • "Toilet Revolution!!" (11/26/17)
  • There are dozens of other scatalogically themed posts on Language Log, particularly squat toilets and technologically advanced toilets, but I will not mention them individually, lest we develop a reputation for crudity.  Search for yourself under:  "language log" toilet / squat toilet / washlet / etc.

[Thanks to John Rohsenow]

September 21, 2022 @ 7:51 am · Filed by under Humor, Idioms, Lexicon and lexicography, Phonetics and phonology


3 Comments

  1. KeithB said,

    September 21, 2022 @ 7:59 am

    Who knew Benny Hill was an international language.

  2. Victor Mair said,

    September 21, 2022 @ 9:37 am

    Not the same.

  3. AntC said,

    September 21, 2022 @ 3:49 pm

    Hilarious, thank you Victor. Carrying all that gear around — especially a helmet on your head — would seem counter-productive.

    In India, ‘cold weather’ is merely a conventional phrase and has come into use through the necessity of having some way to distinguish between weather which will melt a brass door knob and weather which only makes it mushy. [Mark Twain]

    I've seen plenty of small, hand-held battery-powered personal fans around Asia — they seem almost useless.

    Re the solar-power: if you go under a tree to get some shade; it's barely any cooler; but the machine stops.

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