Lingo: A Language Spotter's Guide to Europe

It is intended, as the French so enticingly put it, as an amuse-bouche.

Gönnen (also spelt as goennen) – the exact opposite of ‘to envy’: to be gladdened by someone else’s fortune. Old

If you're one of those people who worry that the English language is going to the dogs, linguists are of no help to you. Whatever it is that annoys you - double negatives, the demise of whom, the non-standard usage of literally - linguists will answer that a language is a living thing, and is always changing. You can't stop the process, so you'd better get used to it.

Just as all English speakers can understand one another provided a dash of goodwill is thrown into the mix, so too can Serbs, Montenegrins, Bosnians, and Croats. But if your family was massacred by your neighbour's army, goodwill is hard to find.

The attitude of English speakers to foreign languages can be summed up thus: let’s plunder, not learn them.

Vrtíčkar – strictly speaking no more than a hobby gardener with an allotment, but the word also suggests that the person is more interested in spending time drinking beer with other vrtíčkars than in growing vegetables and flowers. It could be extended in English to refer to people with any hobby that’s a cover for conviviality.

Modifying one's vocabulary to avoid embarrassment is a universal human behaviour.