Korinthenkacker

C.J. Moore is a writer on language, his most recent book available in the US is In Other Words. He has a new book out, avaible currently in the UK, The Untranslatables: The Most Intriguing Words from Around the World. Language and food are the two easiest vectors to understanding a new culture and this book, based on a review by David Profumo in Literary Review, January, 2010 is chockabloc full of intriguing tidbits. From the review:

. . . the Danes say of their own speech, 'it's no language, it's a throat infection'.

As they say in Punjabi to express joy, dil baagh haagh ho-gaya: my heart becomes a garden.

German could give us Korinthenkacker - a 'raisin pooper', or one obsessed with trivia - which, well, deserves wider currency.