a friend in the market is better than one hundred gold coins in the chest
‘Don’t offer me advice, give me money,’ say the Spanish – and who would disagree, certainly if they’re in a tight spot financially:
mas limpio que sobaco de rana (Venezuelan Spanish) broke (literally, cleaner than a frog’s armpit)
auf den Hund kommen (German) to be broke (literally, to get to the dog; in medieval times, a dog was painted on the bottom of money chests – if you could see the dog, you had run out of money)
n’avoir plus un radis (French) to be stone broke (literally, to be without a single radish)
kukla (Russian) a roll of bills in which the inner bills have been replaced by worthless paper (literally, a doll)
Most of us would be more than happy with an easy escape from such an unfortunate predicament:
gaji buta (Malay) getting paid without having to work
att skära guld med täljkniv (Swedish) to make money with very little effort (literally, to cut gold with a pocket knife)
dawo (Yoruba, Nigeria, Benin and Togo) to produce money by imagic
While others find different ways to stay afloat:
pakimkím (Tagalog, Philippines) money given by a godparent
hustrulon (Swedish) a wife’s salary
namidakin (Japanese) a small amount of consolation money (literally, tear money)
pujo (Korean) a congratulatory gift or condolence money
It’s certainly true that the folding stuff can be elusive; and the occasion when you really need it may be the one time you are unable to find it:
ipatapata (Lozi, Niger-Congo) to try hard to find money with which to make an urgent purchase
lukupu (Mambwe, Zambia) to miss gaining riches by a narrow margin
When you do finally get some, for heaven’s sake be careful with it:
pagar el piso (Chilean Spanish) to take out all your friends and pay with the first pay packet from your new job (literally, to pay for the floor)
madyelakhwirhini (Tsonga, South Africa) a man who im-mediately spends all he earns and sends nothing home; a spendthrift
peaglatata (Dakota, USA) to exhaust one’s own supply by giving to others
To demonstrate their wealth, the Kwakiutl Indians of Vancouver Island destroyed it. Their chiefs publicly burned food, blankets, canoes and ornaments in the ceremony of potlatch, a word that means ‘giving’. A potlatch might be held for a variety of reasons, which varied from group to group, but included puberty rites and death commemorations. It involved a great feast at which the host lavishly distributed valuable property to all the assembled guests. The hitch was that the guests had to reciprocate at some future date – with interest of up to 100 per cent.
Two proverbs from the Kannada language of Southern India speak eloquently of the paradoxes of getting rich. HalliddAga kaDle illa; kaDle iddAga hallilla – there are no nuts when one has teeth and there are no teeth when there are nuts; in other words, when you are young you have no money, and when you have money the chance of enjoying it is often gone. But perhaps this is all as it should be. For the second proverb points up the absurdity of some people’s behaviour when they are in a fit state to enjoy their money: Aishwarya bandre ardha rAthrili koDe hiDkonDa – when a poor fellow gets rich, he has an umbrella over his head at midnight; which is to say that a newly wealthy man will flaunt the symbol of the well-off, a parasol to shield him from the sun, even in the dark.
Reformhaus (German) health food store
top (Dutch) done! agreed! it’s a bargain!
stershit (Albanian) to sell everything that one has
Detail (German) retail
hamstring (Swedish) hoarding (derives from hamster)
male (Italian) bad, wicked
Sometimes the destitute may just have to make do with a payment in kind:
legopelo (Setswana, Botswana) a piece of meat that is given to someone who has helped skin a cow
angauriyā (Hindi) a ploughman making use of a farmer’s plough instead of receiving wages in money or kind
bonnach-iomanach (Gaelic) a cowherd’s cake (a special reward for good herding at calving time)
matao ni bwe (Gilbertese, Oceania) the price paid in fish for the loan of a canoe or fishing net
The French refer to many things in terms of the number thirty-six:
j’ai trente-six choses à faire I have many things to do
tous les trente-six du mois once in a blue moon (literally, each thirty-sixth of the month)
faire les trente-six volontés de quelqu’un to be at some-one’s beck and call (literally, to do the thirty-six wills of someone)
voir trente-six chandelles to see stars after getting hit on the head (literally, to see thirty-six candles)
‘Gol’ na vydumku khitra,’ say the Russians – poverty is crafty; and it’s surely true that having no money can become the spur for entrepreneurial activity, even of the most basic kind:
bahu (Bugotu, Solomon Islands) to barter food for money
ditan (Chinese) a street vendor’s stand (with the goods spread out on the ground)
higgler (Jamaican Creole) a person selling fruit and vegetables by the roadside
gujrī (Hindi) a roadside market set up in the late afternoons
sitoa (Gilbertese, Oceania) a small trading ship whose decks are set up as stores
chelnoki (Russian) shuttle traders (who buy goods from the back of lorries)
limpiaparabrisas (Mexican Spanish) street kids who gather at intersections with traffic lights and rush to wash the windscreen of cars waiting for the lights to change and then demand to be paid
The Kiriwina of the Trobriand Islands in the Pacific have an elaborate gift exchange system called the kula. The islanders set off round the islands in large, ocean-going canoes and trade red shell necklaces (veigun) in a clockwise direction, and white shell bracelets (mwali) in an anti-clockwise direction. The round trip is several hundred miles.
There’s a lot of skill (even magic) in encouraging people to part with their hard-earned dosh:
spruik (Australian slang) to talk to attract customers; to hold forth like a showman
verlierlen (Yiddish) to lose a customer to a fellow salesman
vparivat’ (Russian) to palm off defective goods
fare orecchie da mercante (Italian) pretending not to understand (literally, to have a merchant’s ears)
palulud (Maguindanaon, Philippines) a charm that is supposed to have the power to attract customers
Although the further up the scale you go, the less need you have for actual goods:
muhaqala (Arabic) the sale of grain while still in growth, dealing in grain futures
dymoprodukt (Russian) an advertised product that is not yet being produced (literally, smoke product)
wheeler (Scots) one who bids at an auction simply to raise the price
There are, of course, other ways of making money, if you’re prepared to take a chance:
agi (Maranao, Philippines) to win continually in gambling
airi (Maranao, Philippines) to bet again on a card which has just won
an non (Vietnamese) to quit gambling as soon as one has won
balato (Tagalog, Philippines) money given away by a winning gambler as a sign of goodwill
However, even the most hardened practitioners know that in the long run the betting tables don’t pay. As the Germans say, ‘Young gamblers, old beggars’:
borona (Malagasy, Madagascar) having nothing with which to pay money lost in betting
biho (Maranao, Philippines) a bet, money asked for from winners by losers
pelasada (Maranao, Philippines) the percentage taken from bets by the owner of a gambling place
The Japanese have two words to describe what happens as the temptation to cheat gets stronger:
dakko the flicking movement of the palm that will send goods up into the sleeve
dosa a player with an exceptionally bad hand who will flick a compromising card up his sleeve and quickly substitute a more favourable one
So what to do with it when you finally have it? Why, hit the streets, of course; and this is an occupation, if not an art, in itself:
faire du lèche-vitrines (French) to go window-shopping (literally, to lick windows)
chokuegambo (Japanese) the wish that there were more designer-brand shops on a given street; the desire to buy things at luxury brand shops
arimuhunán (Tagalog, Philippines) something worth taking although not needed
emax (Latin) fond of buying
What a fine array of products the world has in its shop window:
Atum Bom Portuguese tinned tuna
Bimbo Mexican biscuits
Kevin French aftershave
Polio Czech detergent
Vaccine Dutch aftershave
Flirt Austrian cigarettes
Meltykiss Japanese chocolate
Climax Kenyan disinfectant
Hot Piss Japanese antifreeze spray
Naked New Zealand fruit and nut bar
Noisy French butter
Last Climax Japanese tissues
Happy Swedish chocolate
Prison Ugandan body spray
så let som at klo sig i nakken (Danish) as easy as scratching the back of your neck
semudah membalikkan telapak tangan (Indonesian) as easy as turning your palm around
facile come bere un bicchier d’acqua (Italian) as easy as drinking a glass of water
asameshi mae (Japanese) before breakfast (something that’s so easy, you could finish it before breakfast)
nuwoseo tdeokmeokki (Korean) lying on one’s back and eating rice cakes
tereyağýndan kýl çeker gibi (Turkish) as if pulling a strand of hair from butter
ežiku ponjatno (Russian) understandable to a hedgehog
