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OIC’s Greatest Hits: A Global Yea for Wordplay!

by Your friends at OIC on May 17, 2021

A chalkboard street sign with the message "If you are looking for a sign, this is it" to illustrate the fun of wordplay. (Image © )

5 Signs that Wit and Whimsy Come in Many Languages

Where there’s a word, there’s a way lovers of language will have some fun with it. Idioms, puns, and culturally unique expressions are a part of languages around the globe. And, in this latest collection of OIC’s “Greatest Hits,” our bloggers display their brand of wordplay wizardry with astute observations and forays into that witty world of words.

A view of an Italian merchant inside his deli and surrounded by salami to illustrate how wordplay around the world can be as slick as salami.

1. A Taste of Italian Wordplay

Joyce McGreevy finds Italian wordplay to be every bit as cool as gelato and slick as salami, without the calories! So she served up a feast of food idioms that are the spices in everyday Italian conversation.

 

A broken fortune cookie with a message of "Good luck!" to illustrate wordplay all around the world. (Image © Brand X Pictures/Stockbyte)

2. The Lucky Language of Fortune Cookies

Meredith Mullins cracks the code with a look at how fortune cookies offer us inspiration through wise or witty proverbs and sayings that bring a little happiness at the end of a Chinese meal.

 

A 17th century glove with an embroidered cuff to illustrate how fashion expressions and idioms are a fun form of wordplay. (Image © Joyce McGreevy)

3. An Idiom Abroad

A visit to Scotland for a textile exhibition left pun-pundit Joyce McGreevy convinced that some of the best-dressed clothing idioms are fashioned after textiles. In this pocketful of wordplay, fun and fashion go together like hand in glove.

 

Illustration of two men standing on opposite cliffs with overlapping speech balloons to illustrate how different cultures iborrow words from each other in a form of wordplay. (Image courtesy of Thinkstock)

4. 10 Words to Borrow from Different Cultures

Better than being lost in translation, Janine Boylan makes the case that these ten words from different cultures that don’t translate directly into English should be added the our lexicon as-is.

 

Young woman holding a baguette over her shoulder to illustrate an invented word "baguettetiquette" and lead to other invented words, which are a form of wordplay. (Image © Meredith Mullins).

5. A Game of French Wordplay: Les Bon Mots

French living taught Meredith Mullins about baguettetiquette, the cultural do’s and taboos surrounding baguettes. Her love of language and wordplay inspired her to invent more French phrases that take you inside French culture.

 

Wild about wordplay? Check out our Blog Topics & Archive section for more great language and wordplay posts.

 

Photo credits: chalkboard sign, Matwor29/Pixabay; Italian deli, Mary Bettini Blank/Pixabay; fortune cookie, Brandx Pictures/Stockbyte; glove, Joyce McGreevy; two men with speech balloons, Thinkstock; woman with baguette, Meredith Mullins.

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