When I turned up at Munich Airport on Friday evening the car hire lady awarded me an upgrade to a Golf Cabrio. A free convertible could only mean one thing: Heavy rain was expected over the weekend in Bavaria. However every dark grey cloud has a slightly less grey lining. Bad weather means more time to spend on the on-line version of the Duggleby Family tree.

Following the encouraging feedback to last week’s blog (thanks Vincent and Sally) I would like to share with you some more very early ‘Duggleby’ documents.

Let’s start with the last will and testament referred to by Vincent in his comments about the last blog. This is the will of William Duggleby or more precisely William Dyngelby of Brumpton from the 1391 Probate Register:

In the name of God Amen. On the Monday after the feast of St Botulph in the year of the Lord 1391, I William Dyngelby of Brumpton, make my will in this way. Firstly I bequeath my soul to Almighty God, the blessed Virgin Mary and all the saints and my body to be buried in my parish church of Brumpton. And for my mortuary payment I bequeath my best animal and forty shillings to be distributed amongst the poor and sick on the day of my burial, and six pounds of wax to burn about my body on the day of my burial. And to the fabric of the body of my aforesaid parish church 6 shillings 8 pence. And to the fabric of the Cathedral church of St. Peter at York 3 shillings 4 pence. And to the collegiate church of St John at Beverley 2 shillings. And to ornament the image of the Virgin Mary in the said church of Brumpton 18 pence. And to the three orders of mendicant brothers in the town of Scarborough 10 shillings to be divided amongst them in equal portions. And to the Augustinians and the Franciscans of York 6 shillings 8 pence to be divided amongst them in equal portions. And to the Carmelites and Dominicans of York 4 shillings to be divided amongst them in equal portions. And to each monk in the monastery of Malton 6 pence and to the nuns of Yedingham and Warkham 4 shillings to be divided amongst them in equal portions. And to Joan Salton, modre’ of Brumpton 12 pence. And to Joan Pacol 12 pence. And to Alice de Burton 12 pence. And to two sick pauper men of Snaynton 18 pence to be divided in equal portions. And to two sick paupers of Saldan’ 12 pence to be divided in equal portions. And will also that each and every pauper and sick person who comes to my house on the day of my burial shall have suitable food and drink, provided by my executors from my income. And to the high altar of my aforesaid parish church, according to the will of my executors aforesaid, 3 shillings 4 pence. Also I give and bequeath to Joan my daughter ten marks of sterling and half of all my utensils or ephemeral goods, whatsoever they pertain to. Also I give and bequeath to Emma my daughter ten marks of sterling and half of all my utensils or ephemeral goods, whatsoever they pertain to, under the condition that the aforesaid Joan and Emma should possess the said legacies and should not marry without the consent of William Forster my executor. And if it should happen that the said Joan and Emma, my daughters, or either of them, should die before they marry, their portion is to be distributed to the poor and the sick, considering God, by the said William, my executor. And to Lord William Forster, chaplain, 40 shillings. And to Ellen Herman 13 shillings 4 pence. And to the fabric of the bridge of Acomb 6 pence. And to the bridge of How’ 12 pence. And to the bridge of Yedington 12 pence. And to one suitable, honest chaplain to celebrate divine service in my said parish church of Brumpton for seven years after my death for my soul and the souls of my parents, friends and kinsmen, for his salary, to receive as my executors agree. And the same chaplain will, for the souls of the above said, celebrate an annual trental of St Gregory and ten usual feasts within the octave of the same and daily shall devoutly say this prayer: ‘God who is our great redeemer etc’ And to John Gentilman 12 pence. And to John Dyngelbyman 12 pence. And to Ralph Seke 12 pence. And to Hugh Bonde 3 shillings 4 pence. Also I give and bequeath 20 shillings to the upkeep of two candles to burn in my aforesaid parish church before the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary there. The residue of all my goods not above bequeathed, my debts having been completely paid and the aforesaid legacies distributed I give and bequeath to my underwritten executors to use for the salvation of my soul and the aforesaid souls in distribution to the poor and sick as they will answer before the High Judge. I make these my executors, that is, Lord William Forster, Joan and Emma my daughters to perform and execute all the above said faithfully. In testimony of which I have affixed my seal to my present testimony. Dated at Scarborough on the day and in the year above said.

And the aforesaid will was proved on the 10 February 1391 and administration was granted to William Forster, chaplain, and Emma daughter of the said deceased, reserving the right of Joan, daughter of the same, when she should appear.

Clearly William Dyngelby of Brumpton held the church and those who served it in high regard. He did not have any male heirs but he was a man of considerable means and his two daughters were well looked after in the will. I tend to agree that the relatively modest sum given to John Dyngelbyman in the will indicates he might be a servant of the Dyngelby family.

We can find even earlier records of Duggleby generosity in favour of the church. Records in the Yorkshire Archaeological Archives include land charters dating from 1180-1200 in which the Church of St. Peter in York received a large gift from Thomas the son of Jollan de Duggleby

(iv) Cloughton

229. Gift by Thomas son of Jollan de Duggleby to the church of St. Peter, York, and the hospital of Jerusalem in equal shares of two tofts in Cloughton (parish Scalby) and 3 acres of his demesne there, making up any deficiency from a culture near the mill of Cloughton which is crossed in going to Burniston; and also common pasture for 240 sheep, 10 oxen, 10 pigs and 2 horses (c. 1180-1200).

In the original Latin text Thomas and Jollan’s names were spelled Thomam filium Joellani de Diuegelby (also spellt Dinegelby). If you do intend to do some research into very old documents keep in mind the many variations in the spellings of Duggleby. I have included many of these in the on-line family tree. Some familiarity with Latin and French can also be useful. In the above text the ‘tofts’ were villages or settlements of relatively small, closely packed, farms surrounded by land which was farmed by those living in the village. Many place names derived from the Viking era have ‘toft’ in them (e.g. Lowestoft). The term ‘demesne’ derives from the old French word ‘demeine’ which came originally from the Latin word ‘dominus’ used to describe the lord or master of a household. Here it describes the land which was retained by the lord of the manor for his own use under his own management (in other words this was land which was not left to sub-tenants to manage).

This document reinforces the impression that Jollan and the early Duggleby family included wealthy, influential and very religious people.

There are other 700 year old records showing that some ‘Dugglebys’ (here called Dinglebys) were involved in hunting wildlife in the King’s forest of Pickering – and sometimes getting caught. For example the records of the Duchy of Lancaster have the following entry from 1325:

John Malton, cousin to Sir John Moryn, William Tanton (possibly Touton or Teuton), chaplain, Walter and John Dingleby, on Monday, 15 November, 1325, slew a hind at Greendale, within the forest, and carried it to Sir John Moryn’s house, with his knowledge and consent. John Malton and Sir John Moryn are fined 13 shillings 4 pence and ; 3 pounds 6 shilling 8 pence respectively ; the rest are outlawed.

Clearly this will help to feed any romantic visions modern day Duggleby’s have that their forebears may have been outlaws. For those not familiar with this term, the most famous of the English outlaws was Robin Hood, something of a mythical figure with some stories placing him in Sherwood Forest near Nottingham and others claiming he was from Yorkshire. An outlaw was a man over 14 who did not pay a fine or turn up at the court when summonsed. They were banished to live outside of the law and had no rights. In most cases the outlaws lived in the forests which covered most of England at that time.

There are also some records from a slightly later period which indicate that Dugglebys from other parts of Yorkshire also had problems with the early English legal system. Consider for example the following information from the Court records in Hedon (near Hull) dating from 1419:

“Item 1: The presentment is, that John Tesdale, of Hedon, in Holderness, in the county of York, is culpable, on the 1 3th day of August, in the sixth year of the reign of king Henry the fifth within the liberties of the same town of Hedon, did sell a useless pair of sotulares (shoes without straps) for a boy, a crafty, deceitful trick upon the ignorant, for 3d. that is, to John Cusas, of Brustwick, and others, in the very highest gain, and to deceive the subjects of our lord the king. 

Item 2: The presentment is that Robert Dyngely, of the same town and county is culpable, that on the 1 1th day of November, in the sixth year of the reign of king Henry the fifth, Sec. within the liberty of the town of Hedon, he sold a pair of sotulares, called Bokile-shone (shoes with straps for buckles) for 8d. that is to say, to John Stoute, cf Tunstall, and others, for the very highest lucre, and against the statute of our lord the king, …..

…the sheriff causes to come the aforesaid John Tasdale, Robert Dyngelby, …., that they are before the aforesaid justices, at Hedon, on Tuesday next after the feast of St. Barnabas, the Apostle, next following.”

The spelling of the names of the accused varies within the document (Robert is referred to as either Dyngely or Dyngelby). In the 1800s we will again see that other Duggleby’s became involved in the shoe trade (William Duggleby – 1804-1876: Master Shoe maker in Bishop Wilton, East Riding of Yorkshire).

Finally for this week I would like to share with you another interesting document about the early Dugglebys. This the information comes again from a religious source: The register of William Melton, Archbishop of York from 1317 – 1340. It refers to a special dispensation given to the son of John Roberti de Duggleby at around the same time as some of the other Dugglebys (above) were being outlawed.

” 265: Dispensation of Robert de Dodington son of John Roberti of Duggleby, clerk of York diocese, de solute genitus, for illegitimacy and to be promoted to all orders and to hold a benefice even with cure of souls, reciting letter of Berengar, bishop of Tusculum and papal penitentiary, Avignon, 7 May, the third year of pontificate (1319) Bishopthorpe, 4^th May 1322.”

Quite frankly I am not quite sure whether this dispensation was given because Robert himself was illegitimate or whether it gave him dispensation to commit illegitimacy!

Let me leave that question with you as I draw this week’s blog to a close. Certainly the 1300-1400s were interesting times for our Duggleby forebears.

I will try and share other documents with you in future blogs and please keep checking the on-line Duggleby Family tree to see how the latest version is developing. The first 4 pages covering the period from 1086 to the 1600s can be downloaded in a PDF document by double clicking on the light blue text below:

130707 First 4 pages of Chris Duggleby Family Tree from 1086

Greetings from Bavaria to the global Dugglaholics,

Chris Duggleby  

This week I managed to make a start to preparing a form of the family tree to publish on this website. There have been many comments about our ancestors on the Duggleby History page and it would be nice to have an easy-to-use, flexible, framework to relate these to and capture updates as necessary.

You can download a PDF version of the family tree covering the period from 1086 to the 1600s by double clicking on the light blue text below:

130707 First 4 pages of Chris Duggleby Family Tree from 1086

As the family tree grows I will make sure that updates are published on this site (here).

The reason I am publishing the oldest information first is because I believe this is what connects all members of the global Duggleby community. You may still not be able to trace the exact path from your name back to the original village of Duggleby in Yorkshire but there is a pretty good chance that if you are a Duggleby or related to one this village is where your origins lie. You will see from the first 500 years that for some of the names mentioned we are unsure of the spouse or whether that person had children. If your own family tree can not be precisely traced back more than a few hundred years you may be related to one of these individuals.

Even for connections where we have a little more confidence (for example I have tried to highlight in dark blue my own family links back to Sir Henry Duggleby) there are some steps which depend on close geographical proximity of individuals or very old documents, which may be handwritten or require some interpretation. The challenge with the documents is highlighted by the number of variations in the spelling of the word ‘Duggleby’ in the early records.

The early information was gathered from a period where there were few if any formal births, deaths and marriage registers. Much of the information comes from old Will and Testament documents which Ellen Reid and other contributors to the greatly missed Duggleby.info site painstakingly gathered and analysed (we all owe a tremendous debt to Ellen and without her initial efforts most of what you see here about the Duggleby heritage would not have been possible).

To illustrate some of the documents used to populate the early entries in the family tree take a look at the following reference to Willim Dogilby (William Duggleby born 1402 in the tree) in his cousin Ric’ (presumably Richard) Dogilby’s Last Will and Testament. In a number of places the handwriting was illegible so some ‘interpretation’ was required:

In God’s name. Amen. 27th day of the month of April in the year 1452. I, Ric’ Dogilby, vicar of the parish church of Wharrum appoint and make my will in this manner. Firstly, I leave my soul to God Almighty, to the Blessed Virgin Mary and all His saints, and my body to be buried at the church of Saint Mary’s Wharrum.

I leave my best animal in the name of mortuary payment.

I leave 2 pounds of wax to be burned about my body for my divine service.

I leave to the church chaplain for my funeral obsequies’ 6 d.[= 6 old pennies]

I leave to the cleric of the aforesaid parish of Wharru’ 2 d.

I leave to the [same?] church cleric compensation of 1 d.

I leave Marione my sister 2 cows.

I leave Willim’ Dogilby my cousin 2 oxen, 2 horses and 1 cow.

I leave Beatrici my servant 1 cow and 2 sheep.

I appoint the aforesaid Willim’ and Mariona as my true executors to this my present will for the arrangement of the salvation of my soul. To the church with respect to the fees (easements) better due I appoint Lords Johenn’ Calsthorn’ [and] Mathew Kyrsabye’ to complete this my last will and aforesaid wish.

Proved 30th April 1457.

In some cases we are fortunate enough to have the Last Will and Testament of key individuals such as that of Thomas Duggleby (1460 – 1503) which help to identify their immediate relatives:

Will of Thomas Doggleby of Thornholme. 1503. Probate Register 

In the name of God amen the 22 day of the month of June in the year of the Incarnation of the Word 1503 I Thomas Doggilby of Thornholme, sick in body but of sound mind, make and decree my last will and testament in this way.

Firstly I commit my soul to Almighty God, to Saint Mary the Virgin and to all the saints of heaven and my body for church burial and I bequeath in the name of my mortuary payment what is suitable following the laudable custom of my parish. Moreover I bequeath to the high altar for forgotten tithes 3 shillings 4 pence.

Also I bequeath to Margaret my wife £6 13 shillings 4 pence and to Walter, my
son and heir, £6 13 shillings 4 pence.  Moreover I bequeath to a secular
chaplain [= not of a monastic order] of honest reputation through two years to celebrate divine service particularly for the salvation of my soul £8. Also I bequeath to Joan my daughter £6 13 shillings 4 pence and to Alice my daughter £6 13 shillings 4
pence.

Moreover I bequeath to each person occupying a tenement or part tenement
and having a hearth for himself in that tenement or part tenement, that is
within Thornholme aforesaid, Burton Agnes and Haisthorpe, 2 pence. Moreover I
bequeath to each of my godsons and each of my god-daughters one angel [=an old English gold coin, first struck in the 1480s, whose value varied: in the 1480s it was worth 6 shillings 8 pence, by the early sixteenth century it was worth over 7 shillings] of this year.

Also it is my mind or will that the son and heir of Thomas Ward of Bessingby, if he is able and wishes, shall redeem from the hands of the executrix of my will those lands which I, Thomas Doggelby, bought from the aforesaid Thomas Ward, on the condition that the same heir shall retain the same lands for his own use and not alienate any part of them, so that for the complete redemption of the lands themselves he shall pay, or make to be paid, to the aforesaid executrix £13 5 shillings 8 pence. Moreover I bequeath to John Whitell one bi-coloured cow. Moreover I bequeath to the Gild of St Mary at Burton Agnes one quarter of barley. In execution of this my same last will and
testament I make I commit to the aforesaid Margaret my wife that she shall thenceforward dispose of all and every my bequests following the aforesaid, and the goods not bequeathed, my funeral expenses and debts having been paid, and portions being set aside for my daughters shall be retained totally for the supervisors [of this will] Dame Agnes Clyffton widow and Walter Gryfforth, knight. These being witnesses that is John Lonnesdale secular chaplain, John Webster, John Whitell above named, Thomas Stephenson, William Maynpurs and others. Given the day and year above written.

The present will was proved on 14 September in the year above said [1503] and
administration was granted to the executrix named in the same will.

The final Last Will and Testament I would like to share with you in this weeks blog is that of the last entry in the early Duggleby Family Tree: William Duggleby (1510 – 1561). Of particular interest here are the variations in the spelling of the name Duggleby within two generations of a single family. Here are the details:

William Duggleby, North Dalton.

In the name of God Amen. The 13th day of May 1561 I William Douglebi of North Dalton within the county of York, yeoman, being of whole mind and perfect remembrance unto Almighty God therefore belaud and praise, do ordain and make this my last will and testament in manner and form following.

First and principally I commend my soul to Our Lord Jesu Christ my maker, redeemer and saviour in whom and by the merits of whose bitter passion is all my whole trust and clear remission and forgiveness  of all my sins and that he will take me unto his mercy. And my body to be buried within the church of Allhallows in North Dalton, my parish church. In primis I bequeath to the said church works 6s 8d.

I bequeath to Cuthbert Duglebe a stot of three years old and half one oxgang of corn.
I bequeath to John Dougelbye half one oxgang of corn.
I bequeath to William Dougelbe one cowe.
I bequeath to Issabell Owston one sack of barley.
I bequeath to Mychell Vawser one sack of barley.
I bequeath to Frances Dougeibi one sack of barley.
I bequeath to Ellyn Dougeibi one sack of barley.
I bequeath to Audry Dougelbe, daughter of my son Robert Dougelbe £10.
I bequeath to every one of my god children 4d .
The residue of all my goods unbequeathed my debts paid and legacies discharged I give and bequeath to Robert Dougelbe my son whom I make my full executor of this my last will and testament.
These being witnesses William Harrison, Cuthbert Dougelbe and Sir Bryan Metcalf with others more.
Proved 22nd January 1561/2 by William Harrison and Robert Duggleby, witnesses named in the will. Administration granted to the son of the deceased and executor named in the will.

I hope that some of you will find this piece of Duggleby family history interesting. Sadly most of the information we have is related to the deaths of those concerned but these documents although open a little window into the lives of the Dugglebys living over half a millenium ago.

If you find this subject interesting you may like to refer to the blog articles here and here on the same subject. Just click on the light blue text and a new window will open containing blog articles which describe some of the ancient documents I found useful in tracing the family history.

Let us treasure our long and noble heritage,

Chris Duggleby

If you are interested in reading my other health focused articles try the following

Torture In The Shower – Face and Body Soap Allergies – Main Suspect: Pears Transparent Soap

Poison in your Washing Machine: Allergic Contact Dermatitis from Laundry Detergents, Softeners, Conditioners and Whiteners

Is Alzheimer’s caused by the Gum Disease Bacterium P. Gingivalis – A Dementia Prevention/Treatment Breakthrough?

Toxic Chemicals in Sex Toys – 18 Vibrators, Cock Rings, Love Balls Tested – Only 3 Get All Clear

My T-shirt Made Me Sick – Textile Allergies – Sinusitis From Your Underwear

While you read the following article why not listen to my e-baroque compositions – just click on the box below:

or if techno music is more your cup of tea here are my techno/ambient compositions:

I hope you find the information below interesting…please visit chrisduggleby.com again.

Well it had to happen! The snow has decided to leave us. This weeks photos are quite a contrast to those I published a week ago (with RISKKO trying out his new sledge with his friend the Bavarian mountain bear – if you are interested here is the link). The first couple of pictures are taken from my apartment. The one above (of the Wendelstein Mountain) shows that if you go high enough there is still some snow around.

The photo below is of the local church which I also introduced last week. This is the view of the church as seen from my office. I prefer this view because of the great mountains in the background.

Like last week RISKKO and I also went to the recycling area but we decided to come back via the mountain path to enjoy the pretty Spring flowers which have shot up all around the Bad Feilnbach forests.

In addition to the great forest flowers I would also like to introduce you this week to RISKKO’s penfriend Duke. He lives in South Carolina and loves dressing up for special occasions. Clearly he is giving RISKKO some interesting ideas for his next U-tube video (Thanks to Bob Duggleby for helping Duke to send the pictures and allowing me to publish them)

In the last couple of weeks I have also published some articles which you might find interesting. One is an update, with some useful questions and answers about the latest outbreak of Bird Flu in China. To date 11 people have died and it has now reached Beijing. The link is here.

And for those thinking of taking a cruise on a luxury liner you might find the experiences of this German family interesting (this one is not for people who are nervous about strange beds – or strange bed fellows). The link is here.

I hope that for those readers in the Northern Hemisphere you are also enjoying the return of warmer weather. Time to unpack the shorts! By the way here is another little article about a rather unusual approach to marketing clothes based on the size of the wearer – just click here.

Have fun!

Chris Duggleby

While you read the following article why not listen to my e-baroque compositions – just click on the box below:

or if techno music is more your cup of tea here are my techno/ambient compositions:

I hope you find the information below interesting…please visit chrisduggleby.com again.

Yes folks, today is the day of the annual Argus Pick-n-Pay Cycle Tour in Cape Town. This exciting event involves lots of very fit people whizzing around the Cape dressed in lycra outfits and showing of their shiny clean bicycles.

One of the main roads they follow is the coastal road which runs past Llandudno which happens to be where I reside when I am in the Southern Hemisphere (like today). This means that the coastal road is closed all day for non-lycra clad folk, especially if they are on four or more wheels. It also means that for one day in the year those of us left in Llandudno (and its sister beach of Sandy Bay and Sunset Rocks, the outcrop of rocks between,) have the place all to ourselves.

For one day in the year Sandy Bay beach is deserted by its gay, nudist, body building brethren (presumably they have either donned their lycra or are waving their flags as the bikes go by) and the lady selling choc ices next to the ‘No nudity on the path’ sign simply doesn’t turn up. The car parks are empty and the place almost looks like it used to look before man arrived.

So as usual this morning I jumped out of bed at the crack of dawn (about 6:30), donned my shorts and scrambled over from Sunset Rocks to Llandudno beach for my excuse for a bit of daily exercise. As I climbed the hill leaving Sunset Rocks, expecting solitude I was rather surprised to see a swarm of teenagers whooshing down the hill on their skate boards. Clearly I was not the only one looking forward to a day without mechanised vehicles on the road. During my one hour round trip to the beach I counted over a hundred skate-boarders all sensibly dressed in protective gear (which was needed since they were clearly going at speeds far in excess of their mechanised counterparts).

Anyway, I managed to get safely to Llandudno beach to meet up with another early riser, the local Eskimo. You might think it strange that an Eskimo should be walking along Llandudno beach in South Africa. I am pretty certain that he is an Eskimo because he was accompanied by a pack of huskies (although I have to admit I did not see a sledge in the car park). The huskies seem to quite like me – I think they can probably smell RISKKO’s saliva on my legs. After the beach RISKKO had to rush back home because he had a Skype call with Pink Lips in Bavaria. The two lovers are missing each other and are looking forward to being reunited before the end of the Month in Germany.

During the last few days I have written a few articles which you might find interesting. One is about (yet) another European food scandal – the German authorities appear to have found carcinogens in Cows milk. You can read more about it here. On the subject of food scandals South Africa is trying to avoid being left behind as Europe strives to be more inclusive in its beef products by including other animals like horse, sheep and pig. The university of Stellenbosch has taken samples from South African mince, sausages, burger patties, dried meats and deli meats and tested them for any animals not featured in the labelling. In most of the 139 meat products tested they have now identified donkey, goat and water buffalo. At a dinner party I attended a couple of days ago a lady informed me that Giraffe meat has also been identified! Clearly when we contaminate here in Africa we do it in style – horses are so ‘yesterday’!

The second article I prepared was on the subject of bees who have a natural desire to get a caffeine fix (which certain clever plants have used to their advantage by plonking caffeine into their nectar). More info can be found on this here.

The third and final article for this week is related to the new Killer Corona Virus which has already cost eight people their lives and is starting to look very worrying. I have included some of the latest scientific findings about the pathogen and also revisited the SARS story to illustrate how quickly things can turn nasty. You will find this article here.

So the sun has just gone down here on the cape and presumably tomorrow the vehicles will be returning to my refreshingly remote outpost.

If you have any comments on the blog or any of the articles please do not hesitate to use the comments boxes. It’s time to brush my teeth and clean out the giraffe and donkey meat to make room for tomorrows delicacies.

Have fun but don’t trust the labelling,

Chris Duggleby

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STOP PRESS!! Have you tried the YouTube Playlist featuring all of my compositions for the TRANSFORMATES? Here it is:

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My apologies to regular readers. I have been a rather quiet recently – unfortunately in the gaps between my African vitamin D sessions I have to work my little socks off to pay the travel bills. January has been no exception but fortunately I do have a little helper (in addition to RISKKO) who provides me with guidance and support. His name is Nobby – and he is what we in the trade refer to as an auditor’s Elf.

While I sit down in serious auditing interviews with unsuspecting ‘victims’ Nobby creeps out of his hiding place, ‘borrows’ the keys from their pockets or brief cases and rummages through their drawers. This is a rather unorthodox approach but we have discovered that we identify a lot more control gaps that way.

Nobby the Elf, through his international travels has developed a level of language capability that would cause pride in even the most intellectual of humans (I do not count auditors in this last category). He is not English (and proudly so) but his knowledge of the English language – or better said its shortcomings – is astounding. Let me give you an example.

Today we were having one of our regular debates about why elves have not adopted English as their default language. Nobby speaks a language which sounds like an asthmatic suffering from excessive Catarrh and whooping-cough: this and his bad breath explains why I do not use him in the face to face interviews (we would have to issue interviewees with face masks). During our debate he pointed out some significant weaknesses with the English language.

Although English is the most widely spoken language in the World (elves excepted), there are a few areas where it falls down. Nobby identified 25 words from other languages that do not exist in English and claimed this gives him a major problem when trying to express himself in public (which he does a lot!). Here they are:

1 Age-otori (Japanese): To look worse after a haircut

2 Arigata-meiwaku (Japanese): An act someone does for you that you didn’t want to have them do and tried to avoid having them do, but they went ahead anyway, determined to do you a favor, and then things went wrong and caused you a lot of trouble, yet in the end social conventions required you to express gratitude

3 Backpfeifengesicht (German): A face badly in need of a fisting

4 Bakku-shan (Japanese): A beautiful girl… as long as she’s being viewed from behind

5 Desenrascanço (Portuguese): “to disentangle” yourself out of a bad situation

6 Duende (Spanish): a climactic show of spirit in a performance or work of art, which might be fulfilled in flamenco dancing, or bull-fighting, etc.

7 Forelsket (Norwegian): The euphoria you experience when you are first falling in love

8 Gigil (pronounced Gheegle; Filipino): The urge to pinch or squeeze something that is unbearably cute (an irrelevant term when referring to Nobby)

9 Guanxi (Mandarin): in traditional Chinese society, you would build up good guanxi by giving gifts to people, taking them to dinner, or doing them a favor, but you can also use up your gianxi by asking for a favor to be repaid

10 Ilunga (Tshiluba, Congo): A person who is ready to forgive any abuse for the first time, to tolerate it a second time, but never a third time

11 L’esprit de l’escalier (French): usually translated as “staircase wit,” is the act of thinking of a clever comeback when it is too late to deliver it

12 Litost (Czech): a state of torment created by the sudden sight of one’s own misery

13 Mamihlapinatapai (Yaghan): A look between two people that suggests an unspoken, shared desire

14 Manja (Malay): “to pamper”, it describes gooey, childlike and coquettish behavior by women designed to elicit sympathy or pampering by men. “His girlfriend is a damn manja. Hearing her speak can cause diabetes.”

15 Meraki (pronounced may-rah-kee; Greek): Doing something with soul, creativity, or love. It’s when you put something of yourself into what you’re doing

16 Nunchi (Korean): the subtle art of listening and gauging another’s mood. In Western culture, nunchi could be described as the concept of emotional intelligence. Knowing what to say or do, or what not to say or do, in a given situation. A socially clumsy person can be described as ‘nunchi eoptta’, meaning “absent of nunchi”

17 Pena ajena (Mexican Spanish): The embarrassment you feel watching someone else’s humiliation

18 Pochemuchka (Russian): a person who asks a lot of questions

19 Schadenfreude (German): the pleasure derived from someone else’s pain (e.g. like being kissed by Nobby the elf!)

20 Sgriob (Gaelic): The itchiness that overcomes the upper lip just before taking a sip of whisky – sometimes refered to as sub-nasal thrush

21 Taarradhin (Arabic): implies a happy solution for everyone, or “I win. You win.” It’s a way of reconciling without anyone losing face. Arabic has no word for “compromise,” in the sense of reaching an arrangement via struggle and disagreement

22 Tatemae and Honne (Japanese): What you pretend to believe and what you actually believe, respectively

23 Tingo (Pascuense language of Easter Island): to borrow objects one by one from a neighbor’s house until there is nothing left

24 Waldeinsamkeit (German): The feeling of being alone in the woods

25 Yoko meshi (Japanese): literally ‘a meal eaten sideways,’ referring to the peculiar stress induced by speaking a foreign language

So if you are ever in a situation where you wish to express yourself in public but can not find the appropriate English words please see if there is a suitable substitute from the list above. If you have any other suggestions for Nobby’s list please let me know using the comments box below.

We must now go back and enjoy some more interviewing fun……

Chris Duggleby (and little Nobby, the auditor’s elf)