Ever had an itch you just couldn’t reach?  Watched your cat or dog roll around on the ground, desperate to have you scratch them? Well, get ready for today’s Wacky Word Wednesday, a weekly celebration of the wackiest and most interesting words from around the world!

The definition of today’s wacky word from TermWiki.com:

ac·nes·tis [ak-nist-uhs] -noun The part of the body that cannot be reached (to scratch), usually the space between the shoulder blades.

Acnestis comes from a combination of two Greek words: aknestis, which means spine, and knestos, which means scratched (knaein, being defined as to scratch or scrape).

We admit it: this wacky word is not the most commonly used, but with a definition like that, how could we resist? The first thing that comes to mind when thinking about acnestis is that unforgettable scene in Walt Disney’s The Jungle Book. For those unfamiliar with this animated movie, the story unfolds when an abandoned baby boy is found in the jungle. Having just given birth herself, a female wolf takes the boy in and raises him alongside her cubs.

Welcome back for Tuesday Tips, where we share the tricks of the localization and translation trade from different members of the CSOFT Family. Read on to see what Jayki, one of our rockin’ project managers (PMs) here at CSOFT, has to say about smooth operations, handling problems, and maintaining professional ties.

Another week at our fingertips and there’s nothing like a little insight into the life of a child prodigy to inspire productivity. For today’s Monday Morning Quote:

I have made this letter longer than usual because I lack the time to make it shorter. - Blaise Pascal Inventor, Mathematician, and Wearer of Wristwatches

Born in the 17^th century and living only 39 years, Frenchman Blaise Pascal started his life as a child prodigy and grew up to become a well-known mathematician, physicist, writer, and inventor, while also contributing written works to both theology and philosophy.

For today’s Straight from the Source, we went around and asked our colleagues:

What is the hardest part of your job?

We hope you enjoy their answers! Also, feel free to share with everyone else the things that you struggle the most with from nine to five!

Put on a pair of your most outrageous dancing shoes for today’s Wacky Word Wednesday, a weekly celebration of the wackiest and most interesting words from around the world!

Today’s wack-tacular word is tarantism. Here’s the definition from TermWiki.com:

tar·ant·ism [tahr-uhn-tiz-uhm] -noun An uncontrollable urge to dance; a mania characterized by an uncontrollable impulse to dance, popularly attributed to the bite of the tarantula.

The etymology of tarantism is tied in with its place of origin: Taranto was a city in south Italy where this phenomenon emerged throughout the 15th to 17th centuries. During this time, the inhabitants of Taranto believed that the bite from a tarantula, also known as a wolf spider, was deadly. If bitten, they believed that the only way to prevent tarantula-induced death was by reacting with feverish dance moves (think John Travolta in Saturday Night Fever, but more spastastic). The tarantula itself—not to be confused with the unrelated hairy arachnids that most people understand tarantulas to be today—was also named after Taranto.

Guest blog entry by Uwe Muegge, Chief Terminologist and Co-Director of MedL10N at CSOFT

Imagine a place where total newbies to localization and internationalization can just walk up and introduce themselves to the folks who got this whole industry started, a place that brims with the energy of today’s movers and shakers in the L10Nverse, a place that’s truly open, welcoming and, of course, international. The International Multilingual User Group (IMUG) is just that place: Founded in 1987 and holding regular monthly meetings since 1991, IMUG has been a driving force in the localization community that reaches far beyond its base in Silicon Valley.

Screenshot of Adobe Connect simulcast of the IMUG event. Presentation slide is in the center, and on the left is the video feed of the presenter, the list of virtual attendees, and a chat box for feedback.

What better crowd to introduce CSOFT’s latest tool developments than this? And what better venue than the ultra high-tech conference facilities (think webcasting with not one, not two, but three remote-controlled HD video cameras!) at Adobe’s headquarters in San Jose? We had a total audience of about 50 industry experts, half of whom were physically present, the other half participating via Adobe Connect from locations in the U.S., Belgium, Canada, and Japan. I18n Guy, Tex Texin, won the prize for hailing from the greatest distance: He logged on from Shanghai. I really got a kick out of being part of this truly global environment, and I think Matt Arney, CSOFT’s VP of the North America Market, did too.

In honor of Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, today’s Monday Morning Quote is from the man himself—the man with a dream that spearheaded the forward movement of civil rights in America, an activist, clergyman and winner of the Nobel Peace Prize, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

A man can’t ride your back unless it’s bent. - Martin Luther King, Jr. Civil Rights Activist and Renowned Orator

Heavily influenced by the philosophy of Mohandas Gandhi and other advocates of nonviolent resistance, Martin Luther King, Jr. employed mass civil disobedience to bring racial discrimination and segregation to the forefront of American politics during the ‘50s and ‘60s.

We don’t mean to get you excited, but it’s official: the week is halfway over. So not only are you almost on your way to a free and relaxing weekend, but it’s also time for Wacky Word Wednesday, a weekly celebration of the wackiest and most interesting words from around the world!

Today’s wacky word is akimbo. Here’s the definition from TermWiki.com:

a·kim·bo [uh-kim-boh] -adjective, adverb a position in which the hands are on the hips and the elbows are bowed outward

Used as both an adjective and an adverb, when akimbo is in its adjectival form, it goes against typical English syntax and is placed after the noun it’s describing—not before.

The etymology of this word is not altogether clear, but general consensus seems to date this word back to the 1400s when the word in kenebowe was used to describe something bent at a sharp angle. Unfortunately, the origin of this word is also unknown. Some posit that akimbo might also hail from the Icelandic keng boginn, which means “bent into a crook,” or the Middle English word a cam bow, meaning “in a crooked bow.” If only they had paternity tests for wacky words.

Getting back into the groove of things, it’s time for our biweekly Tuesday Tips on localization and translation from different members of the CSOFT family.

Today we’d like introduce Annette Hemera, a European business development manager at CSOFT, who comes from a strong background with over 10 years of experience in project management, consulting and training in the localization industry. For this edition of Tuesday tips, Annette will share with everyone some insight on how to make the most of your localization budget.

It’s already the second week of the New Year. Have you managed to stick to your resolutions so far? Here at CSOFT, we’re trying our best to do just that, which means that it’s time again for a Monday Morning Quote—on time and prettily adorned for your reading pleasure. Today’s quote is by the best-selling novelist of all time, Dame Agatha Christie, who is especially remembered for her quirky if not meddlesome literary sleuths, Hercule Poirot and Miss Marple.

I don’t think necessity is the mother of invention. Invention, in my opinion, arises directly from idleness, possibly also from laziness—to save oneself trouble. - Agatha Christie The Queen of Crime

A bit of background information on Christie’s affinity for laziness: in her autobiography, Christie herself talks about how her father was a lazy man, having grown up in a time of what she refers to as “independent incomes” in Great Britain. Essentially, her father was a well-to-do American stockbroker who was more suited to playing whist at the club than strapping on the ol’ work boots. This idleness among upper-middle class people is a recurring, almost romanticized theme in a number of her crime novels.