I was having a lovely time last night, amusing myself by reading the excellent blog Manolo For the Men (not that I am a man, or am particularly interested in men's fashion, but, hey, it's a good blog), when I came across a post devoted to this book:


How have I not heard of this before? Apparently, this is a Portuguese-to-English phrasebook, written in 1855 by two Portuguese dudes who spoke no English and owned no Portuguese-to-English dictionaries, but instead made do with a Portuguese-to-French dictionary and a French-to-English dictionary, which resulted in helpful phrases like: "What news tell me? All hairs dresser are newsmonger", and--my favorite--"To craunch a marmoset!".

If I ever need a battle cry, "To craunch a marmoset!" is my #1 choice.