April 2017

My son, Josh, who’s a student of anthropology at Durham University, decided to find out what TABi might mean in languages other than English (it was of course made up to combine Tabs with Information – as well as echoing disruptive innovations like iPhones).

Where TABi exists as a word, this is what he discovered (with a little help from Google):

Filipino = side
Hausa = feeling
Hungarian = tab (hurrah)
Ibo = drooping eyelids (oh dear)
Japanese = journey, thick ankle sock with a toe divider, tour
Korean = of course (nice)
Latin = slaver (I’m hoping as in drool not owning slaves)
Malagasy = tab (excellent)
Somali = report (also good)
Tamil = fleeing (!)
Turkish = subject, dependent, subordinate, linked (perfect!)
Urdu = medical
Uzbek = billing
Xhosa = Rabbi
Yoruba = or

So we only have to worry about causing confusion in Japan, parts of Africa and possibly ancient Rome.