Respond to Japanese Noh theatre like a native: Kazoku sorrole no seppuku ga yokatta. (I love the part where the whole family disembowels themselves.). Speak to homicidal Parisian taxi drivers in a language they'll understand: Ou avez-vous appris a conduire? En Italie? (Where did you learn to drive? Italy?). Discuss Italian olive oil with the proper degree of reverence: Un assaggio ti dice che le olive sono maturate di fronte ad una cattedrale. (One taste tells you the olives grew in full view of the cathedral.) Establish privacy needs in Mexico: Preferirfa una habitaci6n sin alacranes. (I'd prefer a room without scorpions.). Howard Tomb's Wicked phrase book series is the fiendishly irreverent - and very successful - collection that gives travellers the words they wish they could utter while, say, attempting to find the exit of the Louvre or facing a plate of Fugu (poisonous blowfish) in Japan. It's the ultimate impulse gift for anyone who'd like to know how to say silly things in a different language. Because, as Howard Tomb writes in his new introduction: Every country is different, but all foreign places have one thing in common: they're weird.