latah

English

WOTD – 15 June 2011

Alternative forms

• lata

Etymology

From (deprecated template usage) [etyl] Malay latah.

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /ˈlɑːtə/

Noun

latah (plural latahs)

1. (pathology) A condition found in Malaysia and nearby areas characterised by extreme suggestibility; also, a person suffering from this malady.
   • 1959, William Burroughs, Naked Lunch:

     Latah is a condition occurring in Southeast Asia. Otherwise sane, Latahs compulsively imitate every motion once their attention is attracted by snapping the fingers or calling sharply.

   • 1989, Anthony Burgess, The Devil's Mode:

     It seemed to Sir Edwin that this patient, a young man who had never set foot outside England, was suffering from an ailment known as latah – common enough in the Malay archipelago but hitherto unknown, so far as the clinical records – admittedly not very reliable – could advise, in the temperate clime of northern Europe.

   • 2003, Wen-Shing Tseng, Clinician's Guide to Cultural Psychiatry, p. 116:

     Actually, there is a debate among scholars as to whether the latah condition should be regarded as a culture-related "mental disorder" or merely as an "unusual behavior response" found in some cultures.

Anagrams

• Thala

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Malay

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /latah/
• Rhymes: -atah, -tah, -ah

Noun

latah

1. (pathology) latah (A condition found in Malaysia and nearby areas characterised by extreme suggestibility)