There is no single Asian language. But plenty of vogue words from this
booming continent are entering English. Did you know there is a flower
named after former dictator Kim Jong-il? The Chinese have a word -
shengnu, literally leftover - for the new phenomenon of unmarried women
over thirty. Can you tell your jeepney from your jilbab, or yakuza from
the yellowshirts? These are just some of the hundreds of words that
illuminate little corners of life and culture in a pan-Asian selection
of keywords from the zeitgeist.