latah - What does it mean?
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Definition of 'latah'English
Alternative forms
* lata
Noun
( en-noun)
(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.
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Similar to 'latah'lath, loath, loth, lieth, layeth, lyeth, luth, lith, lotah, lowth, lewth
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