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Latch vs Latah - What's the difference?

latch | latah |

As nouns the difference between latch and latah

is that latch is (automotive) while latah is (pathology) a condition found in malaysia and nearby areas characterised by extreme suggestibility; also, a person suffering from this malady.

latch

English

(wikipedia latch)

Etymology 1

(etyl) .

Noun

(es)
  • A fastening for a door that has a bar that fits into a notch or slot, and is lifted by a lever or string from either side.
  • * 1912 : (Edgar Rice Burroughs), (Tarzan of the Apes), Chapter 4
    • The cleverly constructed latch which Clayton had made for the door had sprung as Kerchak passed out; nor could the apes find means of ingress through the heavily barred windows.
  • A flip-flop electronic circuit
  • (obsolete) A latching.
  • (obsolete) A crossbow.
  • (obsolete) That which fastens or holds; a lace; a snare.
    • Derived terms
    * on the latch

    Verb

    (es)
  • To close or lock as if with a latch
  • To catch; lay hold of
  • :* Where hearing should not latch them. — Shakespeare, MacBeth , Act IV
    • Derived terms
    * latch on * latch on to * latch onto

    Etymology 2

    Compare (etyl) .

    Verb

    (es)
  • (obsolete) To smear; to anoint.
    • (Shakespeare)

    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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