latah

plural latahs · alternative lata

1. countableuncountablemedicineA condition found in Malaysia and nearby areas characterised by extreme suggestibility; also, a person suffering from this malady.

   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.

   1962 [1959], William S. Burroughs, Naked Lunch, New York: Grove Press

   2 more examples

   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.

   1989, Anthony Burgess, The Devil's Mode

   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.

   2003, Wen-Shing Tseng, Clinician's Guide to Cultural Psychiatry, page 116