Noun

1. a hyperstartling condition found in south-east Asia; a person suffering from this malady

   • 1959: 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. — William Burroughs, Naked Lunch
   • 1989: 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. — Anthony Burgess, The Devil's Mode