```
friendly = {
    basestring: "String", 
    int: "Integer", 
   ...
}
try:
    return friendly[type_]
except KeyError:
    return type_
```

or, if you look before you leap

```
return friendly[type_] if type_ in friendly else type_
```

or, if you don't think it's too confusing

```
return friendly.get(type_, type_)
```