About swearing in your mother tongue...

gabe · Post by **gabe** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 2:53 pm

I have nothing to contribute to this thread - I just wanted to drop in and say that I have found it extremely interesting.

Good work, OP!

EDIT: I recall hearing of a Finnish (i think?) insult that when translated to English, was something to the effect of "smell a pussy."

Can anyone elaborate on that?

Ozymandiaz1260 · Post by **Ozymandiaz1260** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 2:57 pm

Hm, I don't know if I phrased my question very well. The reason I mentioned that specific phrase is because when I was reading this thread yesterday my friend was on the phone and she said 'I hope you die of ass-cancer, faggot' to whomever it was that she was talking to, and I thought to myself how retarded that sounded, but I also thought that while it wasn't a swear word (well, I guess ass is), it was most certainly not something you'd say in front of an old lady in church. When I think of swear words I think of something like this list, but a lot of words that used to be considered offensive no longer are... but, I guess what I'm asking is if a swear or curse or profanity or whatever has to be just one or two words like shit and motherfucker or if offensive phrases count or what? If it's the former, then English curses are numbered in the single digits, but if its the latter then the possibilities are pretty much endless.

Also, is America the only country where they censor specific words out on television and radio, and do other countries do stupid shit like bleep out words like 'pussy' and 'nigger' but not words like 'dick' and 'gook'?

ForceDevice · Post by **ForceDevice** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 9:20 pm

bcelmo wrote: Romanian is a romance language and it doesn`t have a specific swear for "Go take a shit". There is one like "Go to a shit"(Dute`n cacat) but your just sending the person step into it or something, your not telling him to go take a dump

That's precisely what "vá pra merda" means.

BTW, forgot to mention the difference between "vá à merda" and "vá pra merda" here. The former means the person will eventually come back (from the shit), while the latter means go and stay there.

Guardians Knight · Post by **Guardians Knight** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:27 pm

we up north common types tend to call each other things like rapist, paedophile, gaylord etc etc, usually using all three in a big insult like 'dead bairn bum rapist' (bairn = northern term for child), you know, your basic toilet humor for the modern age.

also a new one is to joke about ppl getting a punishment bumming a la Rome - after all no gayness is inferred on either party if its a punishment.....

also calling each other jew or some jew related insult is also common, kinda a homage to ali g rather than any real jew hatery,

oh yeah random outbursts of rascism commonplace too altho calling a white boy a ni**er and then adding any of the above-mentioned additional insults too is in line with the rest of the insults i.e. sick shit that shouldnt really be said and therfore is funny for that reason.

all very non-pc, no offense intended to any party btw

Nuke · Post by **Nuke** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 10:58 pm

Here are some common Icelandic swear words:

Andskotans - The Devil's
Djövullsinns - The Devil's
Árans - The Devil's
Skrambans - The Devil's
Skrattans - The Devil's
Fjandans - The Devil's
Helvítiss - This belongs to hell
Andskotinn/Djöfullinn/Skrambinn/Skrattinn/Fjandinn hafi það - The Devil take it
Farðu í Rassgat - Go to an asshole (used as fuck you)
Hoppaðu upp í rassgatið á þér - Jump into your asshole
Skítur - Shit
Skítalubbi - Shitbag
Skítseiði - Shitspawn
Tík - Bitch
Kunta/píka/pussa - Cunt
Drjóli - Cock
Bjáni/asni/fáviti/fífl/heimskingi/hálfviti - Moron
Þroskaheftur/vængefinn/mongólíti - Retarded

Ozymandiaz1260 · Post by **Ozymandiaz1260** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:03 pm

Damn Nuke, you guys must really not like the Devil very much in Iceland, huh?

Guardians Knight wrote:also calling each other jew or some jew related insult is also common

This is common in the USA too.

KindGrind · Post by **KindGrind** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:05 pm

Is the devil stuff as bad as the genitals one? Is there some kind of hierarchy in this?

KindGrind · Post by **KindGrind** » Thu Nov 20, 2008 11:15 pm

Ozymandiaz1260 wrote:Also, is America the only country where they censor specific words out on television and radio, and do other countries do stupid shit like bleep out words like 'pussy' and 'nigger' but not words like 'dick' and 'gook'?

The church words are censored on TV here in certain programs. I think it's also a matter of time when they're heard. Obviously the swear words on the 6H00 news (if any) would be censored with beeps.

What really annoys me when watching American shows is the total lack of relieving swear words/profanity. When one watches something like Lost, the viewer is often placed in situation where the characters are super pissed, yet say something like "darn" or "shoot", I mean come on. I understand the ratings and all, but if you want your characters to be believable, have them talk like real people.

This is something we do have on our TV programs. When people are pissed, they'll talk like people that are pissed, with the long list of swear words and the worst of them. This is what makes our shows visceral and ultimately "real". I mean I don't condone the random use of profanity for no reason, but I'd take a dirty swear word over a plastic/void character who uses tame expressions just for the sake of political correctness.

Side note, I did watch the British version of The Office many years ago, and I still watch the entire thing once a year or so. This is, to date, the best show I've ever seen. Writing is brilliant, acting is perfect, and it's "shockful" of curses and all. ALso a huge plus, it doesn't drag on for 17 seasons. Gervais' stuff (almost all of it) is pure brillance, I really like what he does.

Nuke · Post by **Nuke** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 9:11 am

Ozymandiaz1260 wrote:Damn Nuke, you guys must really not like the Devil very much in Iceland, huh?

Yeah, mixing protestantism with our past weather and living conditions was a bad idea

KindGrind wrote: Is the devil stuff as bad as the genitals one? Is there some kind of hierarchy in this?

Nah, it's more in the way you use it.
You might yell "Djöfullinn" when you bump your head, "Djöfullinn hafi það" when something goes wrong and "Djöfullinn hirði þig" when you really angry with someone.
When something really goes wrong, or when you hurt yourself bad, you're likely to combine the devil/hell words when shouting of the pain/frustration: "Andskotanns, djöfullsinns, helvítis helvíti!" for example.

Forgot one: Kúkalabbi - little shit

Michaelm · Post by **Michaelm** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 5:30 pm

Ozymandiaz1260 wrote:
Guardians Knight wrote:also calling each other jew or some jew related insult is also common
This is common in the USA too.

We just call them cancerjews

Specineff · Post by **Specineff** » Fri Nov 21, 2008 7:41 pm

Ozymandiaz1260 wrote:Also, is America the only country where they censor specific words out on television and radio, and do other countries do stupid shit like bleep out words like 'pussy' and 'nigger' but not words like 'dick' and 'gook'?

Glad you asked this. In most spanish dubs of movies or series, there seems to be an "unwritten" code of verbal sanitation applied to all of them. Just like Kindgrind mentioned, they de-piss-off characters, except in some of the most hardcore, totally adult shows. For example expressions usually get sanitized like this:

Shit: Damn, or demons.
Hell:Same as above.
Fuck: Same.
Reference to two people fucking: To fornicate. (I kid you not.)
SOB: Pig, or something that means "Lacking any grace whatsoever."

Also, in the dubbed latin spanish version of Jackass 2, they replaced every instance of "dick" with "penis". Perhaps because the dub was intended for the international market, the mexican dub studio avoided using "verga", since in other countries it would be understood literally, which refers to a certain part of a ship's mast.

There are also no pejorative words in spanish, that I know of, that match the sense of words like "Nigg3r" or "g00k". They usually get translated as "Dark" or "darkie", and "that chinese" or maybe even "slit eyes", respectively. (Which are still offensive, but you see what I mean.)