Don’t think this topic has come up before. Figured it should go here and not the Pit, even though it may have some naughty words in it. So first, let me just cover my backside with this little disclaimer: If you don’t like cussin’, or if you know Swedish or Finnish and would not like to read curses in either of those lovely languages, stop here/stopp nu/seis nyt! Thanks/tack/kiitos! (Sorry for the overkill- I just find it fun to type in other languages!)
Now, on with the main topic:
Who else living in a country where English is the standard likes to bust out with a nice non-English cussfest from time to time? Those curses are fun because:
1)You can use them in public if you do something clumsy (that’s me, all the time) and not offend anyone,
2)They’re good for muttering to strangers when they’ve bothered you but not enough to warrant direct confrontation,
3)Sometimes they’re just more satisfying to say, especially when the language they’re taken from is a lot less flippant about cursing than English is,
4)They make for good in-jokes with your friends.
Here’s a few of mine: Swedish: Fan! (rhymes w/ “wan” and means “Devil” or “Damn”) Helvete! (means “Hell”) Skit! (hard to say how it’s pronounced, but the “sk” sound is sorta like the “wh” in “Whew!” The whole thing sounds like “wheat” through rounded lips. Replace the ‘k’ with ‘h’ and you have the meaning in English.)
Finnish: Paska! (sounds like “BAHSkah” and means the same as “Skit” above) Perkele! (sounds sorta like “BEARkaylay” and pretty much means “devil” but it’s very strong. Not for Grandma Tervonen’s hearing!) Painu Helvettiin! (sounds like “BUY-new Hellveteen” and means “Go to Hell”)
(I started to list some stronger ones here, but decided against it. Finnish cursing is pretty hardcore!)
Swedish and Finnish curses are good to use in the States (especially here in the South) because your likelihood of saying one in front of someone who understands is almost nil. At one point I was thinking of getting one for a personalized license plate, but the idea is not to offend, and I imagine that sooner or later, some nice couple from Stockholm would pass me on I-95 and chuck a bottle at my windscreen. eg
So what do you like to say? Let’s see how many different languages you all can add to the list!
Shimatta: Japanese. Depending on how forcefully you say it, it can mean anywhere from “Oh, darn” to “SHIT!” Kuso: Japanese. Unlike Shimatta, which is an exclamation, kuso is a noun. It means “Shit.” Sacrebléu!: French. I don’t know if it has an exact translation into English, but basically I think it’s tantamount to taking the blood of Christ in vain. Someone once told me it’s about the worst thing you could say in French. Cojónes: Spanish for “balls.” As in, “¡That guy has some big cojónes!” Cavrón: Spanish. I think it more or less means “motherfucker.”
Funny story: Whilst going to college at a very conservative religious college, I’m having lunch with Lois, daughter of missionaries to Mexico, and Andrew, native Argentinan. I make a joke that elicits groans and rolled eyes. Andrew calls me “Puto.” Now, understand that I’ve always understood “puto” as the equivalent of calling somebody a male bitch. Lois, the missionary’s daughter, is shocked and exclaims “Andrew! What did you just say!” I, however, am pretty pissed, so I look Andrew right in the eye and say “¡Cavrón!” At this point Lois is about to faint. Anyhoo, when the dust settles we learn that, in Argentine Spanish, words like “puto” and “cavrón” are harmless schoolyard epithets on the order of “poopyhead.”
Another funny story: I’ll paraphrase. Don’t ever ask an Australian which team he’s “rooting” for. Apparently “rooting” is a vulgar term for sexual intercourse in Australia. It’d be like somebody telling me “The Cubs are playing the Cardinals. I’m fucking for the Cubs, how 'bout you?”
Oh my gawsh, it’s the freakin’ motherlode! Wow, look at all the Portugese, Swedish and Finnish words - just in time for the Krisiun (from Brazil) and The Crown (from Sweden/Finland) show tomorrow! Now I got the verbal arsenal to make those big bad Death Metal musicians blush…hahaha!
hijack Skit! (hard to say how it’s pronounced, but the “sk” sound is sorta like the “wh” in “Whew!” The whole thing sounds like “wheat” through rounded lips. Replace the ‘k’ with ‘h’ and you have the meaning in English.)
When my mom was little she loved Cream of Wheat for breakfast, but her Swedish mother couldn’t bring herself to say the name, just “that cereal you like.” Personally, I’ve never been able to look at a box of it without giggling.
My husband and a very loyal friend recently cleaned out my (Swedish) mother-in-law’s composting toilet. During this process they were constantly harassed by the moths that had taken up residence in there. These moths were christened “skitmalar” (shit moths) and I just batiked them on shirts as a memento of a job well done. /hijack
My wife studies Old Norse literature. She tells me that there were three swear words considered so vile that, in Iceland, anyone who used the words could legally be killed “without fear of retribution.”
I can’t remember one of them off the top of my head, but the other two were:
raga: passive homosexual sorþinn: “f***ed,” or to have taken the passive role in sex
It goes without saying that, in the supremely macho world of Viking Iceland, an accusation of homosexuality was considered an incredibly grave insult. BTW, Icelandic culture was not lawless. It had an accepted law code called (sp?) Grágus (pronounced “gray goose”), in which the three lethal words are specifically proscribed.
Spellings are phonetic, 'cause I don’t feel like looking 'em up. Either translation or English equivalent is give.
English–all of 'em.
Spanish–already mentioned by others.
Russian–Yob t’voyu mat[/i–motherf*er
German–Sweinhund–Son of btch, materficia–exactly what it sounds like.
Latin–Excretum tauri–BS, more that have slipped my mind at the moment.
I always liked the old german standby. SchiesseKopf- Shithead. Easy, people can tell it’s nasty, etc.
Also, it’s not a word, but the Turkish way of flipping people off is my favorite.
Chinese curse, and a pretty ghastly one at that.
Cuo ni ma: “shit your mother” Don’t know know how to represent pinyin tones here, but it’s pronounced “tswoah knee mah.”
If you say it wrong, though, it might come out as “shit your horse.”
In puerto rico, “cabron” (sp?) is equivalent to the english “cuckold” in definition, but it’s much more likely to get you shot.
Voi nyt. (Used if I dropped my mallet.)
Voi nyt saatana. (If I dropped my mallet on my toe.)
Voi nyt saatana, perkele! (If the guy on the ladder dropped his mallet on my head. Roll that R with force!)
Voi vittu. (If the mallet head breaks off the handle. Equivalent to fuck this.)
If you are in an area where there are few Filipinos, you can use the folowing (if you live on the coast of California like I do, people might know what these mean, if they have Filipino friends or are Filipino :)).
Note: Vowels said roughly as in Spanish, NOT English!
putang ina mo - your mother’s a whore (bitch…puta is from Spanish. Spanish speakers might pick this one up)
Isinusumpa kita! - I curse you! (nearest translation of “go to hell”)
Puta ka - you’re a whore (note, unlike in Spanish there is no gender, so, for both sexes it is “puta”. “puto” is a steamed rice cake)
Well, according to Harry Harrison, bastardafulco
is the worst thing you can call someone in Esperanto. I just like the way it sounded.
“Bastardafulco! I knew he was trying to fuck me on that deal!”
I would sometimes piss off my mom, just to hear her go off in Spanish. When I got older, my ears burned at the things she called me. Damn, mom, were in the Spanish Navy or something?
And I always like “coolero” from Spanish. It’s like “ass-bandit”.
Oh yeah, and someone asked what “cavron” means. Literally, it means “goat”, but loosely it means “bastard” or “stupid asshole”. Another good one is “pendejo” which literally means “pubic hair” but loosely is translated as “idiot; slack-jawed, drooling moron”
No one can cuss in spanish like my brother. It all the spanish he knows, but I swear he can go off for like 10 minutes saying nothing but insults in spanish. It’s hilarious.
mandarin curses are not as colorful as the cantonese ones.
pokgaai: bastard
haamgachaan: which means something like destruction of your family property
tiu/diu: shit
italian: (well these aren’t swear words persay but exclamations that are considered vulgar)
porca miseria: i don’t know how to translate this one. my mother says its not proper for women to use sighs
sorbole: (regional) by jove, great scott; this one’s not too bad, i’ve heard it in commercials.
stronzo: piece of shit
Fuckin 'a. The only thing I even remember from 3 years of Spanish is the cuss words.
Besa me pene.
Vete a la carajo.
Vaya tiene sexo con su madre mientras chupa el pene de su hermano.
Coma el asno de un cabra mientras evacua su recto en su novia.
