# Any English words obscene in other languages? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 18, 2010, 12:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664 "2010-06-18T12:48:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/61 "2010-06-19T20:02:36Z")
The connection between “ass” = “donkey” and “ass” = “butt” goes back at least long enough for Shakespeare to have played on it in _Midsummer Night’s Dream_. ---
**Author:** ![Drew\_Kit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Drew\_Kit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drew_Kit)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 8:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/62 "2010-06-19T20:26:19Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > The connection between “ass” = “donkey” and “ass” = “butt” goes back at least long enough for Shakespeare to have played on it in _Midsummer Night’s Dream_. And the physical connection between butt and donkey goes back even further. What about before that? If it’s not a bowdlerization then are the words directly related historically, as it seems unusual to have differing derivations for two words in related languages that sound so similar and mean the same thing. Or for that matter, the French con and the Dutch Kut seem obviously close to the English ‘C word’. ---
**Author:** ![Clothahump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/51bf81/32.png) [@Clothahump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Clothahump)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/63 "2010-06-19T21:50:45Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > David Letterman once got a lot of mileage out of discussing a political scandal involving the Fokker aircraft company. Them fokkers was flying Messerschmidts!! ---
**Author:** ![Drew\_Kit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Drew\_Kit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drew_Kit)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 11:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/64 "2010-06-19T23:33:34Z")
Oh, I just thought of another good French one to be careful of. The English phrase ‘pay-day’, the day salaries are paid, is pronounced exactly the same as the French P.D. which is slang abbreviation for either pederast or paedophile, I couldn’t figure out which. Either way, confessing you are desperate for pay-day will raise a few Gallic eyebrows. ---
**Author:** ![hibernicus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hibernicus/32/2802_2.png) [@hibernicus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hibernicus)\ **Post date:** [June 19, 2010, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/65 "2010-06-19T23:52:19Z")
The common and innocuous English phrase “I think so” sounds funny to Japanese because it includes the sound of the Japanese word “kuso” meaning “shit”. (I think so -\> aisin **kuso** ) ---
**Author:** ![Caveat\_lector\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ea5d25/32.png) [@Caveat\_lector\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caveat_lector_1)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/66 "2010-06-20T00:00:53Z")
I was warned that ‘um’ means ‘cunt’ in Kazak. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/67 "2010-06-20T00:26:31Z")
> [@Drew\_Kit](#): > > Oh, I just thought of another good French one to be careful of. The English phrase ‘pay-day’, the day salaries are paid, is pronounced exactly the same as the French P.D. which is slang abbreviation for either pederast or paedophile, I couldn’t figure out which. Either way, confessing you are desperate for pay-day will raise a few Gallic eyebrows. And “pay day” sounds dangerously close to “I farted” in Portuguese—_peidei_ from _peidar_, “to fart” ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 5:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/68 "2010-06-20T05:13:08Z")
> [@Drew\_Kit](#): > > Con is the French C word. Well, not really – certainly nowhere near as the C-word is in North America. It doesn’t make the news if a politician uses it, for example. Actually, I’ve never heard it used literally to mean vagina (we have our own vulgar word for that in Quebec, and a host of kind-of-vulgar-but-funny ones). It basically just means “idiot” or “stupid/dull,” both as a noun and an adjective (c’est un gros con, cette émission est tellement conne, etc.) I heard a story that the reason that they created the French word _ordinateur_ instead of borrowing the English word _computer_ is because the first two syllables of the latter are _con_ and _pute_. This is a bit of a tangent, but I might as well share: my friend Ros had to warn (mercifully in advance) her mother, a rather prissy woman, that the French expression _ne pas savoir où donner de la tête_ (to be all over the place, not to know what to do next, more or less) must not be translated word-for-word into English. ---
**Author:** ![matt\_mcl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/69 "2010-06-20T05:15:44Z")
> [@Drew\_Kit](#): > > Oh, I just thought of another good French one to be careful of. The English phrase ‘pay-day’, the day salaries are paid, is pronounced exactly the same as the French P.D. which is slang abbreviation for either pederast or paedophile, I couldn’t figure out which. Either way, confessing you are desperate for pay-day will raise a few Gallic eyebrows. _Pédé_ (not an abbreviation), although derived from _pédéraste_, means “faggot.” (It’s used more in France than Quebec.) It’s a homophobic word but doesn’t really have connotations of child molestation. ---
**Author:** ![Drew\_Kit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/7cd45c/32.png) [@Drew\_Kit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Drew_Kit)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/70 "2010-06-20T12:16:39Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > Well, not really – certainly nowhere near as the C-word is in North America. It doesn’t make the news if a politician uses it, for example. Huh. So she had no reason to slap me other than for the fun of it? ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Angel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/d26b3c/32.png) [@Johnny\_Angel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Angel)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 8:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/71 "2010-06-20T20:09:58Z")
A co-worker once wrote the following interesting fact on the whiteboard: > [@](#): > > Mazda had to change the name of its MR2 for the French market because it would be pronounced _merdu_, which means “terrible” in French. Terrible? Well, I know that _merda_ means ‘shit’ in Latin… ---
**Author:** ![kun11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/91b2a8/32.png) [@kun11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kun11)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/72 "2010-06-20T22:17:52Z")
> [@Quercus](#): > > Is Australia foreign enough? Because here in the states, even a nice young lady might root for her favorite team, by cheering them on. In Australia, that would mean something rather different… I always thought that the Canadian clothing company “Roots” would have been a great success in Australia for that very reason.😃 ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 11:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/73 "2010-06-20T23:01:09Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > Terrible? Well, I know that _merda_ means ‘shit’ in Latin… Well, “merdeux” literally means “shitty”, which does also mean “terrible” or so in English. Although I’d be more likely to use “merdique” if I want to describe something as being of terrible quality. “Merdeux”, in Quebec French, might be understood as meaning “lucky” (pronounced with an /ɑ/ vowel). And this tidbit sounds like one of those urban legends about products renamed abroad. I have no idea what a Mazda MR2 is, but I wouldn’t have made the link to “merdeux”, it’s not all that obvious. Not like that Grocon company which is just _too_ obvious. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/74 "2010-06-20T23:44:12Z")
“.pdf file” sounds like “paedophile” in Irish, British etc. English. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zagloba](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/977dab/32.png) [@zagloba](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zagloba)\ **Post date:** [June 20, 2010, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/75 "2010-06-20T23:56:57Z")
> [@Johnny\_Angel](#): > > A co-worker once wrote the following interesting fact on the whiteboard: > > > [@](#): > > > > Mazda had to change the name of its MR2 for the French market because it would be pronounced merdu, which means “terrible” in French. Incorrect. The MR2 is a Toyota. ---
**Author:** ![Pyper](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Pyper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pyper)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 12:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/76 "2010-06-21T00:30:23Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > Is it? I think this is an old story, usually followed by people saying Joanie love Chachi was highly rated in Korea. > > [Ah, I don’t think it is true.](http://www.snopes.com/radiotv/tv/joanie.asp) I’ll defer to any native Korean speakers, but when I was growing up in a community of Korean immigrants in Orange County, the word for penis was definitely “cha ji.” ---
**Author:** ![Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/malleus_incus_stapes/32/3293_2.png) [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malleus_Incus_Stapes)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 12:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/77 "2010-06-21T00:34:08Z")
> [@kun11](#): > > I always thought that the Canadian clothing company “Roots” would have been a great success in Australia for that very reason.😃 What does it mean in Australia? ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/78 "2010-06-21T00:38:33Z")
Come to think of it, how about gestures? You never want to wave at someone with your palm forward in Italy, since that would be giving them the evil eye. The closest English translation would be “Go to Hell”, except they take it a lot more seriously. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/79 "2010-06-21T00:59:20Z")
> [@Malleus\_Incus\_Stapes](#): > > What does it mean in Australia? To root is to fuck in Australia AFAIK. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/80 "2010-06-21T01:01:41Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > Come to think of it, how about gestures? You never want to wave at someone with your palm forward in Italy, since that would be giving them the evil eye. The closest English translation would be “Go to Hell”, except they take it a lot more seriously. Oh, well, if you want to know about gestures that mean one thing in one country and have a different meaning in another, Bulgarians do nod their heads the opposite way of everyone else, ie, they nod for no and shake their heads for yes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664.md?page=5)