# 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:** 5
**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 21, 2010, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/81 "2010-06-21T01:27:10Z")
> [@zagloba](#): > > Incorrect. The MR2 is a Toyota. D’oh. I mean, would you believe “Of course I knew that, I was just faithfully reporting someone else’s mistake?” ---
**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 21, 2010, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/82 "2010-06-21T20:14:04Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > 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). Hmmm… I must be sleeping because I can’t think of any specifically Quebec French words for “vagina” or “vulva” right now. Which ones did you have in mind? > [@](#): > > 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. :o ---
**Author:** ![Yarster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/7c8e57/32.png) [@Yarster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yarster)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/83 "2010-06-21T22:30:27Z")
I can remember in the early 80s going over to an Iranian friend’s house and having dinner, when the news turned to sports and was talking about boxer Gerry Cooney. Everyone at the table started laughing hysterically, as ‘Cooney’ is apparently the Farsi word for “asshole”. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 21, 2010, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/84 "2010-06-21T23:48:48Z")
I’m told the English word “mushy” sounds just like a German slang term for female genitalia, pretty much the equivalent to “pussy” in English. A friend of mine has a hilarious story about the time she was visiting a friend in Germany and one morning tried to describe how she liked her oatmeal. ---
**Author:** ![trupa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/aeb1de/32.png) [@trupa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/trupa)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 3:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/85 "2010-06-22T03:11:31Z")
Our fitness trainer Gary would have a hard time in Japan, as I understand his name to sound exactly like the Japanese name for diarhea. A strict pronounciation of Valdimir Putin’s name in French would sound exactly like a word for a whore (putain), so they pronounce it like a dish of fries served with melted chese and gravy instead; poutine. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 9:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/86 "2010-06-22T09:22:54Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > A cousin of min once rented a house in England and her BIL made certain that her landlady, who went by the name of _Pippa_, knew that it means _fuck_ in Swedish. In Spanish a pipa is a seed encased in a shell (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds) or a pipe (as in the smoking implement, not the tubes). A common Spanish nickname for Enrique (Henry) is Quique or Kike. It’s not pronounced like the derogatory term at all (more like KEEkeh, if I’m not getting my phunics too off). OTOH, for English terms that mean something bad in Spanish I’m drawing a blank. There’s yo good olde false friends, but that’s a different problem. ---
**Author:** ![SGT42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@SGT42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SGT42)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 9:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/87 "2010-06-22T09:39:02Z")
Chicago sounds like ‘I crap on you’ in Portuguese. ---
**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 22, 2010, 11:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/88 "2010-06-22T11:23:12Z")
> [@trupa](#): > > A strict pronounciation of Valdimir Putin’s name in French would sound exactly like a word for a whore (putain), so they pronounce it like a dish of fries served with melted chese and gravy instead; poutine. I know you’re joking, but FWIW, “Putin” is the common English transliteration of the Russian PM’s name while “Poutine” is its common French transliteration. Same thing for “Yeltsin”/“Eltsine” and most other Russian words. They’re transliterated in such a way that the pronunciation in the target language approximates the correct Russian pronunciation. This has lead to questions about how to write the names of Russian hockey players. The common “Latin” spelling of their names is usually the English transliteration, so when I was working at Ottawa’s _Le Droit_ newspaper, we were instructed to modify the spelling of their names in articles coming from news agencies to uniformize it and make it closer to French orthography. “Alexei Yashin”, for example, became “Alexeï Yashine”. But that’s arguably even worse, since that’s neither the English nor the French transliteration. The letter cluster ‘sh’ doesn’t exist in French, for one. The actual French transliteration of this player’s name would have been closer to “Alexeï Iachine”, which just looks weird. On the other hand, I think I’ve recently read a (probably Russian) name on a hockey jersey that looked like it had been transliterated the French way. I don’t remember which player it was, unfortunately. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 12:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/89 "2010-06-22T12:14:57Z")
> [@Zsofia](#): > > Other way around, but American tourists giggle like mad on the Autobahn because all sorts of highway words have “fahrt” in them in German. The Swedish manual for the videogame Halo says that a certain button when in a vehicle gives “Extra Fart”. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/90 "2010-06-22T12:40:06Z")
The Arabic for penis is “zib”, which is close enough to “zip” as makes no never mind. Making ZipCars amusing, and leading to an anecdote related to me by someone who was teaching English to Arabic-speaking elementary school students. They were working from a British book and had come to the section on the mail. Discussing postal codes, she said, “In England, they call them post codes, but in the US we call them…” and then her brain kicked in and she realized that she was about to say “penis codes” which probably would have put an end to any productive activity in class that day “… postal codes.” ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/91 "2010-06-22T13:24:02Z")
Oh and “Pitt” means “Dick” in Swedish, making Brad Pitt a rather unfortunate name. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/92 "2010-06-22T14:12:21Z")
The Allied Military Government of Occupied Territory [AMGOT] in WW2 was eventually renamed AMG after the Turkish delegate to the fledging United Nations pointed out that it meant something rude in Turkish. The late Fritz Spiegel, seeking confirmation of this story, contacted the Turkish military attaché at the Embassy, who, once he had stopped laughing, said “There is no such word in Turkish”. Neither could a waiter in a Turkish restaurant assist him. The BBC’s Turkish language service came to the rescue, supplying the information:- _am_ [cunt] _got_ [arse] ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 3:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/93 "2010-06-22T15:02:20Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > The Swedish manual for the videogame Halo says that a certain button when in a vehicle gives “Extra Fart”. In this context it means _extra speed_. > [@amanset](#): > > Oh and “Pitt” means “Dick” in Swedish, making Brad Pitt a rather unfortunate name. He is aware of it. 😃 A friend of mine once claimed he had told him. ---
**Author:** ![Annie-Xmas](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecc23a/32.png) [@Annie-Xmas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Annie-Xmas)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/94 "2010-06-22T18:04:28Z")
The name of the nude musical Oh! Calcutta is actually an Anglicized version of the French "Oh! Quelle C_nt Tu A." (Oh, What a C_nt you have.) Remember Apu saying that when he was Manjula were getting ready to do the deed? ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/95 "2010-06-22T18:25:50Z")
> [@Khaki\_Campbell](#): > > Not at all. “Cul” is pronounced as [ky], using a vowel sound totally unheard of in English. Several Northern English accents would approximate that French sound- Newcastle for example. ---
**Author:** ![Pjen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Pjen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pjen)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/96 "2010-06-22T18:49:51Z")
> [@Annie-Xmas](#): > > The name of the nude musical Oh! Calcutta is actually an Anglicized version of the French "Oh! Quelle C_nt Tu A." (Oh, What a C_nt you have.) > > Remember Apu saying that when he was Manjula were getting ready to do the deed? I had heard (I am of an age to have seen the musical on its original performance in London) that it was from the Latin for ‘What an ass you have’- at least that was what was said then. ETA Wikipedia agrees using the English ‘arse’. [Oh! Calcutta! - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh!_Calcutta)! ---
**Author:** ![Kobal2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kobal2/32/20_2.png) [@Kobal2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kobal2)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/97 "2010-06-22T22:05:09Z")
> [@Pjen](#): > > I had heard (I am of an age to have seen the musical on its original performance in London) that it was from the Latin for ‘What an ass you have’- at least that was what was said then. > > ETA Wikipedia agrees using the English ‘arse’. > > [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh!\_Calcutta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oh%21_Calcutta)! Frenchie here, and I confirm Wiki : it’s “Oh, quel cul t’as !”, “cul” meaning buttocks. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [June 22, 2010, 11:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/98 "2010-06-22T23:02:07Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > In this context it means _extra speed_. > . I know mate, I speak Swedish 😉 ---
**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 23, 2010, 10:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/99 "2010-06-23T10:43:10Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > > [@trupa](#): > > > > A strict pronounciation of Valdimir Putin’s name in French would sound exactly like a word for a whore (putain), so they pronounce it like a dish of fries served with melted chese and gravy instead; poutine. > > I know you’re joking, but FWIW, “Putin” is the common English transliteration of the Russian PM’s name while “Poutine” is its common French transliteration. And another FWIW, “poutine”, the name of the dish, derives I believe from a particular pronunciation of “pudding”. No connection to the Russian PM. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [June 23, 2010, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/100 "2010-06-23T22:01:42Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > 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. Care to share why with the rest of the class? > [@trupa](#): > > Our fitness trainer Gary would have a hard time in Japan, as I understand his name to sound exactly like the Japanese name for diarhea. Yup. When I was studying abroad in Tokyo, a fellow exchange student (Scottish) made very sure to emphasize to all of us that we should pronounce his name as GAH-ree. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664.md?page=6)