# 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:** 6
**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 23, 2010, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/101 "2010-06-23T22:05:46Z")
> [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](#): > > 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? _Plotte_. > [@](#): > > Care to share why with the rest of the class? Translated word for word, it’s “not to know where to give head.” ---
**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, 11:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/102 "2010-06-23T23:04:15Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > _Plotte_. Yeah, I thought about it after I posted. I’m reminded of the brouhaha about “avoir la plotte à terre”, which might make a good addition to the [thread=567867]funny untranslatable idioms thread[/thread] if there was actually someone talking like that. > [@](#): > > Translated word for word, it’s “not to know where to give head.” I kind of like [post=12602876]my response[/post]. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![audiobottle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/bc8723/32.png) [@audiobottle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/audiobottle)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 12:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/103 "2010-06-24T00:05:46Z")
I speak a bit of Korean, and I can’t say that chachi sounds like the word for penis. The slang word is 잠지 (jahm-ji), which could sort of be like chachi, except chachi would be 차치 which doesn’t translate to anything as far as I know. From what somebody else said about “huzzah” I guess it could sort of sound like 하자 (ha-ja, short a sounds), which means “let’s do it”, but there’s not necessarily any dirty connotation to it. Was she laughing just because it sounds like everybody is speaking in Korean? ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/104 "2010-06-24T01:25:38Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > “Pennies” sounds like “penis” in Portuguese (and Spanish I assume), so a trip to Penny’s (JCPenny) always evokes a little giggle. Nope. “Pay-nay” (approximately). ---
**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 24, 2010, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/105 "2010-06-24T02:21:07Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > Nope. “Pay-nay” (approximately). Sure 'nuff. Now I can safely say JCPenny’s to a Spanish speaker without worrying about double entendres. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 9:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/106 "2010-06-24T09:21:06Z")
The Spanish word meaning penis is pene, so no problem with either jéi sí pénis or the coins. If we were going to get into fits of giggles over one syllable we’d be in a world of trouble… ---
**Author:** ![SGT42](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b9e5f3/32.png) [@SGT42](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SGT42)\ **Post date:** [June 24, 2010, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/107 "2010-06-24T15:10:32Z")
> [@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. The American OK gesture means fuck you! in Brazil. ---
**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 24, 2010, 9:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/108 "2010-06-24T21:55:17Z")
Oh yes, one more from Brazil. The borrowed French word _coup_ sounds exactly like the word for **ass** (i.e. anus) in Portuguese. ---
**Author:** ![Leo\_Bloom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leo_bloom/32/10377_2.png) [@Leo\_Bloom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leo_Bloom)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/109 "2010-06-25T04:09:11Z")
This Israel/Anglo confusion must beat them all. The founding doctrine of Israel is, of course, Zionism. The word “zayen” means “cock” in modern Hebrew slang, and the common ways to say “fuck off” is “lech l’hizdayen” which has the same etymology. ---
**Author:** ![ataraxy22](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ataraxy22/32/307_2.png) [@ataraxy22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ataraxy22)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/110 "2010-06-25T05:51:00Z")
“Pizza” sounds somewhat like the russian word “pizda” meaning “pussy”. It was interesting back in the 1990s when Pizza Hut was one of the first Western chains to open over there. Also “hut” looks a bit like the transliteration of “hui” meaning dick. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 6:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/111 "2010-06-25T06:02:42Z")
> [@ataraxy22](#): > > “Pizza” sounds somewhat like the russian word “pizda” meaning “pussy”. It was interesting back in the 1990s when Pizza Hut was one of the first Western chains to open over there. Also “hut” looks a bit like the transliteration of “hui” meaning dick. Wasn’t that about the time Gorbachev appeared in Pizza Hut commercials? Bet that made it even more entertaining. ---
**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 25, 2010, 3:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/112 "2010-06-25T15:37:37Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > The borrowed French word _coup_ sounds exactly like the word for **ass** (i.e. anus) in Portuguese. Which one is it? Anus = asshole. Ass = buttocks in general. ---
**Author:** ![Birger\_Jari](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/b2d939/32.png) [@Birger\_Jari](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Birger_Jari)\ **Post date:** [June 25, 2010, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/113 "2010-06-25T16:43:54Z")
When pizza is said in the English way with an abrupt sounding zz noise, to Spanish people it can sound like “Picha” which is a spanish slang term for a penis. ---
**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 25, 2010, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/114 "2010-06-25T18:13:42Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Which one is it? Anus = asshole. Ass = buttocks in general. The first one, as in “talking out of my …”, is _cu_ The second one (“butt”) would be _bunda_. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 12:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/115 "2010-06-26T00:55:27Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > Wasn’t that about the time Gorbachev appeared in Pizza Hut commercials? Bet that made it even more entertaining. He appeared in Pizza Hut commercials in the US. He wasn’t used as a Pizza Hut spokesman in the former Soviet Union, because Gorbachev isn’t particularly popular there. “More reviled than Stalin” was the exact phrase used by an old Poli Sci professor of mine. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/116 "2010-06-26T01:32:33Z")
Still, it must have been amusing to himself. “What? You want me to flog something called Pussy Hut??” ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/117 "2010-06-26T17:45:19Z")
> [@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. Adding to the anecdotes: a British friend of mine brought his French fiancée home to meet his family. After dinner etc. they all settled down to watch a good old fashioned British football match on TV. Halfway through the match, the referee made a bad call, and his fiancée, obviously trying to fit in but not realizing that “con” doesn’t have the same force as its English counterpart, yelled, “What’s wrong with you, you blind old c\*\*\*?!” Stunned silence. ---
**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\ **Post date:** [June 26, 2010, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/118 "2010-06-26T17:58:49Z")
A little more on topic: poor, poor Sean [Connery](http://dictionary.reverso.net/english-french/bullshit), especially given that he owned property in France. ---
**Author:** ![Cheshire\_Human](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/5f8ce5/32.png) [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)\ **Post date:** [June 27, 2010, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/119 "2010-06-27T00:21:29Z")
Not English, but rather Russian =/=\> Brazilian Portugese. I read the memoirs of a Russian scientist, once, and in his younger days he went on an expedition to Brazil to study a solar eclipse. They were told before they got off the ship to "Never ever say the [common Russian] words **pirog** or **kuda** , with no explanation given as to why. On their last day there, their hosts held a banquet, and the Russian contingent convinced their KGB handler (a pompous ass, who also thought he could sing) to sing a popular Russian aria that started out “Kuda, kuda…” Hilarity ensued… I have it from an unreliable source that the words in Brazil mean roughly equivalent to American English “Prick” and “Cunt”. Any Brazilian Doper able to confirm/correct this? ---
**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 28, 2010, 3:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664/120 "2010-06-28T15:34:54Z")
> [@DarrenS](#): > > Halfway through the match, the referee made a bad call, and his fiancée, obviously trying to fit in but not realizing that “con” doesn’t have the same force as its English counterpart, yelled, “What’s wrong with you, you blind old c\*\*\*?!” Stunned silence. Ahahahahah. And “cunt” isn’t even as objectionable in the UK as it is in the US. Brilliant. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/any-english-words-obscene-in-other-languages/543664.md?page=7)