In the sense of “nonsense”, chorradas would be an impolite version; deja ya de decir chorradas could be translated as an irate “cut the crap, damnit.” The polite version of “nonsense” is tonterías (lit. “stupid stuff”). Catalan the same, xorrades (sounds like chorradas but the x is softer than the ch) or tonterías (the o is halfway to u and the a is halfway to e).
As a verb, it can be decir chorradas/tonterías, or it can be tomar el pelo (lit “grab (someone) by his hair”). In Catalan this would be aixecar la faldilla or aixecar la camisa, lit “to lift her skirts” or “to lift his shirt” (yes, that’s sexual); the Catalan version can also mean “to con someone” or be used in its actual literal meaning.
Someone who’s full of bullshit está cargado de puñetas (està carregat de punyetas in Catalan). Puñetas are a specific kind of lace which used to decorate the sleeves of lawyers (and in the UK still does), so someone who’s full of bullshit is… a lawyer.
If a cockney rhyming slang term can be found on the internet, it is no longer current slang. t-bonham@scc.net, I was taught: In ASL, take your right hand and form “horns” with your index and little fingers, the rest forming a fist. Cross your arms over your chest, right over left. With the left hand make flicking gestures with all the digits.
Merde is used a lot in French, but not really in the sense of “bullshit”. If you say of something that it’s “merde,” it means that it’s a piece of shit. You might say it of something someone said, but the connotation is slightly different: “your opinion’s shit.” Also, in some contexts, merde can mean “luck.” So, in French, if you tell someone you won the lottery and they tell you you’re “full of shit,” they actually mean that you’re a lucky bastard!
The closest you can come to “bullshit” in French is connerie.
French Canadians often use the English “bullshit” when speaking French.
Poopoo is a kiddie word for shit, but that’s a literal (and kiddie) translation with extreme bad grammar; the correct gramar would be popó de toro (in grownup, mierda de toro). Nobody would understand what the heck you’re talking about though, whether your grammar was correct or not, except if they’ve been subjected to a sufficient amount of mistranslated English.
“Bullshit” (pronounced Boolsheet) is used in Hebrew, alongside more traditional words like *Shtuyot *(“nonsense”), *Charta *(a bastardized Arabic word for “crap”) and *Ziyun Moach *(“brain fuck”).
In Chinese, one way to state bluntly that a proposition is invalid would be 不是 bú shì. Literally means ‘it is not’, but when pronounced with gusto–a rising tone followed by a falling tone-- it sort of makes a homonym with you-know-what.
I just remembered a similar expression in Spanish but it’s a false friend, it means something else. Just thought I’d mention it for our posters who might get confused if they encounter it: caca de la vaca indicates a worthless object or worthless information which had initially been thought to be worth something. For example “that ‘antique’ vase? Turns out it was a copy, caca de la vaca.”
In Czech, there’s a word that comes pretty close to “to bullshit,” except in its most literal sense as bovine excrement. “Kecat” (pron. KETS-at) can mean to tell a whopper, to talk nonsense, or to shoot the breeze with a friend about matters of little importance.
When I lived in a flat with two Welshmen, I only picked up two “words” in Welsh: “bullshit” and “fuckin’.” Even when they spoke in Welsh, they would swear in English.
Hebrew is great at integrating foreign cure-words; your average Israeli will find ways to swear in English, Arabic, Yiddish, Russian and Ladino. Probably has something to do with the fact that Hebrew has very few profanities of its own.
Actually, it isn’t just profanity. When Israelis meet, they usually say “Hi” or “Ahalan”; when they part, it’s often with a “Yallah bye” - the Hebrew equivalent of “see ya.” It’s an interesting language.
