# Do other languages have obscenities like those of English? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cecil's Columns/Staff Reports\ **Created:** [March 21, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551 "2013-03-21T17:33:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jimigorilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@jimigorilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimigorilla)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 5:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/1 "2013-03-21T17:33:41Z")
In his column on vulgarities and obscenities in other languages than English Cecil gives the Dutch example: “Krijg de mazelen” (“get the measles”). That is rather a mild way of putting it. In Dutch, people can wish every imaginable disease on each other. As a Dutchman I had never heard the one about the measles, but I have heard cholera, typhoid fever and cancer wished upon people, not excluding myself. Furthermore, where an English speaking person would use a colloquial word for excrement, we tend to use the vulgar word for a lady’s private parts, “kut”. I thought this might be of interest to the teeming millions. * * * LINK TO COLUMN: [Do other languages have obscenities like those of English? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/921/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english) ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/2 "2013-03-21T17:58:28Z")
The column does not seem to be quite clear on the fact that Catalan and Spanish are not the same language. ---
**Author:** ![jimigorilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/edb3f5/32.png) [@jimigorilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jimigorilla)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/3 "2013-03-21T18:14:54Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > The column does not seem to be quite clear on the fact that Catalan and Spanish are not the same language. Most Spanish would say they are, most Catalans would say they aren’t. Hence all the invective… ---
**Author:** ![LawMonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@LawMonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LawMonkey)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/4 "2013-03-21T19:38:04Z")
While I have basically no familiarity with it, Russian мат approaches being a language unto itself. It’s based on a few naughty words, which are basically the same as English ones–cock, cunt, fuck, whore. I’ve always enjoyed the following anecdote, quoted from Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > An inspection was expected at a Soviet plant to award it the Quality Mark, so the administration prohibited the usage of mat. On the next day the productivity dropped abruptly. People’s Control figured out the reason: miscommunication. It turned out that workers knew all the tools and parts only by their mat-based names: huyovina, pizdyulina, huynyushka, huyatina, etc. (all of these are loosely translated as “thing”); the same went for technological processes: othuyachit (to detach, cut, disconnect), zayebenit (to push through, force into), prihuyachit (to attach, connect, bond, nail), huynut (to move slightly, throw, pour), zahuyarit (to throw far away, to put in deeply) etc. ---
**Author:** ![kneegrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@kneegrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kneegrow)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 9:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/5 "2013-03-21T21:17:52Z")
> [@jimigorilla](#): > > Most Spanish would say they are, most Catalans would say they aren’t. Hence all the invective… Not only would most Spanish people say they ARE NOT the same, they would also say there’s no such language as “Spanish” The actual name for what we call spanish is Castellano, the language of Castilla y Leon, the dominant province. Catalan is a completely distinct language, albeit similar. One could say that politically speaking, they are even more different, cos the Catalans fought and died to be independent from Madrid. They’ve gained some autonomy and hold some political power because they are sometimes the deciding voice in parliament. their position is almost exactly like the Scots in GB, rich, small, some autonomy, and occasional talk of independence. If Barcelona wins a football match, it’s just half about sports, the other is half about politics and showing independence. ---
**Author:** ![kneegrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@kneegrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kneegrow)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/6 "2013-03-21T22:08:05Z")
please delete my above post > [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > The column does not seem to be quite clear on the fact that Catalan and Spanish are not the same language. Unless he changed it since you wrote that, the confusion might be all yours, since I see no evidence of that, actually. Care to point where it confuses the two? > [@jimigorilla](#): > > Most Spanish would say they are, most Catalans would say they aren’t. Hence all the invective… Not only would most Spanish people say they ARE NOT the same, they would also say there’s no such language as “Spanish” The actual name for what we call Spanish is Castellano, the language of Castilla y Leon, the dominant province. Catalan is a completely distinct language, albeit similar. One could say that politically speaking, they are even more different, cos the Catalans fought and died to be independent from Madrid. They’ve gained some autonomy and hold some political power because they are sometimes the deciding voice in parliament. their position is almost exactly like the Scots in GB, rich, small, some autonomy, and occasional talk of independence. If Barcelona wins a football match, it’s just half about sports, the other is half about politics and showing independence. ---
**Author:** ![kneegrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@kneegrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kneegrow)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2013, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/7 "2013-03-21T22:09:10Z")
zz ---
**Author:** ![genetics73\_comcast.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecc23a/32.png) [@genetics73\_comcast.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/genetics73_comcast.net)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 3:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/8 "2013-03-22T15:38:03Z")
As far as I know, the biblical Hebrew has no curse words; the modern Hebrew has borrowed swearings from the Arabic. ---
**Author:** ![Shodan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@Shodan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shodan)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/9 "2013-03-22T16:27:55Z")
> [@genetics73\_comcast.net](#): > > As far as I know, the biblical Hebrew has no curse words; the modern Hebrew has borrowed swearings from the Arabic. What about 1 Samuel 20:30, which translates rather exactly to “You son of a bitch!” ([Cite](http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=1%20Samuel+20&version=NIV).) Regards, Shodan ---
**Author:** ![Floater](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/dc4da7/32.png) [@Floater](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Floater)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/10 "2013-03-22T17:18:21Z")
> [@kneegrow](#): > > Not only would most Spanish people say they ARE NOT the same, they would also say there’s no such language as “Spanish” But you could say that both Castiliano and Catalan are Spanish languages. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/11 "2013-03-22T17:53:59Z")
Column: [Do other languages have obscenities like those of English? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/921/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english) First time through, I was mildly confused by this part: > [@](#): > > _Vaffanculo_ is merely the best known of a rich tradition of Italian oaths and imprecations, although the consensus is that Spanish is the champ in this department. Herewith a few of the more printable international classics, culled from the pages of Reinhold Aman’s _Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression_: > _Mecagum les cinc llagues de Crist_, “I shit on the five wounds of Christ,” Catalan. Even more bloodcurdling is _Mecagum Deu, en la creu, en el fuster que la feu i en el fill de puta que va plantar el pi_, “I shit on God, on the cross, on the carpenter who made it and on the son of a whore who planted the pine.” Underlining added for emphasis. It _appeared_ to be saying that example was a statement in Spanish, then labeled it Catalan. Of course the next example is Swahili, which is not Spanish, so there you go. He says Spanish is champ, but then doesn’t give any examples from Spanish. (Okay, one, from Argentina.) ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/12 "2013-03-22T23:34:15Z")
> [@jimigorilla](#): > > Most Spanish would say they are, most Catalans would say they aren’t. Hence all the invective… Since I have never once visited the Peninsula, and since I don’t speak a word of either, I think the fact that I can still distinguish them at sight makes it pretty clear that they’re not the same language. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [March 22, 2013, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/13 "2013-03-22T23:35:19Z")
> [@Irishman](#): > > It _appeared_ to be saying that example was a statement in Spanish, then labeled it Catalan. Of course the next example is Swahili, which is not Spanish, so there you go. He says Spanish is champ, but then doesn’t give any examples from Spanish. (Okay, one, from Argentina.) That was my point. As written, it nearly gave me mental whiplash. ---
**Author:** ![John\_W.Kennedy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_w.kennedy/32/1031_2.png) [@John\_W.Kennedy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_W.Kennedy)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/14 "2013-03-23T00:01:28Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > But you could say that both Castiliano and Catalan are Spanish languages. 😉 Except that _Castellano_ is “Castillian” in English. But, in English, or at least in the USA, “Castillian” normally means old-world Spanish, as opposed to new-world Spanish, and, in fact, is normally pretty much equivalent to _seseo_ (the characteristic replacement of /s/ by /θ/). Linguists, of course, use “Castillian” differently, to mean the speech of Castile, as opposed to Leonese, Aragonese, Gallician, _etc._. But I don’t know any English speaker who uses “Castillian” to mean not-Catalan. I admit that the situation is horribly confused. But, heck, most Americans don’t even know that Catalan exists. A good many Americans, after all, don’t even seem to know that Portuguese exists. ---
**Author:** ![kneegrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@kneegrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kneegrow)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/15 "2013-03-23T02:08:32Z")
> [@genetics73\_comcast.net](#): > > As far as I know, the biblical Hebrew has no curse words; the modern Hebrew has borrowed swearings from the Arabic. hmmm, it’s biblical, no wonder they kept the bad lingo out it. and from Arabic? Really? So … either prissy Hebrew had to borrow words from roughneck Arabic, or it was too stupid to borrow swearwords from the OTHER dozens of languages it came into contact with before Arabic … like Yiddish, Franko, French, Russian etc etc. color me not convinced at all. > [@](#): > > As far as I know, 1950’s TV-English has no curse words; the modern TV-English has borrowed swearings from American-English. yep, sounds just as st… delightfully naive! take it as a rule of thumb that a language develops swear words FIRST. ---
**Author:** ![kneegrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@kneegrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kneegrow)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/16 "2013-03-23T02:13:39Z")
> [@Floater](#): > > But you could say that both Castiliano and Catalan are Spanish languages. 😉 But not in Cataluyna, unless you have a dead wish. j.k.! But Catalan and Galician scholars call them Iberian languages, anything, just to avoid calling themselves anything Spanish. Because that means accepting subjugation, which they in general, do not. ---
**Author:** ![kneegrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@kneegrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kneegrow)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/17 "2013-03-23T02:30:33Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > Except that _Castellano_ is “Castillian” in English. But, in English, or at least in the USA, “Castillian” normally means old-world Spanish, as opposed to new-world Spanish, and, in fact, is normally pretty much equivalent to _seseo_ (the characteristic replacement of /s/ by /θ/). Linguists, of course, use “Castillian” differently, to mean the speech of Castile, as opposed to Leonese, Aragonese, Gallician, _etc._. But I don’t know any English speaker who uses “Castillian” to mean not-Catalan. > > I admit that the situation is horribly confused. But, heck, most Americans don’t even know that Catalan exists. A good many Americans, after all, don’t even seem to know that Portuguese exists. it’s not that confused, there are just many languages, who were separated by geographical distances. At that time, 100 miles meant an almost insurmountable barrier. Some have “come together” under a common dominant denominator, Castile is to Spain what England is to Britain and for example Holland is to the Netherlands (note the plural s) etc etc. All these countries had slightly different languages, cos the technology at that time didn’t allow them to be unified, geographical distances were too big. They coalesced into a common language, also for political reasons. If the present slide into ignorance in America keeps up, the different regions will lose contact with each other and then, in a thousand years, there will be several distinct languages, like TexMex, Floridian, New England English and Alaskoan 😉 ---
**Author:** ![kneegrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@kneegrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kneegrow)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/18 "2013-03-23T02:33:53Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > Since I have never once visited the Peninsula, and since I don’t speak a word of either, I think the fact that I can still distinguish them at sight makes it pretty clear that they’re not the same language. i suppose you can still spot the street signs in Barcelona in four languages, cos of the 1992 Olympics, on Google Maps … ---
**Author:** ![kneegrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3d9bf3/32.png) [@kneegrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kneegrow)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/19 "2013-03-23T02:41:12Z")
> [@John\_W.Kennedy](#): > > A good many Americans, after all, don’t even seem to know that Portuguese exists. whole forests have disappeared to describe what a good many Americans don’t know. Many non-Americans have wondered about this seeming paradox: how could Americans come to dominate the world when they seem to be so ignorant? The answer is that for dominance, you don’t need to be smart, you need loads of oil and the destruction of the industrial infra structure of your near competitors, like Germany, England and Japan … ---
**Author:** ![harmonicamoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/65b543/32.png) [@harmonicamoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/harmonicamoon)\ **Post date:** [March 23, 2013, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551/20 "2013-03-23T03:40:06Z")
Getting back to the question of the OP, I speak three languages. In all three the naughty words have to do with your mama and her private parts. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-other-languages-have-obscenities-like-those-of-english/653551.md?page=2)