# English words that are one letter away from being curse words in other languages

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-one-letter-away-from-being-curse-words-in-other-languages/611316>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [January 31, 2012, 4:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-one-letter-away-from-being-curse-words-in-other-languages/611316 "2012-01-31T16:36:38Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 3:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-one-letter-away-from-being-curse-words-in-other-languages/611316/21 "2012-02-01T15:30:12Z")

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“Kacke” means crap or shit in German, but the colloquial form is “Kack”, as in “So ein Kack!” (“Such a crap!”), so that’s one letter away from pack or tack.

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**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 3:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-one-letter-away-from-being-curse-words-in-other-languages/611316/22 "2012-02-01T15:56:06Z")

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“Node” is Hebrew for fart.

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**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 5:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-one-letter-away-from-being-curse-words-in-other-languages/611316/23 "2012-02-01T17:08:47Z")

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Not a curse word, just a bit eyebrow-raising: I remember us 11-year-olds giggling when English class introduced the word ‘kitchen’ (_Kittchen_ is colloquial German for ‘prison’).

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**Author:** ![Hairy\_Bob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/ecc23a/32.png) [@Hairy\_Bob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hairy_Bob)\
**Post date:** [February 1, 2012, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/english-words-that-are-one-letter-away-from-being-curse-words-in-other-languages/611316/24 "2012-02-01T18:18:54Z")

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According to Top Gear, the Albanian word for penis is pronounced “car”, and their word for vagina sounds like “peach”. Therefore, saying “This car’s a peach” would be a big no no.

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