# Hungarian phrase

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hungarian-phrase/71313>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [July 5, 2001, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hungarian-phrase/71313 "2001-07-05T08:07:03Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![MCL](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ed8c4c/32.png) [@MCL](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MCL)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hungarian-phrase/71313/1 "2001-07-05T08:07:03Z")

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In the musical “Chicago” there is a song called The Cell Block Tango. Within the song there is a part which is totally Hungarian. Does anyone know what it means in English?  
Thanks,  
MCL

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**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hungarian-phrase/71313/2 "2001-07-05T12:27:03Z")

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Dang. Thought this was a Python thread.

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**Author:** ![Coldfire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a587f6/32.png) [@Coldfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Coldfire)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 12:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hungarian-phrase/71313/3 "2001-07-05T12:57:37Z")

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I shall now simultaneously move a thread to GQ _and_ do the Fishy Slappy Dance.

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**Author:** ![Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/50afbb/32.png) [@Duck\_Duck\_Goose](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duck_Duck_Goose)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hungarian-phrase/71313/4 "2001-07-05T13:23:23Z")

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[http://www.google.com](http://www.google.com) “Cell Block Tango” Hit #4…

[http://members.spree.com/entertainment/kopiixel/celltango.htm](http://members.spree.com/entertainment/kopiixel/celltango.htm)

> [@](#):
>
> Mit keresek, en itt? Azt mondjok, hogy a hires lakem lefogta a ferjemet en meg lecsaptam a fejet. De nem igaz, en aartatlan vagyok. Nem tudom mert monja Uncle Sam hogy en tettem. Probaltam a rendorsegen megmagyarazni de nem ertettek meg…

That’s all I can do, somebody else has to take over.

Are you sure it’s Hungarian, really, and not just gibberish?

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**Author:** ![altor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@altor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/altor)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 3:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hungarian-phrase/71313/5 "2001-07-05T15:23:57Z")

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This was answered [here](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=70864)

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**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\
**Post date:** [July 5, 2001, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/hungarian-phrase/71313/6 "2001-07-05T15:49:51Z")

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Hmmm - based on the translation in that other thread, “megmagyarazni” must be “police” then. That caught my eye as “Magyar” is the official name of Hungary (“The Magyar Republic”) and the Hungarian language. Interesting that it turns up in the apparent generic for “police”.

I once did some research on what language had the greatest number of obscenities and turned up a statement that it was Hungarian. Before altor posted that thread, I was poking around confirming that the stuff was really Hungarian, and not just Hungarian goulash, so to speak, so I wound up looking at a lot of Hungarian message boards. I would have expected Hungarian to look a lot more Slavic, like Polish. Without the accents, that looks like some form of mangled Dutch.