# What language(s) do you swear in? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 5, 2020, 8:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226 "2020-05-05T20:51:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/21 "2020-05-06T06:46:51Z")
In no particular order: English, Esperanto, and a smattering of Quebec French (which is freakishly different than just about anywhere else). ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 8:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/22 "2020-05-06T08:26:34Z")
English, except for one Italian oath I picked up from my high school orchestra teacher. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/23 "2020-05-06T08:56:17Z")
Anglish German Spanglish Cuban Spanish Canuck French Cree ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/24 "2020-05-06T12:23:42Z")
> [@markn\_1](#): > > I’m sorry to have to inform you that it is not an Orcish word, nor Black Speech, nor anything of the kind. It’s a real-world British interjection “used to express disbelief or ridicule”. The OED says it’s a Cockney pronunciation of “go on”. > > [Garn Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garn) It could be a coincidence, or may be I’ve been swearing in Cockney dialect all this time, I’m cool with both possibilities 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 12:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/25 "2020-05-06T12:30:21Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > It could be a coincidence, or may be I’ve been swearing in Cockney dialect all this time, I’m cool with both possibilities 🙂 In fact, I prefer the Cockney origin, always felt bad swearing in Orcish, that’s why I did it very ocassionally. ---
**Author:** ![Remember\_me](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/82dd89/32.png) [@Remember\_me](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Remember_me)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/26 "2020-05-06T13:28:08Z")
German (mother language) English Finnish French In that order of frequency. Although, there is no order of severity, I guess (maybe French for the weaker stuff). ---
**Author:** ![Mikkel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mikkel/32/13151_2.png) [@Mikkel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mikkel)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/27 "2020-05-06T13:30:19Z")
Danish, English, Swedish and Finnish in that order. I only know one swearword in Finnish, but PERKELE can sound very cathartic. Remember to roll the R ;). ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/28 "2020-05-06T13:42:49Z")
> [@Mikkel](#): > > Danish, English, Swedish and Finnish in that order. I only know one swearword in Finnish, but PERKELE can sound very cathartic. Remember to roll the R ;). I forgot PERKELE!, I use it ocassionally after seeing it mentioned in the Scandinavia and the World webcomic. Initially I pronounced it wrong (with emphasis in the “KE”, as is natural in spanish, but then I saw a video of a finnish man chasing a bear from his backyard and learned to pronounce it correctly) ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/29 "2020-05-06T14:24:49Z")
My wife swears at me in Mandarin, so I’ve picked up some of that. Generally I stick to English, though. ---
**Author:** ![Zyada](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zyada/32/3028_2.png) [@Zyada](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zyada)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/30 "2020-05-06T14:51:08Z")
> [@Frodo](#): > > very ocassionally orcish (at least I think “Garn!” is orcish, it’s used by orcs in LOTR) > [@markn\_1](#): > > I’m sorry to have to inform you that it is not an Orcish word, nor Black Speech, nor anything of the kind. It’s a real-world British interjection “used to express disbelief or ridicule”. The OED says it’s a Cockney pronunciation of “go on”. > > [Garn Definition & Meaning - Merriam-Webster](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/garn) > [@Frodo](#): > > It could be a coincidence, or may be I’ve been swearing in Cockney dialect all this time, I’m cool with both possibilities 🙂 > [@Frodo](#): > > In fact, I prefer the Cockney origin, always felt bad swearing in Orcish, that’s why I did it very ocassionally. I think y’all’ve just proven that orcs speak Cockney. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/31 "2020-05-06T15:43:43Z")
It’s certainly true that the trolls in _The Hobbit_ speak Cockney. According to John Rateliff, this is because that dialect was easily recognizable by the intended audience of the story, Tolkien’s children. The Orcs in LOTR also tend toward Cockney (more so than the goblins in _The Hobbit_). Tolkien’s rationale would probably be that Cockney represents the degraded, low-class manner in which Orcs spoke the Common Speech. ---
**Author:** ![Fleetwood](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fleetwood/32/271_2.png) [@Fleetwood](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fleetwood)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/32 "2020-05-06T20:36:16Z")
Fucking English. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [May 6, 2020, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/33 "2020-05-06T21:15:52Z")
English, Portuguese, German, French, Spanish and Dog. ---
**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:** [May 7, 2020, 12:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/34 "2020-05-07T00:33:55Z")
German and English, mixed. You would hear me scream “Verdammte Scheiße! Fuck! Shit! Kacke!” after I fucked up something. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/35 "2020-05-07T01:15:19Z")
Orkish: pushdughâsh! (filthy shitfire!) ---
**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:** [May 7, 2020, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/36 "2020-05-07T01:43:08Z")
> [@EinsteinsHund](#): > > German and English, mixed. You would hear me scream “Verdammte Scheiße! Fuck! Shit! Kacke!” after I fucked up something. \How potent is “Verdammte”? I ask because it appears to translate as “Damned” or “Damn it” and those are fairly light as English curse words go, well below the F word, but not uttered in church. For that matter, is “Scheiße” equal in strength with “Shit”, which is a notch above “Damn” on the mom-will-wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap scale?\ ---
**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:** [May 7, 2020, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/37 "2020-05-07T02:09:33Z")
> [@minor7flat5](#): > > \How potent is “Verdammte”? I ask because it appears to translate as “Damned” or “Damn it” and those are fairly light as English curse words go, well below the F word, but not uttered in church. For that matter, is “Scheiße” equal in strength with “Shit”, which is a notch above “Damn” on the mom-will-wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap scale?\ “Verdammt” itself is very mild, even church going ladies would utter “Verdammter Mist”, with “Mist”, meaning “dung”, far more milder than “Scheiße”. I’ve often heard the theory that German swear words are rather prone to relate to excretions than English ones that tend to be rather about sexual things, because of different social taboos. I don’t have any clue if that is a sound theory. ---
**Author:** ![Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/regallag_the_axe/32/445_2.png) [@Regallag\_The\_Axe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Regallag_The_Axe)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/38 "2020-05-07T02:57:06Z")
> [@harmonicamoon](#): > > If it is something really intense, and I don’t have time to think about the audience. English comes roaring out. Same here. If things are not so bad and I’m in a place where swearing is discouraged I might utter what I understand to be a Swedish old lady swear. I like saying it and no one can really object. I’ve also been known to shout a very bad Polish word when the mood strikes me. ---
**Author:** ![Sangahyando](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f14d63/32.png) [@Sangahyando](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sangahyando)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 10:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/39 "2020-05-07T10:59:52Z")
“By me” – mostly, English – I being English, and a lifelong UK inhabitant. Sometimes favoured, a few choice bits from other languages: French / Russian / German / Hungarian. I particularly like the German – faced with exasperating / maddening circumstances – “Ach du meine Scheisse !” (Oh you my shit !) – wondrously illogical, but highly expressive. > [@Sunspace](#): > > [snip] and a smattering of Quebec French (which is freakishly different than just about anywhere else). I gather (chiefly from Harry Turtledove’s “Southern Victory / TL 191” alternative-history series, which has a segment involving Quebecois characters); that on the basis of “swearing is about ‘talking dirt on’ what you most highly esteem” – with Quebec having been in times past anyway, one of the most solidly Catholic places in the world: its bad language revolves around the names of the various kinds of gear used in the Catholic Mass. As you say – it’s different. > [@Mikkel](#): > > Danish, English, Swedish and Finnish in that order. I only know one swearword in Finnish, but PERKELE can sound very cathartic. Remember to roll the R ;). Lovely one, that – come across by me, in writings by a couple of people involving Finland / Finnish characters. The word means, I gather, in Finnish, “devils”. > [@markn\_1](#): > > It’s certainly true that the trolls in _The Hobbit_ speak Cockney. According to John Rateliff, this is because that dialect was easily recognizable by the intended audience of the story, Tolkien’s children. The Orcs in LOTR also tend toward Cockney (more so than the goblins in _The Hobbit_). Tolkien’s rationale would probably be that Cockney represents the degraded, low-class manner in which Orcs spoke the Common Speech. I seem to recall Tolkien’s mentioning in one of his commentaries on LOTR, that his rendering of Orcs’ conversation was – ugly though it was in published form – nonetheless considerably cleaned-up: their regular everyday exchanges would have been of the kind – familiar in certain human milieux – where every other word was an obscenity. Tolkien, being a very “proper” kind of guy, and a devout Catholic, wouldn’t have wanted to get deep into that. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 7, 2020, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226/40 "2020-05-07T15:36:52Z")
> [@Sangahyando](#): > > I seem to recall Tolkien’s mentioning in one of his commentaries on LOTR, that his rendering of Orcs’ conversation was – ugly though it was in published form – nonetheless considerably cleaned-up: their regular everyday exchanges would have been of the kind – familiar in certain human milieux – where every other word was an obscenity. Tolkien, being a very “proper” kind of guy, and a devout Catholic, wouldn’t have wanted to get deep into that. Yes, that was in Appendix F to LOTR: > [@J.R.R. Tolkien](#): > > But Orcs and Trolls spoke as they would, without love of words or things; and their language was actually more degraded and filthy than I have shown it. I do not suppose that any will wish for a closer rendering, though models are easy to find. Much the same sort of talk can still be heard among the orc-minded; dreary and repetitive with hatred and contempt, too long removed from good to retain even verbal vigour, save in the ears of those to whom only the squalid sounds strong. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-language-s-do-you-swear-in/853226.md?page=3)