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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| BiaHuda Triglot Groupie Vietnam Joined 5361 days ago 97 posts - 127 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish, Vietnamese Studies: Cantonese | Message 1 of 20 03 October 2010 at 3:18am | IP Logged | ||
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I come across these all the time and the English language is full of them, I thought i would share a couple here:
Chết Mẹ- This ones in Vietnamese and it literally means Mom's dead, figuratively holy s&%t. When you see something unexpected like your house being struck by lightning you would say "Chết Mẹ, did you see that?". Hay Bà Cố – (literal: Good as Great Grandma; figurative: F$%&ing awesome). Also Vietnamese, in this case your mate who was standing next to you when your house was destoyed turns around and says, " Yeah, hay Bà Cố!" Spanish has some good ones. One that comes to mind is Puta Madre-lit the whores mother. This could have some really negative connotations but usually means something along the lines of it's UK equivilent The "dogs bollocks", perhaps in U.S. slang "the bomb". It has more gravity than say, "The bees knees". So you could say to your friend, "Have you seen the new George Forman grill? That thing is the Puta Madre!". You aren't likely to find these expressions in textbooks, but they are used all the time. They can also be frustrating to the language learner translating with a bi-lingual dictionary I might add. Edited by BiaHuda on 03 October 2010 at 3:21am 3 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| BiaHuda Triglot Groupie Vietnam Joined 5361 days ago 97 posts - 127 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish, Vietnamese Studies: Cantonese | Message 2 of 20 03 October 2010 at 3:20am | IP Logged | ||
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I don't know how I did it but I quoted myself trying to correct a spelling mistake? Edited by BiaHuda on 03 October 2010 at 3:32am 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fireflies Senior Member Joined 5179 days ago 172 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* | Message 3 of 20 03 October 2010 at 3:44am | IP Logged | ||
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I heard 'es de puta madre' means terrific. I would be afraid to use that expression..out of fear of it being stronger than I had guessed.
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| global_gizzy Senior Member United States maxcollege.blogspot. Joined 5701 days ago 275 posts - 310 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 4 of 20 03 October 2010 at 8:02am | IP Logged | ||
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Always nice to know some slang, lol. I need to spend more time working on my SPN Slang,
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| Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5171 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 5 of 20 03 October 2010 at 10:37am | IP Logged | ||
I don't speak much Spanish, but can understand a fair amount. I agree with you - I would be very wary of using puta + madre. Mothers tend to be sacrosanct to most people and it could be fighting talk if you didn't use it correctly. I thought using "Arschloch" to a German I knew reasonably well was ok, but I was corrected, I was wrong in my assumption that it was like calling someone "an old bastard" in dialect B.E., which is pretty harmless, if said with a smile. Similarly, bloedig is a lot worse than bloody and you could end up with a few teeth less for saying it to the wrong person. Can anyone tell me about the Spanish word "bendigo?" I have heard it in a lot of films - if I have spelt it correctly - but I have not been able to find out exactly what the English equivalent is. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| fireflies Senior Member Joined 5179 days ago 172 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* | Message 6 of 20 03 October 2010 at 4:29pm | IP Logged | ||
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Maybe it was mendigo which means beggar. Bendigo is 1st person present tense of bendecir (to bless)
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| Old Chemist Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5171 days ago 227 posts - 285 votes Speaks: English* Studies: German | Message 7 of 20 03 October 2010 at 4:39pm | IP Logged | ||
Perhaps. I used to be quite an afficionada of Spanish films and whatever the word was it features a lot in them and seems to be at least mildly offensive - does that fit mendigo? I did know bendigo meant "I bless," but I thought it might have a meaning like in B.E. e.g. "I can't get this blessed thing to work," where blessed is a euphemism. Thanks for your post, anyway! 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| fireflies Senior Member Joined 5179 days ago 172 posts - 234 votes Speaks: English* | Message 8 of 20 03 October 2010 at 4:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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Was it used in a sentence or just an exclamation with few words?
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