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Unvulgar vulgarisms in your language | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| Solfrid Cristin Heptaglot Winner TAC 2011 & 2012 Senior Member Norway Joined 5334 days ago 4143 posts - 8864 votes  Speaks: Norwegian*, Spanish, Swedish, French, English, German, Italian Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 20 22 April 2010 at 9:35am | IP Logged | ||
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I know. It sounds like a strange title, but when you think about it, you are often in a position where you would need to express irritation or surprise, and would like to use words that are accepted in polite company.
I am thinking of words in the category of French Zut,mince, bon Dieu English Oh dear, oh my, oh my God, Norwegian Fillern, søren, isj, milde måne, herregud Spanish Vaya, que mala pata, que rollo, que fastidio, será posible, por Dios, What are those in your language, or the languages you know? (And I do of course know that in certain circles also those mild ones that mention God are not quite accepted, but I have chosen to include them, as they are still mild compared to a lot of other words used). 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Splog Diglot Senior Member Czech Republic anthonylauder.c Joined 5669 days ago 1062 posts - 3263 votes Speaks: English*, Czech Studies: Mandarin | Message 2 of 20 22 April 2010 at 10:19am | IP Logged | ||
Many exclamations of surprise are altered versions of mentioning god, to reduce their "offense" to sensitive souls. Here are some from English: Gosh! (God!) Golly! (God!) Jeepers Creepers! (Jesus Christ) Gee! (Jesus!) Cripes! (Christs!) Cor Blimey! (God, Blind Me!) In Czech, my favourite (because people use it all the time) is: Ježišmarja (Jesus and Mary) - which is the most common light swearword here, even though this is the least religious country in Europe 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| oz-hestekræfte Senior Member Australia Joined 5678 days ago 103 posts - 117 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Danish | Message 3 of 20 22 April 2010 at 12:14pm | IP Logged | ||
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Struth! - God's Truth
Crikey! - Christ 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| furrykef Senior Member United States furrykef.com/ Joined 6472 days ago 681 posts - 862 votes Speaks: English* Studies: Spanish, Japanese, Latin, Italian | Message 4 of 20 22 April 2010 at 3:21pm | IP Logged | ||
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What we're discussing here is called a "minced oath". :)
I dunno about other countries, but here in the US, I rarely hear any of the words mentioned in the above two posts except for "gosh" and "gee". "Gee" is actually more of an expression of bemusement than a minced oath, though it does indeed come from "Jesus". This may be an idiosyncrasy, but I think I use it most often when I'm being sarcastic. ("Gee, you really think so??" -- as if to say "That is blindingly obvious") "Golly" is heard from time to time, but it's more of an old-fashioned word, though that may vary by region. "Cor blimey" (or just "blimey") is used when imitating Brits and "crikey" is used when imitating Australians, though... the latter probably due to Steve Irwin. My own suggestions: Heck (hell) -- always humorous when referring to the afterlife; not necessarily humorous otherwise Darn (damn) Dang (damn) Shoot! (Shit!) Fudge! (f**k!) -- mildly humorous to me Freakin' (f**kin') -- always before noun or noun phrase Frickin' (f**kin') -- ditto Friggin' (f**kin') -- ditto Son of a gun (son of a bitch) -- probably somewhat old-fashioned Geez! (Jesus!) -- also spelled "Jeez" or "Jeeze" Nuts! -- not an alteration of a swear word, just a generic exclamation of dismay Bull (bullshit) Spanish: ¡Caray! (¡Carajo!) ¡Caramba! (¡Carajo!) ¡Miércoles! (¡Mierda!) ¡Rayos! -- rarely used except in media such as comics Italian: Cavolo (cazzo), as in "Non me ne importa un cavolo" (= I don't give a damn) Edited by furrykef on 22 April 2010 at 3:30pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Iolanthe Diglot Senior Member Netherlands Joined 5641 days ago 410 posts - 482 votes Speaks: English*, DutchC1 Studies: Turkish, French | Message 5 of 20 22 April 2010 at 3:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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In Dutch there's lots of variations on 'godverdomme' ('goddammit' but stronger) such as:
Gadver - eww gross! Verdorie - Goddamn! Potverdorie (or just Potver) - Gosh! Gadsie - eww gross! And of course just 'god' 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| datsunking1 Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 5585 days ago 1014 posts - 1533 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: German, Russian, Dutch, French | Message 6 of 20 22 April 2010 at 5:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I say "Oh My Word" a lot,
The verb "suck" is used a lot too. like, "This class sucks/blows" 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| MäcØSŸ Diglot Senior Member United Kingdom Joined 5809 days ago 259 posts - 392 votes Speaks: Italian*, EnglishC2 Studies: German | Message 7 of 20 22 April 2010 at 6:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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A typical characteristic of Italian profanities is the presence of “bestemmie”, which are basically insults toward God.
They are very common, but as you may imagine also very controversial, especially in some places. It is therefore very common for Italians to substitute the word “Dio” (God) in these profanities with similar sounding word, like “zio” (uncle) or Diaz to avoid being offensive. They may still be considered inappropriate by many people. 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| ehabsa Diglot Newbie United States languagecurrent.com Joined 5344 days ago 22 posts - 26 votes Speaks: Arabic (Levantine)*, Modern Hebrew Studies: Persian | Message 8 of 20 22 April 2010 at 6:56pm | IP Logged | ||
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One expression we use in Arabic is if you say a curse word in a discussion, you would
follow it with the word elbaeed, meaning it is directed at someone else other than the present company. Other than that I am not aware of any substitutions like those that are common in English. There might be a number of alternative explanations to this. I'll suggest three: 1- Religiously loaded words like God (Allah), hell, damn, Jesus do not have the same social negative connotation in Arabic and no need to mask them (specially Allah which is used very frequently). 2- Arabs don't care to mask their "bad words" or the alternative 3- Arabs are better at "holding their tongues" due to stronger social demands to show respect and deference to others in social context. 2 persons have voted this message useful |
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