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Vulgarities & Slang | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : General discussion |  | |
| chelovek Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6087 days ago 413 posts - 461 votes  5 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 1 of 30 15 July 2008 at 3:10pm | IP Logged | |||||
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Is it okay to have a thread devoted to vulgarities, street-language, etc. in various languages? I figure I'll wait for the okay from a mod/admin before continuing...
EDIT: In the meantime, I think it'd be useful to contribute non-vulgar slang from different languages. Anything from standard idioms to colloquialisms would be welcome. Edited by chelovek on 16 July 2008 at 5:38pm 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| Alvinho Triglot Senior Member Brazil Joined 6234 days ago 828 posts - 832 votes Speaks: Portuguese*, English, Spanish | Message 2 of 30 15 July 2008 at 10:53pm | IP Logged | |||||
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I'll post some vulgarities in Brazilian Portuguese...if the moderator decides to finish off this thread, I'll comprehend....
VAI TOMAR NO CÚ!!! - stick it up in you ass!!! FILHO DA PUTA!!! - son of a bitch!!! VIADO!!! - you fag!!! VAI TE FUDER!!! (rather southern Brazilian) - f**k you!!! 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| goltrpoat Triglot Newbie United States Joined 5994 days ago 29 posts - 29 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, German Studies: French, Latin | Message 3 of 30 16 July 2008 at 2:28am | IP Logged | |||||
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Why are you so fixated on this topic? If you're planning on living with Russian construction workers, you'll pick up everything you want to know in a matter of weeks, anyway. If, on the other hand, you're going to try to come up with some sort of a study plan to learn the language of the Russian underbelly, you're basically doomed to failure whatever you do. Not that I don't appreciate the topic, but is there a point to this?
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| LanguageGeek Triglot Senior Member GermanyRegistered users can see my Skype Name Joined 6107 days ago 151 posts - 159 votes 4 sounds Speaks: German*, English, Hungarian Studies: French, Russian | Message 4 of 30 16 July 2008 at 4:30am | IP Logged | |||||
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There is a great point to this. I don't know about Russian but Hungarian is incredibly rich in vulgarities and profanity. I picked up a whole lot of that and it always comes as an amusing surprise to natives when I drop a swear word here or there. It is a register of the language that you should master in order to use the language authentically. I don't strive for the sterile, erudite loftiness of the bookwormish language professor, nor do I share the hypocritical squeamishness and the mannerisms of the philologist.
I want to go out there and use the language with real people and have some f***ng fun cursing the sh**t out of people that pi**s me off :P PM me for Hungarian profanity ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| goltrpoat Triglot Newbie United States Joined 5994 days ago 29 posts - 29 votes Speaks: Russian*, English, German Studies: French, Latin | Message 5 of 30 16 July 2008 at 5:12am | IP Logged | |||||
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Well, if it comes as an "amusing surprise to natives," then you're ok, I guess. As we all know, the real point behind language study is to amuse natives with our wacky antics.
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| chelovek Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6087 days ago 413 posts - 461 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 6 of 30 16 July 2008 at 10:52am | IP Logged | |||||
Vulgar language is important in every language. If you didn't understand vulgar English and English slang, you'd be missing out on a massive part of the culture (anything from movies, to people you might encounter in everyday life). Bad words are as important a part of a language as anything else. We all need to learn them, and then just use caution if we decide to use them. And no offense intended, but: does it seem like Russians are particularly sensitive about this? I remember reading a review for the book Dermo on Amazon, and I noticed several Russians were offended that there was a book teaching bad words. Kind of strange since Russian's a language that has a whole dialect of swearing. Oh, and if you're wondering why I've posted about swearing here before (I think I have, I don't remember): Well, I find vulgarities and slang to be a fascinating part of language. Everything from their etymology, to why they are taboo, to the words themselves. Lighten up. ;) 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| peterlin Tetraglot Groupie Poland peterlin.jzn.pl Joined 6415 days ago 54 posts - 58 votes Speaks: Polish*, Persian, English, Russian | Message 7 of 30 16 July 2008 at 12:15pm | IP Logged | |||||
Well, maybe they were just fed up with having to deal with this absurd notion of "a whole dialect of swearing" all over again. I guess it might feel a bit insulting to see foreigners interested only (or mainly) in lowest registers of your culture, as if it had nothing better to offer. Yes, I know there are dictionaries of "mat" easily accessible, but -in my view- it's not because Russian as such is a language particularly rich in vulgar expressions. My opinion is that, quite simply, Russian prison/military slang or thieves' cant are better researched than e.g. their Polish equivalents. And maybe they are better known to general populace, because of some extralinguistic factors (long military service in harsh conditions; relatively large number of people from all walks of life having prison episodes). Anyway, I can assure you that Polish makes as good use of its inflectional morphology in swearing as does Russian. One more thing I wanted to add regarding the attitude you observed. I can't say for Russia, but I guess some things/attitudes there are similar to ours (again, I'm Polish) which I am about to describe. Or try to. First, if you walk on Polish streets, you'll notice that people do swear and use profanities. It's a simple fact of life. But it doesn't mean that swearing is acceptable by everyone and in every social settings. There are places and there are people for whom it's still a no-no. I, for one, don't think highly of my compatriots who can't hold a simple conversation without swearing. Second, Poland has undergone two great societal changes in the last 60 years or so. First came the Communists with their concept of uprooting the system of social classes, along with its traces in the language (some words were banned as "bourgeois"). Sometimes basic courtesy and good manners fell victim to this as vulgarity (in all senses) was promoted. Anyway, things eventually settled, new norms (or faux-norms) appeared, only to be discarded again after the fall of communism. The society has been profoundly changed and so have the language norms. In a sense, it felt as if suddenly everything was allowed. Norms were loosened again and "popular" tastes triumphed. As a result, or a side effect, the language used in public today differs considerably from that of my youth. The kids today are much more foul-mouthed than we were (not that we were saints either) and swearing carries less social stigma. Third, it still carries some social stigma. Many people who do swear become embarrassed as soon as you point it out to them, or if they realize that you _don't swear_. And for many well-educated people the present state of things is as if the gutters flooded all the streets - you can't avoid some contact with it, but it still isn't pleasant. That would be the end of my rambling for now :)
While I share your interest in "ugly" aspects of language, I find the vulgarities boring. I am much more interested in words which are not per se taboo or obscene, but still carry significant emotional load. 1 person has voted this message useful | ||||||
| chelovek Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 6087 days ago 413 posts - 461 votes 5 sounds Speaks: English*, French Studies: Russian | Message 8 of 30 16 July 2008 at 5:37pm | IP Logged | |||||
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That was pretty pointless rambling if you ask me. Vulgar language is inappropriate in many situations; what else is new? Anyways, this thread is quickly getting off-topic. Bottom line: If someone has a problem with people learning swear words, slang, and other forms of lower-lvel language, they should keep it to themselves.
And personally, by the way, I find it offensive for someone to tell me what parts of a language I should and shouldn't learn, or to assume that I'm "mainly" interested in swearing, particularly when I've spent the bulk of the past year learning as much Russian as I can. Would it be preferable if I had incomplete understanding of media, just so I wouldn't have to learn about bad words? What next: Should I not be allowed to watch something, just because it has bad words in it? Geez. Edited by chelovek on 16 July 2008 at 5:42pm 4 persons have voted this message useful |
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