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Knowledge of curse words

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Coovertown
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 Message 1 of 32
05 July 2006 at 6:55pm | IP Logged 
Yes, I'm being serious here. Do you think it's of importance to know foreign curse (cuss) words in your target language(s)? I'm not condoning teaching these words in schools per se. However, for someone who is serious about learning a particular language, I'm all for it.

Does anyone here also support the idea of the knowledge of curse words, their meanings, and when to use them? Of course, I would not recommend saying "Nique ta mere" to a native of French, unless they really got under your skin for whatever reason.
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patuco
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 Message 2 of 32
05 July 2006 at 7:12pm | IP Logged 
I don't see anything wrong with knowing swear words, but, as you mentioned, the trouble is knowing when and where to use them.
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luke
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 Message 3 of 32
05 July 2006 at 7:52pm | IP Logged 
I think it's important to understand what people are saying. If you are in informal situations where swearing is normal, it really helps your comprehension. I've heard several Spanish speakers in informal situations cussing up a storm. Sometimes it's hard to understand what they're saying because there's so much profanity. So for me, learning cuss words is definitely on the docket. My goal isn't to use them, but primarily to understand them. I had one guy who was quite eager to teach me the most profane words and gestures. Using such extreme language can be dangerous though. I told him I swear too much in English in the first place, which is true, and I didn't want to practice up on his gems. Some weeks later though I did get him to explain the usage of some words I was hearing all the time and that was helpful. Cussing is like walking through a cow pasture. You need to watch your step and know a pasture isn't a beach or a restaurant.

I'm curious if anyone has found that cursing helps them fit in better, and if so, what kind of group were they fitting into. One guy told me my Spanish was too "high" (formal), which was a general tip that I wasn't advanced enough to actually utilize. The "cuss master" later got all formal and if I used some slang he'd say, "no, the proper way to say that is .....", and he'd give me how things a teacher would say something. I need to give "cuss master" a call one of these days, because he wanted to basically do a language exchange. The thing is, it's not easy to trust an angry master of the art of dark language. His English was better than my Spanish, and probably still is. That was about 3 months ago and I've made some progress.

Edited by luke on 06 July 2006 at 5:46am

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Farley
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 Message 4 of 32
05 July 2006 at 8:28pm | IP Logged 
The problem with cussing in an another language is that you have to be 110% sure about what, who, when, where and how to say it. Otherwise you will find yourself in trouble. Having said that I don’t see any reason to be prudish about the subject when learning a new language. A good book of slang will include all those swear words as part of the spoken language not just as vulgar language for its own sake. It is not really the thing you have to worry about studying because they seem to find there way into your vocabulary once you start using the language.

Edited by Farley on 05 July 2006 at 8:29pm

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Farley
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 Message 5 of 32
05 July 2006 at 8:55pm | IP Logged 
luke wrote:
I'm curious if anyone has found that cursing helps them fit in better, and if so, what kind of group were they fitting into.


I forget who first defined manners as the art of putting others at ease; I think there are sometimes when cussing can act as a form of manners, depending on your company. In those cases using the right word at the right time can serve as a rough form of etiquette.
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Alfonso
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 Message 6 of 32
05 July 2006 at 11:49pm | IP Logged 
luke wrote:
I think it's important to understand what people are saying. If you are in informal situations where swearing is normal, it really helps your comprehension... ... My goal isn't to use them, but primarily to understand them.


I agree. I personally don't have the intention to use curse words in my target language(s). But it's always useful and interesting to learn them. They're often meaningful, because we could learn about the culture and way of thinking in the countries where your target language is spoken. For example, in Mexico (as in many other countries) we usualy insult someone by attacking verbally the mother of the person we want to insult.

Sometimes this kind of words are often used by native speakers. If you learn them, you make a considerable progress in your understanding skills. For example, a Polish friend told me kiddingly that if I'd only learn the word "prostitute" in Polish, I'd have learned 50% of an ordinary conversation held by many people in Poland! LOL (Maybe I could say the same about the word "tabernac" in Canadian French). Even though he exagerated, I think it's very useful to understand these words, although you don't use them at all.


Edited by Alfonso on 05 July 2006 at 11:58pm

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Captain Haddock
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 Message 7 of 32
06 July 2006 at 2:02am | IP Logged 
Some languages (like Japanese) don't even have curse words! You can
certainly be rude if you try, but it's not quite the same thing.
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lady_skywalker
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 Message 8 of 32
06 July 2006 at 2:15am | IP Logged 
I try *not* to learn them for the simple reason that I might accidently resort to using them when angry with someone. I'd rather mutter the curse in English than risk offending someone by saying it in their own language. :p


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