Swearwords in Japanese

[Cathbad]

In the course of doing my undergraduate dissertation, I've come across a Slovene writer who claims that, in cultures such as the Japanese one where it is customary to channel your anger directly at images of people you hate, swearwords do not exist at all.

Apart from the fact that most Slovene writers on linguistic matters are in need of a massive dose of Anti-Sapir-Whorfianism, is this true? I can't believe it, really. Maybe the ZBB can come up with some examples of swearwords used in Japanese...?

[maıráí]

Dothesecount?

[LinguistCat]

This is not true, just the words are less often used than in languages like, say, English or Russian (from what I've heard in the latter). But go to Japan, especially Oosaka, and say /ba.ka/ (stupid/idiot) to someone and see what happens. (Or really don't. Seriously.) Just off the top of my head there's, mataku (which is along the lines of "darnit/troublesome", kuso "shit", yarou "bastard" and the pronoun temae/temee which when used to call someone over was translated loosely in one of my books as "Yo, asshole!" So yes Japan has swear words, but what is considered a swear word in Japan and how often they are used are different than most languages.

[Terra]

In the course of doing my undergraduate dissertation, I've come across a Slovene writer who claims that, in cultures such as the Japanese one where it is customary to channel your anger directly at images of people you hate, swearwords do not exist at all.

BWHAHAHAHAHA

aho - fool, idiot
baka - stupid person
kuso - shit
otoko - boy, kid

temee - An extremely provocative way of saying "you".
kisama - Another very rude way of saying "you".
onore - Yet another rude word for "you".
There's no way you could say these words without provoking a fight.

Talking like a yakuza is a good way to start a fight too. It includes not using polite forms (unless talking to your superior), rolling your 'r's, referring to your comrades as brothers, among other things.

[Zhen Lin]

mataku (which is along the lines of "darnit/troublesome

mattaku. I wouldn't call it a swearword at all. It's an adverb meaning completely / utterly. "Good grief" would be a better translation for the interjection. You missed out chikushō, which is probably the only word I've ever heard exclusively as an expletive... (but I vaguely remember that I might have heard it in Pokémon, which would mean it's not that strong. Certainly I've heard it in Fullmetal Alchemist, and out of the mouth of a 8-year-old no less.)

[Aurora Rossa]

Talking like a yakuza is a good way to start a fight too. It includes not using polite forms (unless talking to your superior), rolling your 'r's, referring to your comrades as brothers, among other things.

So most people use the polite form even when talking to equals?

[Zhen Lin]

In the office and other formal settings, perhaps. I certainly doubt peers would bother otherwise. (Disclaimer: my personal experience is very limited. I've only ever spoken at length with two native speakers as peers - one consistently used polite forms and the other consistently used plain forms, and in either case I just followed suit.)

[Hakaku]

Japanese doesn't have a set class of swear words per say, at least, not to the same extent as in English. Rather, the key to insulting others in Japanese is to try and degrade them, which can simply be achieved by switching the register. For example, switching the verb endings to be less polite, more casual, or in some cases overly polite. Switching pronouns in order to match this register. And in Kanto, coalescing vowels, rolling r's, or using Kansai words and endings to sound more rash and direct. It all depends on context.

If you normally talk with someone (such as your boss) in a very humble manner, you can insult them by using casual verb forms, or by using a pronoun that implies your status is higher than them, or theirs lower than you. If you're pissed off at your sibling, you might start using honorifics to display your anger.

The problem with all the words cited previously in this thread is that they're too influenced by translations (and if I may add, they smell of anime subtitles). English verbs alone don't convey all the verbal nuances that the Japanese language has, and neither are there equivalents to usages of particular particles. Hence the reason why something as innocent as "otoko" might seem to be translated as "you disgusting little brat". Honestly, "baka" is laughable, and about as insulting as telling someone who just embarrassed themselves "Nice one". The same goes for the rest.

tldr; What might be considered a swear word really depends on the context.

[Viktor77]

I always enjoyed shouting Shenai allowed while in classes with Japanese exchange students. Kaji da is another fun one but that's not a swearword.

[Åge Kruger]

Talking like a yakuza is a good way to start a fight too. It includes not using polite forms (unless talking to your superior), rolling your 'r's, referring to your comrades as brothers, among other things.

So most people use the polite form even when talking to equals?

What form you use isn't just about relative status, but also about the distance between the two speakers relationship-wise.

[Nortaneous]

Japanese doesn't have a set class of swear words per say, at least, not to the same extent as in English. Rather, the key to insulting others in Japanese is to try and degrade them, which can simply be achieved by switching the register.

I'm definitely using this sort of thing in one of my conlangs.

[Cathbad]

So yes Japan has swear words, but what is considered a swear word in Japan and how often they are used are different than most languages.

Yeah, that's exactly what I "suspected" (it's self-evident for any reasonable person really...) I mean, it's kind of ironic when the guy I'm reading at the moment goes to great lengths (analyzing medieval court transcripts, etc.) to prove that the idea that Slovene has no swearwords is a myth, but then makes sweeping generalizations about other contexts.

In any case, he doesn't appear to value coherence of argumentation or a systematic approach to data at all, but I suspect (more and more) that this is actually a feature of Slovene academic culture in general, especially in the humanities. I mean, the above claim is from an (adapted, to be sure, but I strongly suspect this was one of the parts that was kept from the original academic work) PhD dissertation, for Christ's sake. And then some people still wonder why our only university worth mentioning is so poorly ranked...

[Cathbad]

What might be considered a swear word really depends on the context.

Of course! Well, maybe I didn't make it clearly enough in my original post, but the basic idea touted by the guy I'm reading (namely, that there are no means of verbal degradation in Japanese because the Japanese physically beat up symbolic figurines of people who piss them off rather than swearing at them) is still proven to be absolute bollocks.

[Yiuel Raumbesrairc]

Oh... My... God...

Where to begin. Or better, where to end the bullshit of the OP.

Hakaku has pretty much said what there was to be said. Japanese people hardly use expletives, because their verbal system is full of emotional expressions already taking care of expressing your ange, frustrations and whatnot. What need is there to bitch, when your grammar lets you do it. Grammar and sociolects.

So yeah.

[Cathbad]

What? I was just genuinely interested in how things stand. Maybe I should have framed it as I suspect there is some way of degradation or expressions of frustration through words, rather than simply "I suspect there are swearwords". Or equivalents. I was just suspicious of a very shaky ethnographic claim.

Unless the "bullshitting" refers to my opinions on Slovene academics, in which case guilty as charged.

[gsandi]

Of course the Japanese have swearwords, although I was never close enough to the kind of crowd who would use them (or if they did, I probably wouldn't catch on).

But Japanese people are certainly aware that other languages have such words, which suggest to me that their own must too. On my first trip to Japan I was part of an exchange program, and I was the guest of the Doshisha University English Learning Student Association. (Doshisha U. is in Kyoto, for those who don't know). And practically the first thing those kids did to me was to sit me down and ask me to teach them all the terms that they had not been taught by their English teachers.

I had to overcome my innate squeamishness about using such terms, for any linguist with professional pride must provide information about how people really speak, whether they themselves like it or not. I should have written my little lecture down, I am sure it would make for interesting reading!

--------------

My current boss is Japanese, and I sure wish I could swear at him occasionally! Don't be such a fucking micromanager, I want to shout at him occasionally - he is not a bad guy, but he really overdoes attention to irrelevant detail at times.

[bulbaquil]

I'm wondering if it would make any at all sense to say something like おくたばりになってお願い致します. On the one hand, you're asking very, very politely; on the other hand, you're still asking them to screw off and die.

[Kai_DaiGoji]

I've actually been interested in swearing for a while (and rather than start another thread, I thought I'd hijack this one.) I remember getting just rumor of the Russian Mat thing from a TA.

It seems like most swear words in English are one of two things - taboos for biological functions, and blasphemy. And it seems like a lot of the blasphemies have become much-shortened versions of longer curses, or well swearing. I swear by the blah blah blah, or may God damn you blah blah blah. So my question to anyone who knows - how has swearing developed in other countries/cultures.

[Torco]

You forgot sexual stuff. cunt, dick, jerk, wanker, etcetera.

cl.Spanish is fun regarding insults; most of them are directed towards women, and very few, which are the most mild ones, are directly targeted at men [half of those questioning the guy's manhood, of course]. All in all, the strong stuff is about sex and the milder stuff is about biological functions. Also, almost all insults are direct vocatives, the equivalent of saying 'you wanker, you idiot, you bitch' or whatever.

typical non-coa insults here are

- hijo de puta /SOB
- concha de tu madre / your mother's cunt
- sapo culiao / fucked cunt (sapo-toad is slang for vulva)
- perra / bitch
- maraca / slut
- zorra / slut
- suelta / slut

milder stuff

tonto weón / dumbass
saco de huevas / bag of eggs / scrotum
weón de mierda / man of shit
pasao' a caca / one who smells like shit, also, an empty boaster
imbécil
idiota
estúpido
cretino
[those have obvious english cognates, and have not drifted apart significantly]

coa is the humorous jailspeak that has been adopted by today's youth because lumpenization is cool, but one could write entire books about coa [and I'm not qualified to do so]

[Yng]

You forgot sexual stuff. cunt, dick, jerk, wanker, etcetera

Since when was sex not a biological function?