English swearwords in other languages

[GrinningManiac]

This isn't a serious topic nor really one for discussion (or should that be "or one", rather than "nor one"?)

It's merely one of those questions that my childhood brain has fixated on, along with "why is the sky blue" and "why do we drink cow milk and not dog milk"

The question is - "Where do the syllables of English swearwords appear in other languages innocuously?"

The age-old classic is the "Shiitake" mushroom of Japan and causative "Whaka" of Maori

[Imralu]

This isn't a serious topic nor really one for discussion (or should that be "or one", rather than "nor one"?)

Both are correct. Nor is much more formal.

I had a Japanese student who named his son Kanta. They had immigrated here to Australia (the equivalent to RP /ʌ/ is /a/) ... he was just hoping that the kids at school, and the teachers, call him /ˈkæːntə/ rather than /ˈkantə/.

Australian kids learning German always find the word Fach hilarious. They usually don't bother distinguishing /x/ from /k/, so they just say "fuck". I guess it's like German kids learning the English word after.

And it reminds me of a Dutch joke that I possibly got from here... An important Dutch politician is in England and in the middle of an interview he is asked what he does outside of politics. He breeds horses but can't remember the word 'breed', so he has a crack at it and throughs in the dutch word 'fok'. "I fok horses" he says. The interviewer looks a bit shocked and says "Pardon!??" to which he replies "Ja, paarden!" (= Horses.)

[Rui]

Australian kids learning German always find the word Fach hilarious. They usually don't bother distinguishing /x/ from /k/, so they just say "fuck". I guess it's like German kids learning the English word after.

They would love Afrikaans. Kind ([kʰʌnt]) means "child", vaak ([fɑːk]) means "tired" etc. etc.

[Pabappa]

"i fok horses" really happened, according to Wikipedia. See the article for "Dunglish"

[clawgrip]

well we have French phoque and crapaud. Japanese Takashita looks kind of sweary although it sounds less so. Also 'cook' has been borrowed into Japanese as kokku which people will sometimes assume is normal English and will pronounce like 'cock' when they speak English.

[Shrdlu]

One of the best known examples of Dunglish took place between the Dutch foreign minister Joseph Luns (a man whose main foreign language was French, the language of diplomacy prior to World War II) and John F. Kennedy. At one point Kennedy inquired what hobby Luns had, to which he replied "I fok horses". The Dutch verb fokken meaning to breed. Kennedy then replied "Pardon?" a word which Luns then mistook as the Dutch word for "horses" ("paarden") and enthusiastically responded "Yes, paarden!"

"i fok horses" really happened, according to Wikipedia. See the article for "Dunglish"

[Astraios]

'Shit' happens a lot in Hebrew, because -it is a feminine adjectival suffix and /S/ is a common sound.

[merijn]

A radio station held an election here in the Netherlands who had the most unfortunate name. The winner was a woman named "Fokje Modder".

[Imralu]

'Shit' happens a lot in Hebrew, because -it is a feminine adjectival suffix and /S/ is a common sound.

Finnish nouns and adjectives ending in -nen in the singular nominative end in -seksi in the translative singular. It's not swearing, but it is funny to hear Finnish people talking and keep hearing the word 'sexy'.

[sangi39]

A quick read up on George of the Jungle led to finding the Finnish word pissis on Wikipedia, apparently meaning something along the lines of "valley girl".

[ol bofosh]

Not swearing, but...

Learning German numbers in school was funny once you got to six... "Sex...?" Cue adolescent laughter.

And then learning the word for father... "Farter?" Cue more laughter.

[corcaighist]

There is of course the whole kaksteist kuud 'twelve months' in Estonian and the -seks endings.

Terviseks! 'for health' is the traditional way of toasting in Estonian but sometimes we joke by saying tervis ja seks 'health and sex'.

[Ser]

Not swearing, but...

Learning German numbers in school was funny once you got to six... "Sex...?" Cue adolescent laughter.

And then learning the word for father... "Farter?" Cue more laughter.

But it's not "sex", it's sechs. Now, Latin...

There is of course the whole kaksteist kuud 'twelve months' in Estonian

And what's supposed to be vulgar about it...?

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Vietnamese names Phúc, Phước, Bích, Đông, Đồng, Dung, Dũng, Hưng and Hùng, as well as the last name Hồ (yes, as in Hồ Chí Minh and Hú Jǐntāo).

[Astraios]

There is of course the whole kaksteist kuud 'twelve months' in Estonian

And what's supposed to be vulgar about it...?

Cocks taste good.

[Thomas Winwood]

But it's not "sex", it's sechs.

Which is pronounced [sɛks] when you're an English monoglot schoolboy looking for excuses to say rude words to your German teacher.

I'm surprised so few of them go on to notice that sechs is followed by siemen - sorry, sieben...

[Pole, the]

But it's not "sex", it's sechs.

Which is pronounced [sɛks] when you're an English monoglot schoolboy looking for excuses to say rude words to your German teacher.

…and [zɛks] otherwise.

[Pthagnar]

ihr fahrt

[Silk]

Arabic:
faqaT - "only"
yufakkir - "he/she thinks"
muwadhdhif akhir - it means "another employee", but if pronounced poorly and the listener has poor hearing skills it may sound vaguely like "mother f---er"
sharT - "condition"
ka3k - "cake"
saqaTa al-ka3k - "the cake fell"

Russian:
fakt (факт) "fact, true" - it sounds like "f---ed" the way some people pronounce it
ne fakt (не факт) "not fact, not true" - sometimes sounds like "knee fucked"
kak (как) - "how"
dylda (дылда) - "tall person"
dyk (дык) - slang word that signifies agreement...hard to translate

[ol bofosh]

Ooh, how could I forget. There's a fireplace company with the name Silifoc (foc being fire, but I'm not sure about sili).

Catalan for "You got a light?" - Tens foc?

[Skomakar'n]

But it's not "sex", it's sechs.

Which is pronounced [sɛks] when you're an English monoglot schoolboy looking for excuses to say rude words to your German teacher.

…and [zɛks] otherwise.

Which is so close to the English word, as is 'sex', that I fail to see the humour in it.

Of course, I also fail to see what's so humorous in sex from the very beginning.

[Radius Solis]

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Vietnamese names

Similar things can happen with Thai, of course. The classic example is the resort town of Phuket. When my ex went there he sent me back several punny postcards. ("Oh, Phuket!")

[clawgrip]

Or Vietnamese money, for that matter. "I only have 200 dongs!"

[Soap]

A quick read up on George of the Jungle led to finding the Finnish word pissis on Wikipedia, apparently meaning something along the lines of "valley girl".

Well pissa just means "piss" in Finnish, though it isnt considered as rude, so maybe it just means roughly "pissies". Wiktionary says the full form pissaliisa means "Pee-Alice". So it isnt really an unintentional similarity.

I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Vietnamese names Phúc, Phước, Bích, Đông, Đồng, Dung, Dũng, Hưng and Hùng, as well as the last name Hồ (yes, as in Hồ Chí Minh and Hú Jǐntāo).

I saw "Bich Ho" on a list of student names here ... and I met a man named "Young Ho". No idea if they're related.

[Abi]

In highschool German, kids would always try to make sentences involving Dick (fat).

Also I had a Chinese teacher that pronounced "bu shi" (no) incredibly close to "bull shit".

[Gulliver]

In highschool German, kids would always try to make sentences involving Dick (fat).

Also I had a Chinese teacher that pronounced "bu shi" (no) incredibly close to "bull shit".

I've always thought bu shi sounded a lot like "bullshit". Especially when ones dialect reduces final L-sounds to W-sounds and pops out glottal stops for /t/.

Swedish slutspurt, which I think means "clearance sale" or something.

The English word "bit" sounds a lot like the French word for cock. As it's often following "a little", French teenagers find this hilarious.