English swearwords in other languages
- GrinningManiac
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English swearwords in other languages
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
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
Re: English swearwords in other languages
Both are correct. Nor is much more formal.GrinningManiac wrote:This isn't a serious topic nor really one for discussion (or should that be "or one", rather than "nor one"?)
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.)
Glossing Abbreviations: COMP = comparative, C = complementiser, ACS / ICS = accessible / inaccessible, GDV = gerundive, SPEC / NSPC = specific / non-specific
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Re: English swearwords in other languages
They would love Afrikaans. Kind ([kʰʌnt]) means "child", vaak ([fɑːk]) means "tired" etc. etc.Imralu wrote: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.
Re: English swearwords in other languages
"i fok horses" really happened, according to Wikipedia. See the article for "Dunglish"
And now Sunàqʷa the Sea Lamprey with our weather report:
Re: English swearwords in other languages
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.
Re: English swearwords in other languages
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!"
Publipis wrote:"i fok horses" really happened, according to Wikipedia. See the article for "Dunglish"
If I stop posting out of the blue it probably is because my computer and the board won't cooperate and let me log in.!
Re: English swearwords in other languages
'Shit' happens a lot in Hebrew, because -it is a feminine adjectival suffix and /S/ is a common sound.
Re: English swearwords in other languages
A radio station held an election here in the Netherlands who had the most unfortunate name. The winner was a woman named "Fokje Modder".
Re: English swearwords in other languages
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'.Astraios wrote:'Shit' happens a lot in Hebrew, because -it is a feminine adjectival suffix and /S/ is a common sound.
Glossing Abbreviations: COMP = comparative, C = complementiser, ACS / ICS = accessible / inaccessible, GDV = gerundive, SPEC / NSPC = specific / non-specific
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Re: English swearwords in other languages
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".
You can tell the same lie a thousand times,
But it never gets any more true,
So close your eyes once more and once more believe
That they all still believe in you.
Just one time.
But it never gets any more true,
So close your eyes once more and once more believe
That they all still believe in you.
Just one time.
- ol bofosh
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Re: English swearwords in other languages
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.
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.
It was about time I changed this.
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- Niš
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Re: English swearwords in other languages
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'.
Terviseks! 'for health' is the traditional way of toasting in Estonian but sometimes we joke by saying tervis ja seks 'health and sex'.
- Ser
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Re: English swearwords in other languages
But it's not "sex", it's sechs. Now, Latin...ol bofosh wrote: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.
And what's supposed to be vulgar about it...?corcaighist wrote:There is of course the whole kaksteist kuud 'twelve months' in Estonian
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).
Last edited by Ser on Mon Dec 24, 2012 5:25 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: English swearwords in other languages
Cocks taste good.Serafín wrote:And what's supposed to be vulgar about it...?corcaighist wrote:There is of course the whole kaksteist kuud 'twelve months' in Estonian
- Thomas Winwood
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Re: English swearwords in other languages
Which is pronounced [sɛks] when you're an English monoglot schoolboy looking for excuses to say rude words to your German teacher.Serafín wrote:But it's not "sex", it's sechs.
I'm surprised so few of them go on to notice that sechs is followed by siemen - sorry, sieben...
Re: English swearwords in other languages
…and [zɛks] otherwise.Thomas Winwood wrote:Which is pronounced [sɛks] when you're an English monoglot schoolboy looking for excuses to say rude words to your German teacher.Serafín wrote:But it's not "sex", it's sechs.
The conlanger formerly known as “the conlanger formerly known as Pole, the”.
If we don't study the mistakes of the future we're doomed to repeat them for the first time.
If we don't study the mistakes of the future we're doomed to repeat them for the first time.
Re: English swearwords in other languages
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
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
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Re: English swearwords in other languages
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?
Catalan for "You got a light?" - Tens foc?
It was about time I changed this.
- Skomakar'n
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Re: English swearwords in other languages
Which is so close to the English word, as is 'sex', that I fail to see the humour in it.Pole wrote:…and [zɛks] otherwise.Thomas Winwood wrote:Which is pronounced [sɛks] when you're an English monoglot schoolboy looking for excuses to say rude words to your German teacher.Serafín wrote:But it's not "sex", it's sechs.
Of course, I also fail to see what's so humorous in sex from the very beginning.
Online dictionary for my conlang Vanga: http://royalrailway.com/tungumaalMiin/Vanga/
#undef FEMALE
I'd love for you to try my game out! Here's the forum thread about it:
http://zbb.spinnwebe.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=36688
Of an Ernst'ian one.
#undef FEMALE
I'd love for you to try my game out! Here's the forum thread about it:
http://zbb.spinnwebe.com/viewtopic.php?f=5&t=36688
Of an Ernst'ian one.
- Radius Solis
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Re: English swearwords in other languages
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!")Serafín wrote: I'm surprised nobody has mentioned the Vietnamese names
Re: English swearwords in other languages
Or Vietnamese money, for that matter. "I only have 200 dongs!"
Re: English swearwords in other languages
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.sangi39 wrote: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".
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.
Sunàqʷa the Sea Lamprey says:
Re: English swearwords in other languages
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".
Also I had a Chinese teacher that pronounced "bu shi" (no) incredibly close to "bull shit".
Re: English swearwords in other languages
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/.Abi wrote: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".
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.