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Chtob tebe deti v’sup srali) — “May your children shit in your soup.” What are the funniest Spanish swear words? Generally speaking, Scandinavian countries love to invoke the devil, Satan and Hell more than the sex- and potty humor–related fixations of English speakers. But to be sure, Swedes have no problem throwing in a kuk or a fitta when they feel moved to (the male and female sexual organs, respectively, but in disrespectful terms). Sometimes the humor also derives from the fact that you can get very creative with Spanish obscenities. Compound words are important when you’re getting into the cursing game. What do you get when you combine tocar (“to touch”) and pelotas (“testicles”)? A tocapelotas. You might think that the definition of ‘bad’ words would be similar around the world. You wouldn’t be entirely right. Strong language – swearing, profanity, whatever you want to call it – is special.
If you’re looking for even more creative ways to insult someone in Portuguese, we have ideas. Which hand gestures are offensive in France? The reason I can say this is because I am writing in English, not Finnish, Dutch, or Québécois French. You can find a comprehensive list of Swedish insults here. Otherwise, here are some common ways to invoke the underworld in Swedish: Idiot” may not be your idea of a vulgar insult, but when it comes to curse words in other languages, there are some pretty funny takes on this classic burn. Among Christian cultures, the line between those that swear a lot about mothers and whores and those that don’t looks quite like the line between those where Mary is a co-star with Jesus and those where she’s part of the supporting cast. Mention a man’s mother in Finland, for instance, and he’ll more likely assume that you have a personal quarrel with her than that you’re trying to offend him. Yes, in Finland the term for female genitaliais one of the rudest words available. But the other rudest words are saatana (Satan), perkele (devil – converted from the name of a pre-Christian thunder god), and helvetti (Hell). These are also the go-to set in Swedish, Norwegian, and Danish.Not all taboo language counts as swear words. Some taboo language is still strong language, even if we don’t think of it as ‘swearing’ – racial epithets, insults based on disabilities and sexual orientation – but some relates to things you avoid naming because of their power. Our word ‘bear’ comes from a word for ‘brown’ that was used in place of the ‘true’ name of the animal; nobody wanted to say its name lest it appear. In southern Africa, some cultures have a ‘respect’ speech that is imposed on women in regard to their in-laws: for instance, their father-in-law’s name is taboo, as is any word that sounds like it – but that doesn’t turn the father-in-law’s name into an expletive they shout when they hurt themselves.
Also features phonetic pronunciations and handy illustrations to provide guidance to these colorful exclamations. Need a slightly stronger version of this? Slap your bicep with your palm as you jerk the other forearm toward your face.If what you want is to become a sophisticated sommelier of curse words in other languages, this article is a good place to start diversifying your palate. We answered some of the most frequently Googled questions about curse words in other languages. Enjoy! Common Questions About Curse Words In Other Languages, Answered How do you curse in Portuguese? With this helpful guide, learn to tell people off like a native no matter where you are in the world. A few places have a special horror of disease. You can use “ cholera!” as a cathartic expletive in Polish (if you’re of an older generation) and you can wish cholera on someone in Thai. Much of the Dutch strong language makes use of cancer, cholera, and typhus; if you want to make something offensive in Dutch, just add kanker to it. – “cancer sufferer” is an extremely coarse insult. Poor health seems to upset the Dutch more than violations of the moral code. And besides, how do you know that English swear words are really where it’s at? When we surveyed a small panel of our Babbel colleagues who grew up in other countries, most agreed that English profanities are kind of repetitive and overly focused on sex. Perhaps the tradeoff is that you can lob an F-bomb anywhere in the world and be understood. That’s a certain kind of privilege, but are you really getting what you want out of life?
Spanish profanities can cover a wide range of emotions, but the Venn diagram of feelings they elicit often overlaps with “funny.” Animals can be dirty too, and are used in many insults, but animals are not normally near the morality-based social control structures, so they’re not usually what we think of as swear words – except when they come from veiled references, as with Mandarin guītóu (turtle’s head, standing in for penis). Likewise, mental deficiency is widely looked down on, but while insults the equivalent of ‘idiot’ are common enough, it’s only in a culture such as Japanese that it makes one of the most popular ‘bad words’ ( baka). Social control structures differ somewhat from country to country, but they are, after all, developed by the same human animal on the same planet. It’s the same magma bubbling up.Sometimes the humor derives from the fact that the Spanish-speaking world is vast and diverse, which means that the same word can often have different cultural meanings depending on where you are. If you’re used to the dialect of some Spanish-speaking countries, where concha just means “shell,” you might be in for a rude awakening in places like Argentina and Colombia (where it’s an offensive term for the female sexual organ). If you’re visiting France and want to be prepared for some of the strange hand gestures you might encounter, here’s a pretty good run-down. And if you’d like to insult someone verbally, we’ve got you covered. What are the most popular Swedish swear words? pagafantas — A man who pays (“ pagar“) for all your Fanta drinks (or whatever else you’ll be having) because he’s desperate to win you over. If everyday language is like the earth’s crust and the soil we garden our lives in, strong language is like volcanoes and geysers erupting through it from the mantle below. Our social traditions determine which parts of the crust are the thin points. It’s not enough to feel strongly about something; it has to have a dominating societal power and control structure attached to it. Strong language often involves naming things you desire but aren’t supposed to desire; at the very least, it aims to upset power structures that may seem a bit too arbitrary.
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