Favorite obscenity in a foreign language

[ZenLefty]

I must say, though I have developed some impressive diction in the profanity of my home tongue, I know very few expletives of other cultures. If you know some good ones, please share them with me here.

I know a couple in Armenian that I like to say:

doya: a word used when the other person says something incredulous or stupid. Don't know exactly what it means, though. The consonant D is pronounced hard, really striking the pallate with the tip of your tongue.

esch: an ass, an asshole.

"bush is doing a fine job with the economy."
"Doya! bush is an idiot, you esch!"

Someone once tried to teach me a pejorative in Hebrew (or maybe Yiddish?) that was so offensive that you would be stoned to death if you said it in the wrong place. He said it too fast for me to remember it accurately, but he told me it translates somewhat to "shove a dick in your ass." If anyone knows that one I'd be most appreciative.

[WillyBrandt]

1. Two

Malparido!

Conio!

[ZenLefty]

4. Italian?

What do they mean?

[nickgutierrez]

5. My favorite (Mexican) Spanish swear word

"pendejo" -- means "idiot" or "moron", but if you say it in the company of people you aren't familiar with, you might get hurt. :)

[ZenLefty]

8. Oh, yeah. That's a classic.

I thought it meant 'pubic hair', though. :shrug:

[Dogmudgeon]

Pendejo

"Little dirty hanging thing".

Penis.

Similar in use to Yiddish putz or schmuck.

--bkl

[pink_poodle]

14. Actually, it's cono but with a tilde accent above the "n"......

not spelled conio. It means fuck in Spanish.

[Spider Jerusalem]

29. Colloquial use, maybe...but it means...

"cunt", literally. (I think I know entirely too much about how to curse in foreign languages...I can curse in Italian, Spanish, German, French, and Russian...and I don't even speak any of them very well and only really read French and Spanish and a little Italian...)

[politicat]

2. maat - Russian all purpose profanity.

Literally means mother (mat). (without Cyrillic, I can't write the words perfectly.)

go from there.

Politicat

[ZenLefty]

6. How's it used?

Is it like "you maat!" "this job is like maat" or "your maat wears toenails for earrings" ?

[Sufi Marmot]

18. Yeah, what BKL said...

My Dictionary of Russian Obscenities has a lot of colorful phrases containing the word "mat", most of them using it as the actual or implied direct object of the verb "ebat": to, um... 'intercourse'...

-SM, who often wishes that English had as rich a lexicon of obscenities as does Russian...

[Dogmudgeon]

10. Usually ...

... it's yob tvoy mat'.

That means, "you go and intercourse your mother".

--bkl

[dolgoruky]

37. Russkie mat

Russian is indeed a colourful language. Perhaps the most common word I hear is "Blyed" (áëÿäü), meaning "fuck!"

"Na Pizdu" is also a particular favourite of mine. e.g. "eto kholodna na pizdu!", (ýòî õîëîäíî íà ïèçäó) "it's fucking cold!"

There are many others, but they sound better than they look.

[bif]

49. Did you catch the article on maat in the New Yorker?

It was about a month ago. Absolutely fascinating. Worth tracking down at the library if you're into foreign swearing.

[SOteric]

3. Select Italian Epithets

Ti venga il cacasangue. (May he shit blood)
Vai a fare in culo. (He should go get himself fucked in the ass)
Fottuto. (Worthless fuck) ((though 'sono fottuto' is closer to "I
am well and truly fucked))
La fregna di tua sorella. (This actually insults his sister in the
same way that S.O.B. impunes one's mother. It's a cultural thing)
Merdaio. (pile of shit.)
Fottere. (Fuck)
Scoreggia. (Windbag. Literally "noisy fart")
Stronzo/stronzolo. (Stupid turd.)

[ZenLefty]

9. Ah, those are great.

My family is Italian, but they were very strict about not teaching me any of the language. They thought it would interfere with my english. :(

[SOteric]

13. My parents didn't teach me these phrases.

My brothers did. :evilgrin:

[ZenLefty]

16. They did teach me "tarramud"

Not exactly a bad word, but when used to describe a person (esp. a woman) it could elicit some dire offense. Used to describe someone who raises a lot of crap for no reason, or screams and yells at people.

ZenGrandma: She's Tarramud!
ZenLefty: What's that?
ZenGrandma: Tarramud! Thunder, lightning, earthquakes. She does all of them!

[Spider Jerusalem]

17. You left off "schifoso"...

I've always liked that one.

[Zomby Woof]

20. remind me

Never to eat at that restaurant called "Stronzolo's" again! :o

[Dogmudgeon]

7. Try the Alternative Dictionaries

It's here: http://www.notam02.no/~hcholm/altlang/

There's plenty of good'uns!

--bkl

[ZenLefty]

11. Cool!

Ya khatikhat khara. :D

[PVnRT]

12. I think I have this one right (Japanese)

oonchi o taberu - basically, eat shit, although I translated that literally, and they probably have a more colloquial expression for it.

[Art_from_Ark]

39. "Unchi wo taberu" means "to eat doo-doo", or "(someone) eat(s) doo-doo"

"Unchi" is a child's word. "Fun" (foon) means "excrement, while "kuso" (k'so) is the popular swear word for "shite". "Kue" (koo-ay) would be more appropriate than "taberu" in this case because it's the imperative form that means "eat (like an animal)"

Japanese is relatively devoid of swear words, especially body part names used as insults. If they're really mad at someone, most Japanese just prefer "Baka-yaro!" which can be translated as "You stupid idiot!" Some of the younger Japanese seem to have adopted English swear words as a surrogate souce of epithets.

[Art_from_Ark]

40. Besides "baka-yaro", there's also "kon-yaro"

which I translate as "Why, you lousy..."

You can also say "Chik'sho!" to express extreme disappointment, displeasure, or contempt, or if you are angry at someone, simply address them as "o-mae" or "anta" (the "inferior you") to show them that you consider them to be beneath you.

[Lydia Leftcoast]

56. You forgot

"Kuso tare," which is "drip shit."

And someone who is following you too closely is said to be following you like "kingyou no fun," like "goldfish shit," which is a vivid image if you've ever kept goldfish.

[Maeve]

42. Irish is like that--not a lot of obscene terms

Which is why the Irish cuss in English. Now curses--calling down terrible things on someone--is another matter and those can be quite creative.
"Cat eat you and the devil eat the cat!" is one I've always admired. It means may you die so alone and forgotten that even your cat must scrounge after you're gone and no one to take care of it, either. For a people so communal as the Irish, that's a horrible fate.

But my usual "cuss" in Irish is "focail agus abairti" which sounds rude but means "words and sentences".

[woofless]

15. ojo de culho

literally eye of the ass or asshole.

[Zomby Woof]

19. hijo de puta!

Spanish for "son of a whore". Also, variations of "chinguen" are most effective. You can yell "chingo!" at an obnoxious motorist (roughly "fucker!"). "Chingues tu madre!" - well , YOU figure that one out. :-)

[Wolfman 11]

33. cara mierde

I think it means, "shit face". Sounds like it describes senor flightsuit fairly well.

[Dogmudgeon]

21. One from Middle English

"Nether Eye"

I saw it in The Canterbury Tales.

It means vulva.

Example of Usage: "The Miller didst poke Alison in the Nether Eye".

--bkl

[Spider Jerusalem]

23. Actually...

it means "anus". Recall a line in the Miller's Tale that goes something like "And Absolon hath kissed her arse" (fuzzy on the exact wording).

[Dogmudgeon]

26. Hmm ...

Maybe I read it wrong, and The Miller's Tale was even more perverted than I remembered it to be.

--bkl

[Zorra]

22. pendejo

[Feanorcurufinwe]

24. Je t'emmerde

Literally, it's like, 'you bore be to death' but it's French for 'Fuck you'

Curses are interesting as well as difficult. Most of them don't really translate (from French anyway) and it's difficult to know exactly how rude an expression is in what context...

[Spider Jerusalem]

28. Think the literal meaning of that is

"I am beshitted" (merde="shit"). You're right, French invective doesn't seem to translate directly....

[Feanorcurufinwe]

31. Non

emmerder - synonym for 'ennuyer' 'importuner' - ' ' to bore', 'to irk' -- according to my 'Le Petit Larousse'

je t'emmerde - the t' is the 'you' in the 'fuck you'

merde - shit that's true, but I think what we are really getting at is something like 'you irk the shit out of me'

They also use 'putain' - whore - like we use 'fuck' - just throwing it in all over the place. Or 'bordel de merde' which is like 'whorehouse of shit'.

'connerie' is like BS, or more literally stupid BS. From 'con' which is like a stupid dumbfuck and a lot more...

Les jurons me plait, he he...

[Paschall]

35. According to my dictionary of non-standard French

"Emmerder" originally meant to soil, smear, or daub with excrement (circa 1350, I guess they did those things in the Middle Ages?). Figurative meanings (such as "being a nuisance" or "pain in the ass") didn't develop until the 19th century. "Je t'emmerde"--according to Robert & Collins--might better be translated as "To hell with you!" or "Bugger you!" (Or maybe in Monty Python style: "I smear you with excrement!")

"Con" is kind of interesting, because it originally meant "cunt" but not as a pejorative, simply the female sexual organs. In the early 19th century it took on its most common modern meanings, devoid of sexual connotation: dimwit, dumbass, idiot, dickhead. It's also femininized as "conne" to designate what you might translate as "bimbo."

I like "chieur" (one who shits), ie someone who is a bore, a pain in the ass, a nuisance. From "chier" (circa 1200) from Latin "cacare, from Greek "cacca."

And "chierie" (1834, same root), an odious (?!), unbearable situation.

[Feanorcurufinwe]

44. chouette!

My slang dictionary doesn't have etymology... What's the one you have called exactly?

[Paschall]

47. Dictionnaire du Français non-conventionnel

Jacques Cellard et Alain Rey, Masson/Hachette, Paris, 1980. ISBN 2-225-65318-6.

A real gem, never found better. I'm pretty sure it's out of print, but you might be able to pick it up from an on-line book locater. I recommend it!

[Feanorcurufinwe]

52. Merci

amazon.fr has it....

[tishaLA]

25. Sallope! Vas te faire!

[wtmusic]

27. müze (sp?)

[truthseeker1]

30. Besa mi culo pendejo! NT

[Dogmudgeon]

32. BUSH

An obscenity in any language.

--bkl

[papau]

34. Great List :-)

But where are the Classical ?

Such as Sca-TA .... Greek

[Red State Rebel]

45. I was just going to add that one...I use it frequently :)

[trogdor]

36. arschloch!

German cusswords map more directly to their English counterparts. So you have words like fick that leave little to the imagination as to the translation.

[Kellanved]

58. many of those are [re-] imports from English

Especially "fick" was introduced by GIs - it wasn't a cussword originally, as evident by the still large number of "Herr Fick"s and "Herr Fuck"s. (of course "Frau" would do as well, but...)

[45th Med]

61. LOL! Ja, das ist mir recht!

German is fun to cuss in! Mutti Ficker, ja?

[Kellanved]

62. nope

Mother****** is the word used in Germany as well.

[dbt]

38. Gobshite!

Literally, mouth shit, although I prefer to equate it to the fine old Southern dipshit.

As in, "Piss off, bu$h, ya gobshite!

:smoke:
dbt

[Robb]

41. My Urdu (sp?) is a little rusty

Actually, it's welded shut. Except for this:

"Tele mak-e a chute me aolu."... phoenetic spelling, of course. I was told it was a curse, "A potato up your mother's ... reproductive organ...."

[Commie Pinko Dirtbag]

43. Vai tomar no cu!

= up your ass! (well, it's not foreign to me)

On edit: English pronounciation: Vi toe-marr no coo!

[DoNotRefill]

46. Jou fokken alt babbejaan se piel!

Not sure of the spelling, since I learned it phonetically, but my understanding is that it's Afrikkans for "you fucking old baboon's prick!"

[TrogL]

48. goto

Breaks all the rules of structured programming.

I used to have to debug code written by people well versed in BASIC who lived for gotos. It was nearly impossible to flowchart and I ended up rewriting most of it in PERL.

[ZenLefty]

50. Interesting concept of profanity there

"Your brain is a GOTO subroutine."
"Your sister sleeps with a FORTRAN programmer."

Hee hee!! :D

[TXlib]

51. French and Russian

French:
Va te fair enculer! -- Bugger off! (Or, go assfuck yourself!) I've been told this sounds like something a Moroccan immigrant would say...

It's been too long since I've spoken French. I used to have good reason to say "Pardon my French"... :evilgrin:

Russian:
Bljad', jobennaja russkaja pagoda nakhuy zajebis'!
-- Goddamn fucking russian weather! (Loosely translated)

Job' tvoju mat'! -- Go fuck your mother!

Russian is actually a very rich language to swear in... I have a book of russian obscenities and 'earthy' folk tales.

[Lisa]

53. Cultus! Delate cultus!

Chinook Jargon (an aboriginal trade "pidgin" from the West Coast of North America, which later added some French and English words).

Translation: "Useless! Incredibly useless!"

-- a great thing to shout at the TV when they show clips of George W. Bush.

[Character Assassin]

54. Bausparrer! Warmduscher! Schattenparker! Bergaufwaertsbremser!

While none of these are obscene, I do especially like Schattenparker.

[Kellanved]

57. absolutely

:evilgrin: :toast:

[bif]

55. Czech

Daimy lepku =give me head. I know a few other choice Czech phrases that are filthy as well.

[name not needed]

59. vaffanculo

its italian for 'fuck off'

[ironflange]

60. Shit la merde!!!!

Prolly my favourite expletive.

[Nailzberg]

63. benchot (spelling probably wrong)

I'm not even sure what it means, but I had a very diverse high school, and one of my friends, who was Indian, told that one to me.

We used to call the front office and ask them to page Ben Chot on the intercom. All the Indian kids would bust out laughing.

Any Indians in here know what this means? I forgot years ago.

[Az]

64. Baca baca baca baca baca

Baca means freaking idiot in Japanese. Very fun muttering baca baca baca when you are underwhelmed by some individuals.