How to Swear Around the World

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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. I tu nastaje problem jer bivše jugoslovenske republike imaju gotovo identične psovke i ako već planiraš da ih sortiraš po državama, onda bi valjalo da daš neki kontekst a ne da ih samo podeliš kako ti se ćefne. 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).

Filled full of colourful language, each card contains a swear word in a particular language, an English translation and a star rating on how offensive the word is. I understand you will use my personal data to improve services and send me marketing communications You must consent to the storage and use of your personal data as laid out in our privacy notice. If you would like to comment on this story or anything else you have seen on BBC Culture, head over to our Facebook page or message us on Twitter .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.

Similar direct evidence of church control shows up a little in English (centuries ago, swearing by various parts of Christ’s body was as bad as you could get; now “damn” and “hell” are still iffy). We don’t share your credit card details with third-party sellers, and we don’t sell your information to others.You may utter the name of the male or female organ when irritated in China or Russia; in Italy, if someone cuts you off in traffic, you may shout “ che cazzo”, which could be translated as “What the cock! It's kinda fun, if simple and rather single-minded, but hey, I haven't learnt such fun swearing since I watched Firefly with the Pinyinary open. I was hoping for more creative phrases, and there are a few corkers in there, but it could have gone further. How To Swear Around The World It’s still a big wide world out there, and as every adventurer knows, there’s nothing as frustrating as being unable to communicate your feelings. In Bikol (a language of the Philippines), there’s a special anger vocabulary – many words have alternative words that refer to just the same thing but also mean you’re angry.

Some of the most useful expressions include wishing an enemy a painful death, insulting a person’s grandmother and accusing someone’s mother of having intimate relations with bears in the forest. Also, the part about Italian swearing was quite mangled, so I'm not sure if I can trust the book on other languages. Featuring dozens of different languages, the sayings range from everyday swears to family curses to expressions for . 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. For more infomation please review our use of cookies in our Cookie Policy and then Accept and Close this bar.

Finance is provided by PayPal Credit (a trading name of PayPal UK Ltd, Whittaker House, Whittaker Avenue, Richmond-Upon-Thames, Surrey, United Kingdom, TW9 1EH). To calculate the overall star rating and percentage breakdown by star, we don’t use a simple average. I bought this as a gift for my son who loves travelling and likes to try and pickup some of the language in the country his visiting. It does show up here and there: Fijian and other Austronesian languages, Arabic, and Albanian, to name a few. Last Name * Please enter a Last Name Please enter a valid Last Name, the maximum length is 50 characters.