International Swearing

[drolo]

Schweinepriester! (Pigpriest)

Another interesting one for etymological research ...

[Tremster]

Or Sauhund (pig dog).

[midwayfair]

Schweinepriester! (Pigpriest)

Another interesting one for etymological research ...

There seem to be three main categories of European swearing in general:

1. Body parts (including things that come out of the body)
2. Animals
3. Religion

English lost a lot of the potency of #3. "Hell" and "damn" are really, really mild, and we don't have nearly the variety that French has in that category. We also have very little left in the animals category. We kept "bitch" but it's not even one of the seven words we can't say on TV. If you go by American broadcast rules, apparently the worst things you can say are related to what you do after you get up in the morning and uhhhh what you probably want to do before going to bed at night.

So American swearing is crepuscular.

[Luke51411]

Schweinepriester! (Pigpriest)

Another interesting one for etymological research ...

Couldn't have said it better myself American swearing is boring and uncreative.

There seem to be three main categories of European swearing in general:

1. Body parts (including things that come out of the body)
2. Animals
3. Religion

English lost a lot of the potency of #3. "Hell" and "damn" are really, really mild, and we don't have nearly the variety that French has in that category. We also have very little left in the animals category. We kept "bitch" but it's not even one of the seven words we can't say on TV. If you go by American broadcast rules, apparently the worst things you can say are related to what you do after you get up in the morning and uhhhh what you probably want to do before going to bed at night.

So American swearing is crepuscular.

[DuctTapeRiot]

Awesome topic!!  Rej covered French Canadians pretty thoroughly , and I imagine east coasters (Newfs and PEIers) have their own thing going on.  But out here on the west coast at least for the last decade, the #1 swear to insult someone else is douche, most often combined with something else:
- douche-bag (very popular)
- douche-nozzle
- douche-rocket
- douche-bucket
- and my personal favourite because it really takes the Canadianness to the next level, douche-canoe.  Example:  Look at that raging fucking douche-canoe drinking a Canadian (Molson Canadian beer, the Canadian equivalent of Fosters, something no self respecting canadian would drink).

Hoser might have been an insult/swear at one time, but is only used as a term of endearment these days (see the movie Strange Brew if you have never heard the term hoser).

Also despite (or maybe because of?) being one of the more diverse and least religious parts of the country, we reaaaaaly like to thow Jesus' and God into the mix.  EG  Fucking god damn jesus fucking christ.  Sweet fucking jesus on a stick.

[Jefe]

Here in the States, "Fuck you you fucking fuck" showcases our American laziness and lack of creative vocabulary when it is time to curse.

We often combine the f-bomb with other insulting words to increase effectiveness: i.e. "hey fuck-tard", etc.

Silliness.

That's probably because the f-word is still considered the worst of the worst. It is kinda lazy to only use the f-word though. You've got to mix it up.

Last week we had a snow storm on the first day of spring, so I could be heard saying something like "Fuck this fucking snow straight in the ass. This cock sucking mother fucking snow can go eat shit and die. Fuck." Or something like that, while I was shoveling.

[Jefe]

Awesome topic!!  Rej covered French Canadians pretty thoroughly , and I imagine east coasters (Newfs and PEIers) have their own thing going on.  But out here on the west coast at least for the last decade, the #1 swear to insult someone else is douche, most often combined with something else:
- douche-bag (very popular)
- douche-nozzle
- douche-rocket
- douche-bucket
- and my personal favourite because it really takes the Canadianness to the next level, douche-canoe.  Example:  Look at that raging fucking douche-canoe drinking a Canadian (Molson Canadian beer, the Canadian equivalent of Fosters, something no self respecting canadian would drink).

Hoser might have been an insult/swear at one time, but is only used as a term of endearment these days (see the movie Strange Brew if you have never heard the term hoser).

Also despite (or maybe because of?) being one of the more diverse and least religious parts of the country, we reaaaaaly like to thow Jesus' and God into the mix.  EG  Fucking god damn jesus fucking christ.  Sweet fucking jesus on a stick.

I yell "Jesus fucking christ" and "God fucking dammit" a lot, especially in traffic. I'm also fond of douche-bag (and occasionally douche-nozzle) when talking politics.

[m-Kresol]

I'm from the most western part of Austria, Vorarlberg, which has lots of swiss influences concerning our dialect. In fact, many eastern austrians can't quite understand me, if I go full on hillbilly. Living in Vienna for 8 years now, I pretty much learned to not use my dialect around here, yet I always fall back when swearing
Disclaimer: the following are not real german words per se, rather a written form of how we would say it

* sackzefix! an expression for general swearing, eg. when you drop something or something isn't working
* huramentig! actually translates to "whore monday" just implying the distaste for mondays in general but it kinda is useable like the sackzefix!
* Leack mi am füdl/Leck mi am tschöple. translates to 'lick my ass'
* schrenzgealta. this is from a part called Bregenzer Wald where the dialect is intensly strong. It's a word used for ugly people

Obviously, we also use the usual german stuff

[juansolo]

Missed that one. Someone with massive bollocks is also someone very brave/stupid/without fear.

same as here. And I can imagine the absence of bollocks implies cowardice?

Yep ie: No way I'd have the bollocks to do that.

Missed more uses of bollocks.

Bollocks = No, really no, not in a million years.
Go Bollocks = F**k off and all it's various iterations from a light hearted 'nonsense' to no really 'f**k off'.

It's a very versatile word.

[alanp]

One Kiwi phrase that I don't think I've heard used anywhere else (except for Australia, but they pinch lots of our stuff like Pharlap) is "Good Cunt".

It's used as a term of praise, as in "Juan sent me a set of Lovetone Flange boards -- and a MN3007 -- for free! He's a genuine good cunt, he is." You've got to be careful who you use the phrase around, though.

Mind you, if you call someone an utter cunt, it's a very harsh insult.

[GrindCustoms]

[juansolo]

One Kiwi phrase that I don't think I've heard used anywhere else (except for Australia, but they pinch lots of our stuff like Pharlap) is "Good Cunt".

It's used as a term of praise, as in "Juan sent me a set of Lovetone Flange boards -- and a MN3007 -- for free! He's a genuine good cunt, he is." You've got to be careful who you use the phrase around, though.

Mind you, if you call someone an utter cunt, it's a very harsh insult.

That'll work here too. c**t and t**t can be terms of endearment or not...

[midwayfair]

One Kiwi phrase that I don't think I've heard used anywhere else (except for Australia, but they pinch lots of our stuff like Pharlap) is "Good Cunt".

It's used as a term of praise, as in "Juan sent me a set of Lovetone Flange boards -- and a MN3007 -- for free! He's a genuine good cunt, he is." You've got to be careful who you use the phrase around, though.

Mind you, if you call someone an utter cunt, it's a very harsh insult.

Australia, where you call your mates "cunt" and your enemies "mate."

(And yes, I know he's in NZ. It's a quote from something, and I'm too lazy to find out where.)

[Luke51411]

One Kiwi phrase that I don't think I've heard used anywhere else (except for Australia, but they pinch lots of our stuff like Pharlap) is "Good Cunt".

It's used as a term of praise, as in "Juan sent me a set of Lovetone Flange boards -- and a MN3007 -- for free! He's a genuine good cunt, he is." You've got to be careful who you use the phrase around, though.

Mind you, if you call someone an utter cunt, it's a very harsh insult.

That'll work here too. c**t and t**t can be terms of endearment or not...

Brings back fond memories of my semester in England. I recall a few people using the term "Knobhead" quite a bit, I thought that was a pretty good insult.

[juansolo]

One Kiwi phrase that I don't think I've heard used anywhere else (except for Australia, but they pinch lots of our stuff like Pharlap) is "Good Cunt".

It's used as a term of praise, as in "Juan sent me a set of Lovetone Flange boards -- and a MN3007 -- for free! He's a genuine good cunt, he is." You've got to be careful who you use the phrase around, though.

Mind you, if you call someone an utter cunt, it's a very harsh insult.

That'll work here too. c**t and t**t can be terms of endearment or not...

Brings back fond memories of my semester in England. I recall a few people using the term "Knobhead" quite a bit, I thought that was a pretty good insult.

Another one that can be a term of endearment in Yorkshire

My personal favourite is an embellishment of a family favourite that a friend of mine came up with to describe awkward customers. It just became adopted as a regular swearword for anyone deserving.



I was asked by a friend how long I had to stand there before someone put the sign up...