Delivery is on a selected date, you can choose a delivery day of your choice, up to 10 days in advance (Excluding next day delivery. Postcode restrictions apply) Kon’ v palto!) — “Horse in a coat!” It’s a rude way of saying “none of your business” or sarcastically responding to someone asking you who you are. Also features phonetic pronunciations and handy illustrations to provide guidance to these colorful exclamations. 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.

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? 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. The fire-and-brimstone missionaries burned the fear of evil into them. 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). France may like its putains and cons, but in Quebec, which until a few decades ago was heavily dominated by the Catholic Church, much of the preferred strong language is formed from words for things you’ll find in a church: hostie (consecrated communion wafer), tabernacle (where you store it), ciboire (what you carry it with) and calice (the chalice of wine). Is this really a question you even need to ask? To be clear, Germans swear a lot — about as much as anyone else — but the swears, at least according to one of our native German experts, are more straightforward and less creative than they are in some languages. Truthfully, German insults are pretty hilarious and creative, but maybe in a more ironic, deadpan way. 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).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 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. The reason I can say this is because I am writing in English, not Finnish, Dutch, or Québécois French.

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?An essential phrasebook for the world traveler, How to Swear Around the World features dozens of favorite curses, insults, and sayings from all over the globe. Get rid of a pesky hanger-on in Brazil by telling him to dig for potatoes— vai ceifar batatas. To express disgust toward your brown-nosing German friend, accuse him of being a bicycle-rider— radfahrer, or tell someone off in Laos by letting him know you think his mother enjoys keeping intimate company with dogs— Ma see mea mung! Make new friends and enemies abroad with this handy guide filled with fighting words, scatological expressions, dozens of ways to insult someone’s mother, and many other suitably offensive phrases. Me cago en… — “I shit on….” what exactly? Your call. Someone’s milk? Everything that moves? The world is your toilet.

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. With this helpful guide, learn to tell people off like a native no matter where you are in the world. Spanish profanities can cover a wide range of emotions, but the Venn diagram of feelings they elicit often overlaps with “funny.” This essential phrasebook collects the most colorful, explicit, and outrageous ways to tell people off in every part of the world. Featuring dozens of different languages, the sayings range from everyday swears to family curses to expressions for X-rated relations with animals. Phonetic pronunciation is provided so that readers can curse like a native, and handy illustrations provide visual guides to these foreign exclamations. Perfect for the international traveler who may need to wish an enemy a painful death, insult a person’s grandmother, or accuse someone’s mother of having intimate relations with bears in the forest. How to Swear Around the World by Jason Sacher – eBook DetailsAmong 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. You can find a comprehensive list of Swedish insults here. Otherwise, here are some common ways to invoke the underworld in Swedish: 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).