I use a range of non-English swearing. I am most proficient in French, but I think German carries more force...
Achtung Bahnhoff is what we used to say to the Germans when we contracted at fokker. I think they thought our grasp of German was flawed 🙂
I like the word "portmanteau", meaning a word constructed from two words, which is itself a portmanteau of the French "port manteau", meaning hatstand. The French for portmanteau is "mot valise".
In fact I like any French word used in English, just to see the look on a French person's face as they struggle to remember the English for things like "bon appetit" or "bon voyage".
Even better are things like "double entendre" which exist in English but not French. Trying to explain to a French person that the right way to say something in English is to say it in incorrect French can be quite fun.
Eh bé.
Slut
Slut spurt
Bra
Fart
Swedish is funny in a 12 year old boy way.
They also say what they something is quite simply:
Tandkött (gums) means teeth meat
Gronsäker (vegetables) means green things
I think one of the fascinating things about English is that there are now far far more people who speak it very well as a second language than those who actually speak it as a mother tongue. So therefore loads of 'better' words get added in when English is lacking, as has been discussed. Again in Swedish there is one word for 'to do the dishes' and one for 'to set the table'. Just makes sense really.
Stoner - Member
my address book is full of Welshist style names.
James the plumber
Bob the gravel
Chris the wood
Jon the sparks
Neil the sheep
Trying to remember what film it was that had a grave in a welsh cemetery with "Jones the Dead" on it
In fact I like any French word used in English, just to see the look on a French person's face as they struggle to remember the English for things like "bon appetit" or "bon voyage".
Some German colleagues asked what we say to each other when starting a meal and were rather confused when I said we didn't say anything.
I usually quip, "good luck".
'Mangwanani' just about the only Shona I can remember. It always raised a surprised smile as whites in the past did not tend to use or learn 'native' languages. I loved the sound of 'yebo' in Ndbele.
[strike]Romanes eunt domus[/strike] Romani ite domum
What, Romans they go to the house!!!!!!
drachenfutter - German for a gift to appease an angry wife, girlfriend or mother. Literally Dragon Food
I quite like "Cavoli riscaldati" its an italian phrase referring to when a man and a lady are sharing a bath and man farts and the lady tries to bite the bubbles.
Now were down to the sexist and vulgar I'll venture "une femme mal baisée". Used for a bitter, unpleasant woman who hasn't had enough good sex to keep her happy. Use with caution in a light-touch-paper-and-run-away manner if used directly or better still to a man to describe his wife.
"une femme mal baisée"
The Spanish equivalent: una malfollada.
Honto ne - Japan
Boufff - France
jag älskar dig - Sweden!!
[s]Romanes eunt domus[/s]
Cunning swear filter avoidance there.
Cunning swear filter avoidance there.
Sadly i think it was the third person plural present active of eo - to go i.e eunt.
I've just asked my son to translate the Welsh phrases above- watch out boyos, here comes the ban hammer!
Anyway- Khodomodomo is the Sesotho word for dinosaur. Invaluable if you are a visiting palaeontologist in Lesotho, otherwise pretty useless. But a great word nonetheless.
Meanwhile, in Norway...
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(courtesy of The Poke)
The swear filter is Welsh! (It just can't read)
Quod non erat demonstrandum is useful. Once used it very successfully to a boss who was a complete idiot - just before I walked out of the job never to return.
Malacca doesn't go down well with the Greeks. Even though the restaurateur was indeed being rather difficult. He said he was going to call the police - I said 'Please go ahead, I'd like a word with them about you too', or words to that effect (and I class myself as an Hellenophile - just not in this particular instance!)
wot, no [i]fin du cloche[/i]?
I use a range of non-English swearing. I am most proficient in French, but I think German carries more force...
Yiddish or Russian, FTW.
Yiddish in particular is very... [i]colourful[/i].
???
I like Fanuloni which is Tuscan Italian slang for lazy bones.
I use it when ever I refer to my BIL who we have the misfortune of part owning an overseas property with.
