Swear Words in english vs other languages?

JuanMena

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Suddenly had this random question.

In comparison with english, spanish has a lot more swear words that are highly despective... like highly despective.

So for someone who's mother language is spanish, english swear words are kinda funny to use. I often use them regularly because they have little meaning to me. Not an excuse, though.

So I'm asking: English Swear Words are really that bad? and
How do they compare with your native language swear words?


 
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I will have to try to find it but failed last time I went looking. Once read an article on the construction of swear words in Finnish and the root/basic concepts underpinning them.

In English you usually have
Religious terms, though this might technically fall under blasphemy depending upon how you want to look at it.
Damn it, god damn them, Jesus Christ! Hell's Bells!, bloody hell, fucking hell...
Lost much of its potency with the decline of religion ( https://bsa.natcen.ac.uk/media/39293/1_bsa36_religion.pdf ) so at best you will offend some old people, or you will have to go offend some Muslims with some more particular words for them than plain old Christianity (technically it could -- Islam considering itself the true...

Jayro

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English is all I've ever known. But the fuck word is the only really offensive one to me, but only if used in an offensive manner.

(It's a very universal word that works for many things, as seen in this clip here:)
 

FAST6191

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I will have to try to find it but failed last time I went looking. Once read an article on the construction of swear words in Finnish and the root/basic concepts underpinning them.

In English you usually have
Religious terms, though this might technically fall under blasphemy depending upon how you want to look at it.
Damn it, god damn them, Jesus Christ! Hell's Bells!, bloody hell, fucking hell...
Lost much of its potency with the decline of religion ( https://bsa.natcen.ac.uk/media/39293/1_bsa36_religion.pdf ) so at best you will offend some old people, or you will have to go offend some Muslims with some more particular words for them than plain old Christianity (technically it could -- Islam considering itself the true version that whole religious tree, everything else being corrupt but still sacred but that would require someone to know something about the religion they supposedly follow and that has never been the strong suit of any religion).

Terms for excrement and other bodily fluids and related actions
Shit, piss, crap...

Terms for genitalia and backside, sexual acts, sexual characteristics and other acts of sexual impropriety (usually saying someone is someone of less than great sexual cleanliness, sleeps with those that are diseased or undesirable, are easy in the case of women or likes to fumble genitals matching their own).
Dick, cock, cunt, cunny (older but might find it in olde english), fanny (means vagina in UK English, backside/arse in American which is endlessly amusing), twat, arse, bum, whore, bastard, fucking, can cross back over into the excrement and such as well.

Terms based on race are not necessarily swear words but might be considered offensive.

Some languages may lack one or more of those, not sure how many invent new wholly new ones though probably going to be things based on royalty if it is, maybe food.

Some vary in potency depending upon where you are; cunt quite famously being considered hideously offensive in the US (rather out of line with dick/cock/prick as well) where it is rather milder in the UK (give or take those that seem to think we are in the US), and even different still in Australia despite (if Australian was typed as it was said then cunt would probably be the equivalent of spacebar) all nominally speaking the same language. Though if in America I will deny all knowledge of that and feign innocence, before proceeding to cause whatever it is Americans drop instead of monocles and ladies to come over all unnecessary by proceeding to channel my inner Australian. I already mentioned fanny (don't get me started on the time I watched Mr Manglehorn and he had a cat named fanny, "all I need is Fanny" and I am creasing in my chair, though fanny pack/bum bag is a good one too) and bender (slang for gay person in the UK) means Futurama and the Avatar cartoons speak to my inner puerile child.
It goes the other way; pissed off is seemingly rather mild and meaning generally upset in the US where not fighting words in a shop but it will get a reaction. Pissed also means drunk in UK English, as well as angry. Cowboy is ever the fun one (protip don't call a builder/tradesman that in the UK) as well. Racial terms can also vary wildly between places and may vary depending upon history; Brazil is noted as taking a lot of Japanese in, hence a lot of terms there for oriental races (not an offensive term in UK English, some seem to want to make it on in the US) are based on Japanese where the US is probably China based save for a few world war 2 things, as is the UK courtesy of the whole Hong Kong thing but Asian (which in UK English tends to refer more to those from Pakistan, though there is "Paki" there in UK English and considered up there with n**** in US English for offence, India, Bangladesh and that whole area, those that are not Russian then being orientals). Gypsy/gyppo variously being a thing in Europe where the US seems to lack that particular distinction, Europe however lacking anything much in the way of Spanish speaker prejudice to anything remotely the same as the US (Spain is a place you go for cheap holidays or retiring in the sun, they occasionally have a financial crisis which can be fun to laugh at) and probably thinking it quite bizarre if they wander over to the US; you will probably face more trouble moving to anywhere that normally gets a game translation if you are Polish/[insert rest of eastern Europe] than if you are Spanish.
If I have to do all the Caribbean stuff as well then I will be here all day (though a favourite there might be "sket" for loose woman), all week if Indian and Hong Kong ones too. If New Zealand is absent from my list it is because nobody cares about New Zealand.

Never quite sure where bitch fits in these categories, though dog in various criminal circles is interesting (or indeed fighting words to serious degrees). Also very contextual; bitch is a female dog, riding bitch means riding pillion on a motorbike, being a bitch as woman means you are horrible, being a bitch as a man tends to mean you are weak and showing womanly tendencies, or that you are under the control of another ("until your debt is paid off then you are my bitch" sort of thing).
 
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godreborn

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cussing is about the only sinful thing I do on a regular basis. I don't like to hear others cuss though, which is weird, I guess. I especially don't like to hear girls curse, just doesn't seem ladylike. it doesn't bother me that much to read cuss words, but it does to hear them. :-/
 

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