The other evening, I saw a feature on the news about SwiSca, a research network for swearing researchers in the Nordic Countries. It was quite amusing.
It's actually disturbing how much we Scandinavians swear – in common language.
They just held a symposium, and this event got quite some coverage in the media. If you follow the link, you'll find a couple of papers in English.
I especially like the one where they take the language of Scandinavian films and measure how many swearing words they contain. There seems to be a problem when translating the dialogue in Scandinavian films, for subtitles, primarily because peoples in other parts of the World might be offended by the wide spread mentioning of the devil, his dominions, Christ and Our Lord himself. Kid's stuff like speaking of feces or fornecation is fairly okay with the foreign audience, but blasphemy is something else it seems. And Scandinavian swearing is serious business, actual cursing and calling upon dark forces. It's a tradition of language dating back to the Old Kings, in pre-christian times.
I have been known to swear a lot – even for a Scandinavian. People actually sometimes tell me to take it easy on the vulgarities. It's actually because I come from the part of Denmark where the dialect contains most 'hard' phrases and terms, the South-East of Jutland.
So, I'm a barbarian… I can't fucking help it!
On a note: the English term 'fuck' has become part of the Danish and Swedish swearing vocabulary over the last fifteen years, especially for the younger generations. When I was young we only said 'shit', and we still do, but, honestly, why use English phrases when we have our own? English is a poor language when it comes to swearing words. The English will use irony and sarcasm when insulting eachother, supposedly more civilized than banning people to the darkest chasms of Hell, like a Dane would do. However, swearing words as such have slowly disappeared from the English language only leaving a few, like 'fuck'.
The Danish swearing phrases For Helvede!/For Hell! For Satan!, or the combo For Satan i Helvede! are still some of the most common phrases in Danish, along with the less blasphemous Pis!, Lort!/Shit!, and insults like Røvhul!/Arsehole!.
My favourite insult is Pikansjos!/Dick-anchovy! I use it when ever I get the chance.
The Fish Tank 
Røvbanan! (Ass-banana!)That's my favourite 😀
Pikansjos er godt. Og Røvbanan. Jeg tror, at åndspygmæ er mit favorit-fornærmelsesord 😀
Min kone kalder konsekvent folk for pikhoveder, hvis de har fortjent det, og det sker ret ofte.
Dick Anchovy 😆 😆 😆 Translate some more 😀
I normally do not swear. But German has some, um, abilities for an educated user. As English. The Italians are worse of cause the most of their curses are tied to the male genital: Caga di Cazzo!
@SpaggMost Danish swearing words and phrases are impossible to translate, because they have been developed over centuries. All Danes use the term 'sgu' – pronounced sgoo. It's the modern version of 'så hjælpe os Gud' (so help us God), first it became 'så Gud' and then just 'sgu'. This word has simply become a part of our language and is not even considered a swearing word. We use it to emphasize certain parts of statements. We call these lingiustic effects 'kraftudtryk' – words of power. A speciality in the Germanic/Scandinavian languages.
German is surely a colourful language with an old tradition for proper swearing. Also Germans seem to maintain and cherish this traditional part of their language. I like that. In Southern Europe the insults seem to be focused on family relations, primarily mothers and sisters. Suggesting that somebody's mother is somewhat 'loose' is high-ranking on the insult scale in Italy, Spain, Greece and parts of France. Supposedly it's where the American Your Mama insult comes from.
Kraftausdruck is the German expression. Same word.
ahhh but we have have such intricate non-pleasantries as 'needle dick, the bug fucker'. and what country would dare call someone a 'mother fucker'. you could get killed in those romance countries for that one. :cool:a particularly strong one used only with true hatred is simply "go to hell!"
All languages in the world has a swearing vocabulary. It's actually peculiar. Why do we need it? What is it good for? It's not that we don't have other ways to express what we need to say. Swearing is not necessary, and you can talk without swearing. And still we swear.I have a little old book written by a historian by some time in the early 20th century on the same subject. It's called 'Folk Bander' – People Swear – and it's sort of a philosophical treatise on the importance of swearing. This guy states that swearing is a part of the language that knows no social borders – everybody swears, and even using the same words whether you're a lawyer, a doctor, a construction worker or a checkout assistant. He even claims that profane language is the adhesive that keeps society together, a sort of common ground where everyone is equal.I like that.
In NZ, a common invitation to continue the conversation outside would be simply "Get Fucked".Isn't it strange that this is actually something we all want to do, quite often. And yet telling someone to get on with this pleasurable activity is asking for a punch in the face.
I also like the word "skidespræller". Impossible to translate.The first part of the word is "skide", trasnlates to the verb shit as in 'to shit'. Second part is "spræller", meaning wiggler or wiggling, so the direct translation would be shit-wriggler. It's uncertain whether it suggests someone who wriggles while defecating or someone who wriggles to the point of involuntary defecation. Either way, it's an amusing as well as rather evil insult.
There are times when only "fuck" will do though. One does not walk up to a stranger at a bar and offer to "deflower her until she screams like the pig she looks like" (English girls spend a lot of time drunk so this is actually a good chat-up line, it seems). One walks up, sets her friend on fire due to ones cigarette and the amount of hairspray her friend is wearing and offers to "fuck her into the oblivion that will only come otherwise with way more alcohol than this bar holds" (also a stunningly romantic chat up line as it happens).There was a time when I was meeting with a woman from the local newspaper for dinner so we could discuss the advertising rates for the quarter. We knew each other and casually chatted as we ate. At one point she offered me some of her desert saying that it was "fucking good" (it was a Death by Chocloate that was rich enough to kill a small child and get away with it). I tasted it and agreed, audible only to our table, that it was "fucking good". At this point a waiter was passing by and turned around in absolute horror at the word. Two other parties took up the other end of the restaurant at the time and there was no way any of them heard us, until he started shouting…at…me.I was being vulgar, he said. I was upsetting other customers, he said. The other customers looked incredulous as this went on and one of them motioned to me that I should deck him. I think his daughter (I hope she was his daughter anyway) was trying to motion that I should cook and eat him, but I'm not sure. All this time the waiter ranted at me and I sat and let him. When he finally quietened down I began to explain to him that sometimes "only fuck will do".Does he go home and inflate his girlfriend for a canoodling, I asked. No, he gets the foot pump out that he can fuck her. Does her stub his toe on the body of the last hooker he killed before canoodling and say "Oh gosh darn it?" No, he stubs it on his future cold fuck and screams "Fuck!" The word is so very versatile and can be used in so many forms of company, I explained. Something harmless like the word being mentioned in private and quite hushed conversation at a restaurant table is nothing compared to the living personification of the lack of the word complaining about that hushed conversation and provoking a louder confrontation with someone who was willing to demonstrate how the word can be used.End of the day, I was asked to leave and made damn sure to finish my coffee before obliging. As i'm sure you can guess, there was no way I was gonna pay the bill. The fucking Røvhul waiter was sacked for provoking such a confrontation and I got an apology from the manager when he finally found out about it, but that was months down the line when we bumped into each other and he mentioned he hadn't seen me in the restaurant for a while.Swearing is the colour to the line drawings of language. The choice of words and the company one is comfortable using those words in can show more about a person than you'd think.
People from ex-Yu are known for some pretty bad swearing. I tried even to translate some to San but she didn't get it – I admit they sound weird and completely out of meaning when you translate them. But I've heard that real champions in swearing are Pakistanis – maybe someone will confirm or deny it here :DDick-anchovy! 😆
Originally posted by FlaRin:
Because the implication is that he couldn't even if he tried! :pOriginally posted by gdare:
Hmmm! I've heard them get rather agitated, but I can't say what they actually said
and just none roll off my tongue like the ones in your native language. :p
Quite! And the good thing is that when being outside your country you can insult people or just be unpleasantly vulgar without the natives knowing. The English can't do that. We understand what they say. Might not know what they really mean, English is like that, I know, but even so. I like having a native language that no one understands. I can play The Stupid Foreigner Role, because I speak a weird language – Danish does sound really weird when you don't understand it. That makes pretending to not understand and not know anything very easy. This can be quite handy if you end in some kind of trouble when abroad. Been there. More than once.
In NZ, the word 'Munter' means someone stupid, ugly, unfeasibly worthless socially. Most uncomplimentary. In Denmark, Munter means 'cheerful', joyful'. There's a lovely insult just waiting to happen in there somewhere 😀
Without exactly knowing if it's right, I'd assume that 'munter' comes from latin 'monte' which means mountain. In ancient times people who lived in mountain regions were considered lesser humans (modern day's hill-billies), and being cheerful was considered extremely simple and mundane in some cultural circles. I suspect this is where the similarity is. Laughter is for the simple minded.
I think that the scandinavian swear words are pretty mild. Herregud or herrejävlen, jävla, fan… none of these suggest to one that one should manipulate one part of one's anatomy with another. I like being able to curse in a language where it feels fairly innocent.
Pussy Cat actually called someone a Røvbanan today, in the supermarket 😆
Originally posted by FlaRin:
Well done agent Rinse! This is exactly the kind of intell we've been searching for! :devil:
I did 😮 She was a fat slut who didn't deserve to be talked nice to 😮
It's true, you could consider Scandinavian swearing mild when it comes to sexually explicit words and terms. We don't do them.However, our swearing is blasphemous, real cursing, actually using God's name in vane and even summoning the Devil himself – on a regular basis. This is serious business if you're a fundamental Christian. Furthermore, none of us think about what it is we do. "Fa'en ta' dig!" literally means 'May the Devil take you!' That is not innocent at all, opposed to 'Fuck you!'. It actually more than suggests that you want the guy to suffer eternal pain in the chasms of Hell.
Now we're talking.I take your point. I stopped believing in spirits years ago, so to me it's all clean fun, but the sixteen year old gavin would not have agreed.
That's right….what the fuck isn't said in dandsk (altho it might be uttered in engelsk) , in dansk it's 'hvad fanden' (what the devil?) 🙂
Originally posted by Mik:
Allow me… :)She got in the way, by parking her pram right in the exitentry channel of the town's busiest supermarket, and stood standing there idly pissing about with her poxy phone. I said "FUCK!" 2 or 3 times as I pushed past (laden with heavy shopping bags), and then Pussy Cat tried to get past (similarly laden), and the woman moved a bit and apologized to me, deliberately ignoring the actually dangerous one. Who then told the woman she was an ass banana 😀
Originally posted by Aqualion:
That's nothing. When I say "Fuck you" I mean by Andrew Lloyd Webber.
Originally posted by FlaRin:
Bizarrely that's terribly British, old chap.
Originally posted by Zaphira:
What did she do? :eyes: Or was she simply overweight and having it away in the aisles?
:lol:There's a reason I avoid shopping centres this time of year! :p
If people just could see a little past their own noses, it would make even the malls a better place! :yes:
There are plenty of people out there who's thinking power doesn't extend further up than the brain stem. And they breed, which is the worrying thing.
Back when we lived in Hell Town, we shopped mainly at a cheap ass supermarket. Not one of the truly nasty ones, but enough that you wouldn't fund a dinner party through it. Every single time we went shopping there was a congregation right outside the main doors. Fat old women (or at least lead a hard life of drugs and prostitution) stood right there in front of the doors, chatting to each other or on their phones. When we'd managed to get through that and were trying to go up the aisles without seeing anyones underwear (slut town as well as Hell Town) we would regularly be blocked by trolleys that had been left pointing out into the aisle by people who just loved to pretend (or were actually that drunken) that they couldn't hear an excuse me, followed eventually by them moving it an inch and grumbling under their breath. It was that which caused my foot to connect with a trolley and send it all the way up an aisle (still unnoticed by the shopper) after they "didn't hear" three times in a row.Ever since that moment impolite, unnecessary and generally self-centred congregators have been right up there on my rage-making list.
Originally posted by FlaRin:
All that takes is instinct. Higher brain functions just tend to get in the way. Survival of the dumbest.
Originally posted by Zaphira:
… or the banana up their… :zip:In Odd City (Odense, Denmark) people will get on the bus and then stop. They will stand around in the aisle, just one step past the driver's seat and just stay there, even if the bus is otherwise empty with nothing but free seats, as if their sole pupose for being there, the very reason why they got on the bus in the first place was to be a nuisance to any sound minded person who would, of course, sit the fuck down if there's a free seat, no matter how short the distance. I don't get it. When I get on the bus I want to go all the way back – I enjoy sitting in the back of the bus pretending it's a big limo. In Odense I have to force my way through the bunch of mindless zombies who just stands there with wires going out of their ears. In cases like that I will speak, and normally the words coming out of my mouth will be unpleasant. Of course they will just keep standing there, no matter how harsh the abuse and offenses, because that is what bus retards do.
"FLYTTAR PÅ DIG, NI JÄVLAR!!"That happened on the airport bus on my way here. A family pushed their way to get on first, and heaped their baggage in the isle at the front of the bus, so I had to find high ground and jump over them. And then, at the airport, they heaped it at the top of the escalator. IDIOTS!
Interesting topic…The Dutch tend to use genitals and diseases when 'expressing our opinions', combining the two is the most fun…
Adrian writes:Scandinavians may swear a lot but it really is not so bad. In europe as far as I know the Italians are the absolute masters.There are people who take offense in swearing, Like Dark Furie, I have had an incident with a cabdriver in a more religeous part of the country coz my father tended to "use the name of the lord in vain" by uttering the word 'verdomme' (Pokker) but which literely means 'curseth' (the imperative of to curse [someone], or 'dammit') and it is short for "Godverdomme" (God curseth / God damn it) again an imperative. It is the most popular curse in the netherlands, uttered when somethings goes wrong or when you hit your fingers with a hammer by accident. Most people however misunderstand it is an imperative -a call on god to speak doom on something and think it means 'God damn me', a request to god to damn the requester. I think I have only heard my father make aliterations to this swear word by saying "Godgloeiende godverdomme" impossible to translate.Anyway getting back to the taxidriver, we had to make our father stop or he would throw us out. As we were close to his destination we chose to curse him a bit more and got out.My point being that the 'verdomme' my father used is really quite innocent and this guy overreacted. The thinng with insults is that whatever one says, someone can always see it as an insult.Most countries have some sort of archaic organisation 'against cursing' saying that it is rude and 'not necessary', well I goddamn determine myself if it is fucking necessary to swear. Anyway this has lead to some pseudo swears in Dutch likePotjandrie (Godverdomme->Potverdomme->Potjandrie) Impossible to translate.Verdulleme (Godeverdomme-verdomme-verdulleme)But as the origin of these words is very clear, most people against swearing would still take offense so it is useless.I agree with desales (above) that the dutch use diseases and genitals also very often in swearing. That can be aimed at situations or people:"KUT" (cunt/fitte) can be uttered if something goes wrong: You have just been typing a report for hours and right before you save it, your computer crashes: "KUT" or "Godverdomme" would be appropriate."Lul" (dick/ kjekk) is used to express ones low opinion on a guys behaviour."Klootzak" (testicle sack/scrotum) as 'lul'The word "Godverkut" is probabbly self explanatory"Klerelijer" (someone suffering from cholera)"Pokkelijer" (someone suffering from smallpox)"Tiefuslijer" (someone suffering from typhoid)"Teringlijer" (someone suffering from lungtuberculosis)Krijg de klere (get cholera)Krijg de tiefus (get typhoid)oddly we do not wish someone smallpox that often, but we do wish people tuberculosis/consumption: "Krijg de tering".references to the oldest profesion in the world are also popular, especially if combined with words that mean 'dirty or filthy'"Vuile temeier" (dirty whore)"Vieze hoer" (dirty whore)"Vieze vuile gore stoephoer" (dirty, filthy gory pavement prostitute)Ofcourse this can be combined with diseases: "kankerhoer""tiefushoer"And it can be combines with religeous curses:"Vieze vuile godverdommense kankerhoer, krijg de tering"(You filthy dirty goddamned cancer suffering whore, get lungtuberculosis).as in most languages the word 'fuck' has entered the language but other than amongst teh younger generation (and then only of a certain class) it is not really used that often I think.And although dutch has about a million words describing the act of sexual intercourse it is not used in cursing that often, albeit that some immigrants have used dutch translations of 'I fuck your mother' (Ik neuk je moeder) that actually sounds more strange and funny than a real curse.The act of sodomie ofcourse is used as a curse but in a rather unexpected way:"Sodemieter op" = fuck off/ get lost"is het uit met dat gesodemieter" Literally "Are you done sodomizing" but meaning are you done now doing your stupid or irrittaing activitiesThough Homosexuality is widely accepted in the netherlands, a somehat derogatory word for homosexuals "Flikker" is used for swearing as well:"Flikker op" fuck off/get lostAs indication for a person it s use is not strictly to indicate homosexuals, but also heterosexuals (but all males) of whom one has a low opinion. It is usually combined with the word dirty or filthy:"Vieze vuile Flikker""gore flikker"The court though has decided that calling a policeman a 'flikker' and thus suggesting he would be homosexual is an insult 9even if he would be homosexual.
That's pretty interesting :up: I often hear the word 'pokkers!!" when something has gone wrong or broken, used in the context of "damn!" or "Damnit!"….I now feel inclined to mutter 'genitals and testicles!' whenever something unsatisfactory occurs… 🙂
Welcome to The Daily Blues, Adrian, and thanks for your input!As far as I know, the Danish expression "Pokkers!" stems from the Finnish profanity "Perkele!" Perkele/Pokkers being an alternate name for the thunder god of Finnish paganism, Ukko, and co-opted by the Christian church to portrait The Devil in the Finnsih translation of The Holy Scriptures, giving the uttering of the common expression "Perkele!" status of true sin. To be exclaimed loudly when things don't work out as supposed to or planned.It's actually the pagant rival to our own God of Thunder, the Mighty Thor we call upon.Or it could originate from this particular Catholic Mass section:Hoc est enim corpus meumput in the tongue of the British:This is my bodyput in the tongue of the Conjurer:hocus pocusput in the tongue of common Danish peasant:Pokkers!Actually I believe whatever Thunder Gads drove over the tree tops in my garden the other morning. We experienced a regular Cloudburst with constant thunder and lightning, automatic digital flash style, piss rain like five thousand shower heads splashing water. Had to go out to take in some cushions and a newspaper we'd left there the night before, and had to let the cat in too. She hates rain, and she hates getting wet. You know cats. Half in, half out.Now the rain just pours like always. It's good. Don't have to go outside when it rains. Can sit all day being Fintellectual, discussing profanities.
Dagnabbit! Genitals and Testicals! Lawks a Mussy!(generally shortened to just 'Lawks!' in genteel society). 🙂 Nothing wrong with rain, cleans the car :)Mind you, I lived on rainwater for a number of years, drinking and showering, laundry & washing up. Learned to love Rain, and welcome it like a long lost, wealthy family member 🙂
Originally posted by FlaRin:
Yeah, but 210 days a year? That's the statistic for Denmark. 210 days of rainfall. Mind you, it's counting any sort of rainfall, from a few drops and nothing more to a full scale Multi Gale Thunder Storm, where gales from both the waters behind us and in front of us will clash and cause a myriad of lightning. Witnessed one a summer night somewhere in the nineties from the deck of a scooner. Awesome to say the least. Happens frequently mid-country too, because the Danish isles are quite flat, and the ocean gales will blow over field and meadow like there was nothing there.Pokker ta' den Satans vind!Riding the cold winds of Valhalla, the valkyries of the North will soon be haunting the skies, demanding the green of the trees to fade, their branches to fall. The Rimtursa of Niflheim will run free again, invade the Northern Hemisphere with stiffness and cold, turning every raindrop into solid ice.And silence will fall upon our lands.
In the toungue of the Griqua!"Jou Ma'se Moer!!":p:sst: translates roughly as; "Your mother's nut!"
Originally posted by Aqualion:
Actually, properly rendered, the expression is "yo' mama". The sound indicates the accent of those who use it.
Originally posted by Aqualion:
Actually we Brits blame the Anglo Saxons. Most likely they got it all from you lot, eh?Bastards!
Brits should be saying "your mother" :lol:Your Mother is so ugly that she frightens the flies away from the Ordure tanker.Or…"Yo mama so ugly she scare the flies off a shit wagon"
In school my son and his friends would just shout 'Din mor!' at eachother. It means 'Your mother!' At that time I was not aware that the expression could be used totally out of context like that.
I had an Irish buddy who would shout "Piss up a rope, Fuckstick!!!" when something particularly annoying happened 🙂
We used to call eachother names in school. Some of them were quite honourable. There was a certain status about having a name, however ugly it was. Also the teachers got names, but – seen in retrospect – only the ones that meant something to us. Later I moved to the island of Funen where I live now (and have for the majority of my adult life), and I discovered that nicknames were of a slightly different type here. Fionians will typically give people names after one spectacular event. I had a friend whose name was Rikke. Rikke is a very common Danish name, so it was inevitable that she got a nick at some point. That point came when she pissed herself in the bus on the way home from a night out. From that point on she was Rikke Pis (don't need translation, does it?) Of course this name was not at all flattering, but on Funen this is quite common, and people accept it, even really degrading names like Rikke's. I also had a friend who was called Gummi (rubber). I actually don't remember his real name. When I first met him, and a friend presented him as Gummi, I asked why. 'Wait till you see him dance,' he said. So, I did. And I got it. Obviously Gummi.
A Ray Bolger-type dancer, eh?
I am unable to describe the way Gummi danced, but I still have mental images, so… Well, let's just say it was impressive. By the way, he was a very nice guy, worked in a kindergarten, as far as I remember. He as good with kids. I reckon he has a nice family with lots of children by now. Haven't seen him since the midnineties. Nor heard of him.
Anonymous writes:I lived in Denmark (Aarhus) for some eight months in the early nineties. The two swear words I heard all the time sounded like 'forsatan' (the 'a' astound were like 'a' in car) and 'hellkeft'. The former I assume meant for satan, the latter something to do with hell. Anyone able to explain?
@Anonymous'For Satan!' of course means 'for Satan!', a very common exclamation of frustration. Like 'Curse it!' or 'Damn it!'. 'Hold kæft!' is not a curse at all. It means 'Shot up!' and is also commonly used in a variety of situations especially as an exclamation of doubt. Like 'Hold kæft, det er vildt!' – 'Shot up, that's wild!'