I grew up in Quebec, speaking English, but can still hear my friends with their "maudit tabarnak" and "sacre bleu".
The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words
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Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words
#42As a Norwegian, I find English profanity to be pretty tame. It all means the same, but I think we have more pathos: "May the devil take you" and "go hang yourself" has to be the highlights....
The English are masters of the subtle insult, though. This is usually illustrated by quoting Churchill, for example: Bessie Braddock to Churchill -- "Winston, you're drunk!" Churchill: "Bessie, you're ugly, and tomorrow morning I shall be sober" Edit: there was a great one on TV yesterday, one politician was commenting on the former London Mayor Boris Johnson's stance in the upcoming referendum on the UK's continued…
Agreed -- the Brits are in a class of their own when it comes to wit. They can tell you to fuck off, and you are actually happy to do so :-)
Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words
#43Earlier quoted context omitted.
The English are masters of the subtle insult, though. This is usually illustrated by quoting Churchill, for example: Bessie Braddock to Churchill -- "Winston, you're drunk!" Churchill: "Bessie, you're ugly, and tomorrow morning I shall be sober" Edit: there was a great one on TV yesterday, one politician was commenting on the former London Mayor Boris Johnson's stance in the upcoming referendum on the UK's continued…
Agreed -- the Brits are in a class of their own when it comes to wit. They can tell you to fuck off, and you are actually happy to do so :-)
There you go, quoting Churchill :-)
Winston S. Churchill — 'Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.'
Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words
#44As a Norwegian, I find English profanity to be pretty tame. It all means the same, but I think we have more pathos: "May the devil take you" and "go hang yourself" has to be the highlights....
Yeah, especially the Northern varieties are particularly expressive. To add to your examples, I was on the receiving side of this particular gem from a fisherman friend of mine up North: "Din skaderunka måskuk", which roughly translates to "you're the penis of a seagull, which has been whacked off in such a manner that it became damaged".
Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words
#45First time seeing my province on HN. Swearing in Québec feels like an extension of your body and even the most well spoken people give in to the treat that are our swear words. I'm always reminded of this quote from the Matrix trilogy (although relating to French from France). Merovingian: Yes, of course, who has time? Who has time? But then if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time? Chiteau Haut-Brion 1…
I'm also reminded of this nice Wikipedia article (in French) about Captain Haddock's insults: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocabulaire_du_capitaine_Haddo...
Apparently those were used to replace actual swear words, that may have been inappropriate for children.
Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words
#46Earlier quoted context omitted.
Agreed -- the Brits are in a class of their own when it comes to wit. They can tell you to fuck off, and you are actually happy to do so :-)
There you go, quoting Churchill :-) Winston S. Churchill — 'Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.'
Ooh! Ooh! Churchill quotations!
Lady Astor: "Sir, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea."
Winston Churchill: "Madame, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."
Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words
#47C'est beau le joual! http://mononc.com/chanson/le-joual/ A funny thing to observe, as the article notes: the verb "fuck" will be conjugated in French, as attested by "fucké" in the lyrics above, but it's not really a big deal in French. It's not taboo language like "tabarnak" is. One thing the article says is that the cursing is completely meaningless. It is not. For example, "câlisser" as a verb means to throw somet…
Yes, tabarnak has a verb form: "Je vais t'en tabarnaker une si tu continues." e.g. "I will (provide you violently) a punch you if you continue." tabarnaker: to do with violence
Jamais entendu ça de mes trente ans au Québec
Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words
#48So, if these are the same words that apply to Catholic worship, do the priests have to use euphemisms for tabernacle and host?
Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words
#49As a Norwegian, I find English profanity to be pretty tame. It all means the same, but I think we have more pathos: "May the devil take you" and "go hang yourself" has to be the highlights....
"Go to hell" and "go hang yourself" exist in English.
"Devil" is very mild profanity as a noun. It's stronger as an intensifier: "What the devil are you doing?!".
I'm British and live in Denmark. Danes swear in English far more than they should, perhaps because they learn all the strongest words from American TV, where swearing replaces humour...
Re: The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words
#50So, if these are the same words that apply to Catholic worship, do the priests have to use euphemisms for tabernacle and host?
Not really (I don't go to church). All swear words are pronounced differently from the actual word (see 'joual' on google). The priest (or anybody else) can say the word in proper french and it won't be heard as a swear word.
Also, I think it has to do with how you use the word. When it's a noun, it's pretty clear that you're not swearing.