Jay Sacher - How to Swear Around the World

LETS ALL BE HONEST: IF YOU SPEAK, YOU SWEAR. Simple as that. Linguists postulate that the average person uses taboo words roughly eighty to ninety times each day, and have recorded swearing in children as young as twelve months. If you multiply those eighty swears a day by the six billion-plus people on the planet, well, thats a lot of swearing; its a veritable shitload. This book is intended to give you an overview of that shitloadthe rich and effulgent stream of profanity, insults, put-downs, metaphors, and trash-talking that breathes life into language and adds some much-needed salt to all our varied communications. From the playground to parliament to the used car lot, swear words, cursing, oaths, and coarse language (whatever you choose to call it) help us signify our intent, win arguments, tell jokes, and ease (or cause) awkward situations.

As Carl Sandburg said of slang, swear words are language with its sleeves rolled up, ready to do business. With over six thousand different languages spoken on the planet, this is by no means a comprehensive catalog of all the various ways one can offend with words, but weve done our best to get you from one corner of the globe to the other with a host of useful profane utterances and offensive oaths. Broadly speaking, swear words are a great leveler. Youll discover that subjects that tend to offend in Illinois will probably do the same in Austria or Singapore, with slight tweaks for social mores along the way. The common ground of swearingits universal nature from culture to cultureshould give us hope for the future. We are the same: we all say fuck! shit! and asshole! although we pronounce them differently and they might mean slightly different things from one speaker to the next.

Every language possesses creative ways to defame someones mother, tell people they were raised by animals, and describe the various substances and fluids that usher forth from our bodies. As a species, we are also well-stocked with those harder-to-translate insults and idiomatic expressions that turn swearing into true poetry. How to Swear Around the World is here to help you unleash your profane poet laureate, with an international glossary of the worlds most offensive slurs. Keep it in your back pocket and youll always have something handy to yell when someone cuts you off in traffic in Osaka (Bakayaro!) or you drop your passport into the Seine (Quel bordel!). Given the title of this book, it should go without saying that the language cataloged herein is offensive, and will be offensive to those who happen to hear it, even if it doesnt sound offensive to you. For instance, calling someone a turtle in English will probably cause head-scratching rather than the flying fists towards your face that would ensue in parts of China.

Similarly, be wary of insulting a mans moustache in many Arabic countries or comparing a Persian-speaking person to a donkey. In fact, just BE WARY. Every phrase in this book is bound to insult, annoy, or inflame those who hear it, and can get you punched, deported, or worse. Remember, its always best to swear with caution. But also: swear with joy.