Ill start:
“Me cago en tus muertos” - ill shit all over your dead relatives. Spanish.
Teletubbyzurückwinker.
Someone that waves back at the Teletubbies.
Specific and evocative as fuck. German really is amazing.
Toilettentieftaucher is another great german word mishmash. Literally someone doing deep dives in toilets
… mit Arschbeleuchtung (lit. “with ass lighting”)
Inventing stupid words for “weak” people like that is an ancient German running gag. Like Schattenparker (someone who parks in the shade) or Warmduscher (someone who likes warm showers). It’s always tongue-in-cheek and no serious insult.
These vibe like the kinds of insults you’ll hear on children’s TV
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This is by far the best one.
No harsh words or vulgarity but lots of emotional damage.
Schnitzelkind. Breaded-veal kid (wienerschnitzel / milanesa). Basically a kid so ugly, that the parents needed to put a schnitzel around his neck so that at least the dogs would play with him.
Is that what it means? We had a kid at school everyone just referred to as “Schnitzeljunge”, never knew where that name came from.
Triangeljosti.
The Jostiband is a Dutch orchestra for people with a developmental disability, mainly people with down syndrome.
A [triangle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_(musical_instrument\)) , or triangel in Dutch, is possibly the simplest instrument you can think of.
So calling someone a ‘triangeljosti’ is basically comparing them to someone who plays the simplest possible instrument in a band for developmentally disabled people.
That’s so specific. lmao
I’m wheezing. Never heard it before but the image is livid in my head.
This reminds me of the not-very-edifying-at-all moment when “joey” became a universal term of abuse in UK playgrounds.
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Huh, that’s a rare one.
Never heard that one being used, though.
It’s not super common but I do hear it on occasion.
That just sounds like ableism
Well, yeah, it’s an insult so it’s not exactly meant to be flattering for either the insulted party or the person they are being compared to.
I mean, OP asked for insults. You should be prepared to see some you don’t like (which is the point of an insult after all).
It absolutely is. Many insults are.
As an autistic I aprove, if you arent saying this to a ND or mentally disabled person.
I mean if any intelligence-based insult is, this one certainly is. The thing is it is better to be smart than not, so trying to shut those all down is probably a fool’s errand.
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I also quite like the word ‘droeftoeter’, meaning a sad/depressing person. The closest thing would be the word ‘loser’ in English.
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‘Sad trombone’ would be an apt translation, as the sound of refers to is exactly like the meaning of the insult.
Bravo! A perfect write-up. You’re making us proud.
Heya. I’m an American, and I’ve got to say thank you. I seriously look forward to calling someone a “ball violin” in English, but if fully intend to add klootviool and and klootzak to my day to day swear bank. Those are so satisfying to say!
Just don’t forget that the “oo” is pronounced as the “oh” in “oh shit” and not like the “oo” in “cool” or “mood”. Same for the “a” in “zak”. It’s closer to “ahhh” as in “oooohh and ahhh” or “pasta” than it is to the “a” in “back”
Mieren neuker
“Eikel” is somewhat equivalent to “asshole”. The word means either “acorn” or the glans of a penis.
I’m American, but isn’t the Brit insult “bell-end” similar to this?
That sounds about right. Bell-end, knobhead, dickhead, they all refer to the tip of the penis, but in Dutch the word also has an innocent form.
Nice overview! I do not have any proof of this, but I think “Godverdomme”, which is still very common, is a bit unique because rather that God damning it or -you, it translates to God Damn Me.
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I do agree that curse words/expressions based on diseases seem very unique
A go-to for me has recently, for some reason, become godverdekut, so do with that one as you please.
كول هوا
“Kawl hawa”
Literally “eat air” in Arabic
Means shut up
That’s hilarious
That’s a really good one.
Oh that is fantastic. I need to use that one.
Salame
Yes that’s right, it means salami and in spanish it’s used to call someone an idiot. Soft insult, but I use it, and saying so and so is a salami in english would only get me weird looks.
Seems to be used in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Being from Spain, I’ve never heard Salami being used as an insult.
English has https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gammon_(insult)
That’s interesting, I didn’t know. It seems gammon makes reference to the color red and to anger, and according to the link, it has some political connotations. None of that is applicable to salame, it’s not so much about being angry or hot headed in any way, it’s just a way to say someone isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
same in Italian
Calling someone a ‘silly sausage’ in English is a very gentle way to say they are being foolish, sometimes endearingly. Typically it’s used for children. So not far off!
Never heard that one! Interesting
“April Fools, you little sausage!”
What’s the specific meaning of the insult? Maybe we can think of a good English equivalent.
There is no specific meaning, a good translation would be a twat or a dummy. Why salame out of all things? I have no idea.
We have meathead…
Definition of meathead seems to check out, but Ive always seen it used with the burly/jock type of connotation. Never heard anyone call a cute child, or a businessman, or a hot looking girl a meathead, but maybe I’m wrong as usage may vary in different places.
No you’re spot on. Sausage remains “not directly translatable” I guess.
I am going to use it. Ie. You got a salami in that noggin?
In Quebec French, people sometimes say of someone who’s not particularly bright:
“His mom rocked him/her too close to the wall.”
It’s just so… vivid and random.
Oh cool, we have a very similar one in German: “His/her swing stood too close to the wall.”
Bizarre j’ai jamais entendu ça…
C’est bien connu en France:
Il a été bercé trop près du mur.
Mieux vaut tard que jamais pour l’ajouter à mon arsenal d’insulte 😁
Ça vient surtout du Saguenay!
I interpret that as is each rocking made him hit the head against the wall, with the corresponding brain damage… :)
Wait I’ve never heard this! so like
“Sa mère l’a bercé trop proche du mur”?
Yes, exactly! Or, “Ya été bercé trop proche du mur.”
Amazing thanks!
A strong insult in french would be to tell that someone has been “fini à la pisse”.
I don’t know how to translate that but it would means that their dad did not have enough sperm so he used urine to conceive them.
While not my native language, in Japanese, many insulting things to call people are often translated as English curses, but actually are just increasingly disrespectful ways to refer to the listener. The actual translation for them is just “you” but not respectful. This might not be a complete list, but I got most of them at least.
Anata - Polite way of saying “you” but not often used in conversation except between spouses or lovers. It’s preferred to use the listener’s name instead.
Kimi - Rude in a polite setting, but not explicitly disrespectful, necessarily.
Omae - Now you’re on the level of picking a fight, but good friends often use this for each other.
Temee - Extremely disrespectful
Kisama - Extremely disrespectful
Kono yarou - Extremely disrespectful
Is it Japanese i am think of that has an exclusionary “we” form? Almost as in “We(all of US but not YOU) were invited to the party.”
That’s correct, you can insult someone accidentally while complimenting them in a similar way. The particles は (as in wa) and が (ga) have different connotations that can simply different things.
So saying メリーさんの顔はきれい (Mary-san no kao wa kirei, “Mary has a beautiful face”) causes an implication that Mary has a beautiful face, (… But nothing else about her is beautiful). Changing the は for が makes the statement come across as intended.
Without going into detail on the whole wa vs ga thing, wa is more like “as for x…” which can imply a “but…” at the end, whether stated or not, which causes this effect.
Inverted “butterface”?
Thanks for the breakdown!
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clusivity
Many languages have that. I’m not familiar with Japanese, but it’s not on that article’s list at least.
I’m not a native speaker, but I’ve heard Japanese doesn’t have any outright curses. That is, there are no words which are always bad, just bad in certain contexts.
Omae and Kisama were how one would refer to emperors. There are no more emperors so referring to someone that way is always sarcastic.
I don’t know the word but there’s one Japanese word that means “stupid” but is basically the equivalent to the r-word in English. It’s banned from being said on Japanese television.
The word you’re probably thinking of is kichigai. But there are oceans of words that you can’t use on TV in Japan as I understand it, and there have been since the 70s.
Yup, that’s why I mentioned they were disrespectful, but are often translated as curses for English understanding.
What about “baka” or “bakaro” whatever the difference is, which I’ve heard countless times translated as “idiot” in anime?
Baka and it’s various forms are actually stupid, fool, idiot, and the like. Calling someone stupid is a pretty common way to insult them, so if you see that, it’s probably pretty literal
Can be insulting or friendly banter depending on tone and context.
Sort of like “bitch” in english or “boludo” in Argentina I take. But does baka really mean “someone of inferior intelligence” as “idiot” would suggest?
Literally, yes.
Naruhito?
m*nko begs to differ.
Really interesting. I watch anime occasionally and I’ve been wondering about this. But suddenly the dramatic shoutouts between the good guys and the big bad makes a little bit more sense.
I’d be glad to hear more examples!
“Omae wa mou shindeiru”
“NANI?!”
In Chile, not really an insult but rather a lament over how dumb people are sometimes:
“Si los weones volaran, pasaría nublado” (If dumb people could fly it would always be cloudy)
In Germany we have the saying: “Herr lass Hirn regnen. Oder Backsteine. Egal Hauptsache du triffst!”
Which roughly translates to: “lord let it rain brains or bricks. Doesn’t matter as long as it hits”
I’m pretty sure Backsteine translates to bricks in general, am I right? On my side of the border, a baksteen is a brick.
Yes of course you’re right, let’s just pretend that my brain didn’t just stop processing language correctly 😁
German: “Dich soll der Blitz beim Scheißen treffen” - Lightning shall strike you while you’re taking a shit
Best insult ever, imo.
“Spargeltarzan”, which is German for “asparagus Tarzan”. Basically someone who is physically weak, but tall and lanky.
I also like “Lauch”, which just translates to “leek”, the veggie. Oh, and “Bohnenstange”, which means bean stalk. We do seem to have quite a few vegetable-related insults in German, now that I think of it…
Wir sind halt auch Kartoffeln
Yiddish is not my native language but I think this one is so good it absolutely deserves a mention:
All of your teeth shall fall out except one that gives you a massive toothache.
In polish, calling people with the neutral gender. It’s a grave insult which implies lack of agency and dehumanisation, and thank to some rightwinger assholes in parliament is also a specific transphobic insult now.
While in english it’s completely normal thing to say if you’re not sure of a person’s gender.
So definitely not my “favourite”, i would never said this to anyone in polish and i occasionally get a hiccup of misgendering someone in english because of that, but interesting from language point of view.
Portuguese is full of these, but how about vai pra casa do caralho.
Which roughly translates to “go to the dick’s home”, basically another way of saying “go fuck yourself”, but even more vulgar somehow.
Portuguese here. “Diz que vais cagar e baza”, which translates to “Say you go shit and get outa here”, when someone is not welcome.
Oh, another one: “deves comer gelados com a testa”, which translates to “you must eat icecream with your forehead”, a not so soft way to call someone stoopid
forehead, not forefront. :)
Corrected. Thanks :-)
You’re welcome! I should have added that it’s at least the translation from Brazilian Portuguese, since it seems like yours is Portuguese Portuguese. I hope it translates the same.
Brazil “eu caguei e andei” (I shat and walked). Functionally equivalent to “I don’t give a shit” but in Portuguese one actually shits but doesn’t care to wipe and walks away or walks at the same as is shitting.
So it means “Pretend you have to go use the toilet and leave us”? I like it!
Yes, that’s it :-)
I’ve heard ‘caralho’ used to be the name for the lookout on top of a ship’s mast (later turned into yet another word for dick) and sailors were sent to duty on the caralho as punishment?
I’m not Portuguese though, so if any native could confirm …
That’s what I’ve heard too, I don’t know how accurate that is though.
Caralho, aka Gavea, being the crow’s nest (the highest spot on the ship) is correct, though it’s uncommon knowledge. No idea when it was phased out of “professional” usage. As for why it became slang for dick, it’s a big and hard mast with a noticeable “head” at the top.
Mandar alguém para o dito já é insulto que chegue, quanto mais dizer-lhes para lhe encontrar a morada…
Another portuguese gem: “tens um parafuso a menos”, which means “you have a missing bolt” (LOL), a way to call someone crazy
Băga-mi-aș pula-n coliva mă-tii de să-mi sară coaiele din bomboană-n bomboană
This is a highly niche one in my native language as well, as one must also know what is colivă - it’s basically a desert that we eat at funerals with m&m-sized candies in it as well. So it roughly translates let me stick my dick in your mother’s coliva so hard that my balls jump from candy to candy
That is elaborate, vulgar, and 100% delightful. I love hearing stuff like this. Cursing in American English is so boring lol
Does the insult mean the colivā is served at your mother’s funeral, or that it’s the colivā your mother made? Also in what kind of context you use this insult?
I’m not the OP but usage is dealer’s choice. It’s smooth jazz all the way down.
My personal favourites from Finnish.
“Ei ole kaikki muumit Muumilaaksossa” “Not having all the Moomins in Moomin Valley” Used for people who are either stupid or lack sanity. There are other variants of this and Moomin one is not older than a couple of decades.
I find our version of Grammar Nazi pretty great. We call them comma fuckers.
“Ei voi kauhalla ottaa jos on lusikalla annettu” “You can’t take with a ladle if it was given with a spoon”. This refers also to a lack of something, usually a lack of intelligence or sense.
Comma fuckers, lol. Do you guys say it in English or is there a Finnish version?
In Finnish. Pilkunnussija is the word.
I am having the incredible urge to name a space ship Pilkunnussija in one of my sci-fi stories now. “Ah, there goes the majestic Pilkunnussija, right into the worm hole…”
“Not having all the Moomins in Moomin Valley”
That’s totally something we’ll use. Thanks :D Also I’m stealing that. I’m stealing that insult and Americanizing it and you can’t stop me
Just be warned Moomins are a gateway to communism (Weird internet theory). Or at least to more Moomins. We literally have Moomin everything here.
Moomins are life though
In Denmark you have:
- Paragraph Knight - someone who cares too much about rules and regulations.
- Fly Fucker - someone who cares too much about something deeply insignificant.
In German there is “Paragraphenreiter” - Paragraph rider.
We have “enculeur de mouches” in French, which translates to “fly ass-fucker” haha.
And the Dutch have mierenneuker, lit. ant fucker.
