How Do You Handle Foul Language?

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How Do You Handle Swear/Curse Words In Your Target Language?

Avoid as much as possible (hearing, using, reading)
0
No votes
Avoid using
21
24%
Use as seems appropriate
25
28%
Uncontrollable use
1
1%
Avoid
3
3%
Acquire
26
30%
Study
8
9%
Practice
4
5%
 
Total votes: 88

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luke
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How Do You Handle Foul Language?

Postby luke » Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:19 am

There are many names for it: curse words, swear words, street language, foul language, cussing.

These are the words that parents may not teach their children on purpose. They typically aren't part of a high school or university course curriculum.

But they can be quite common.

How do handle them?

The poll allows multiple selections, so 2 selections would be a normal response, but more are allowed.

The first 4 options are about usage.

The second 4 options are about how they entered your repertoire (or not).

If you want to make a comment about when, or under which conditions you turn your attention this way, that would be helpful.
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Re: How Do You Handle Foul Language?

Postby Cavesa » Tue Jul 20, 2021 11:52 am

I think it is unwise to avoid them completely. You surely don't want to accidentally thank someone for calling you something very unpleasant :-D Or to happily sing along stuff you'd never publicly sing or say in your native language. And they are part of the language, you will encounter them while reading or listening.

However, active use is different. I am using some such words, usually the milder ones, when appropriate (they do have a function in the language), but much less and much more carefully than in my native language. I would advise caution to everybody. Not only you can easily be inappropriate, but it also looks stupid, when people seem like those beginners, who know a dozen words, half of which are foul language.

Use is optional and often unnecessary, depends on the situation, your personality, the culture. But knowledge is necessary imho, exactly so that you can freely choose how to approach this.
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Re: How Do You Handle Foul Language?

Postby IronMike » Tue Jul 20, 2021 2:30 pm

Russian is nearly impossible without at least understanding what those wonderfully descriptive words mean. ;)
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Re: How Do You Handle Foul Language?

Postby Deinonysus » Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:05 pm

It's classless to start cursing in a language during your first encounter with a native speaker, but creative cursing can truly be an art form. I remember reading a Reddit thread about most interesting curses in various languages, and unfortunately I think it was deleted, but I vividly remember a Finnish insult that translated to: "Go ski into a [female genital], you [deity-cursed] chainsaw made of [male genitals]!"

I haven't found the entire insult repeated anywhere on the internet, but apparently the first part ("go ski into a [female genital]") is common enough that it is well documented. Here's an interesting article containing the original Finnish phrase (NSFW): How Finns Swear and What This Tells Us About Their Culture
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Re: How Do You Handle Foul Language?

Postby Lawyer&Mom » Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:21 pm

I deeply regret not having any real capacity with German swear words, I was reduced to calling a youth who groped me on the street a “dumb cow.” We both deserved better than that.
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Re: How Do You Handle Foul Language?

Postby iguanamon » Tue Jul 20, 2021 3:57 pm

Swearing effectively is an art in any language. Its indiscriminate use is tacky and most definitely not artful. I need to recognize it when learning a language so I know what it is when it is directed toward me or someone, or something else.

Swearing is something I try to avoid in my own language, unless the situation calls for it. I also want to know innocent words that are swear words in pluricentric languages. For example, to wake someone in the US, we don't say "I'm going to knock her up" as one might say innocently in England. To "knock up" a woman in the US would mean to make her pregnant. As well, I wouldn't use the innocent verb "coger" in Argentina... but I would use it in Spain and Colombia regularly. I would use the word "fruta bomba" for the word for the fruit "papaya" in Cuba and Miami. There, the word "papaya" has an entirely different meaning.

Knowing these kinds of words can help a second-language speaker to avoid embarrassing situations.
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Re: How Do You Handle Foul Language?

Postby gsbod » Tue Jul 20, 2021 4:33 pm

Well, it's not something you can use to impress the examiners in a CEFR exam, is it?

If I'm only looking for basic tourist competency, it's not something I'll really concern myself with. I mean, there was that one time a drunk tramp in Montpellier let rip with a tirade of foul-mouthed abuse at me and I can't say the fact I understood a lot of it really enhanced the situation. Even if I hadn't noted the particular intensifiers used, I still would have gotten the gist from the context, as it were.

But if I'm looking to take a language to C1+, I generally expect to pick up the bad language along with the good. It depends a lot on how much bad language is censored (or not) in popular culture, and the kind of relationships you have with native speakers. I do exercise a lot more caution than I do in my native language. But then, I love a good swear in my own language!

For some excellent examples of swearing in British English, advanced students may wish to watch the political comedy The Thick of It.

I have noticed the tendency among some Germans to inappropriately swear in English, which I find quite amusing but others may find a bit problematic, for example this cycling safety campaign I saw plastered on the side of a tram stop in Berlin.

By the way, as a speaker of British English, I've never heard the phrase "to knock sb up" used in any other context than to get someone pregnant. So probably one to be used with caution over here too.
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Re: How Do You Handle Foul Language?

Postby iguanamon » Tue Jul 20, 2021 4:55 pm

gsbod wrote:By the way, as a speaker of British English, I've never heard the phrase "to knock sb up" used in any other context than to get someone pregnant. So probably one to be used with caution over here too.

It's been a few years since I lived in Northern England, sixteen to be exact. I heard it from my ex who was a Scouser living in Yorkshire. It may have fallen into disuse. I apologize.
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Re: How Do You Handle Foul Language?

Postby DaveAgain » Tue Jul 20, 2021 5:39 pm

iguanamon wrote:It's been a few years since I lived in Northern England, sixteen to be exact. I heard it from my ex who was a Scouser living in Yorkshire. It may have fallen into disuse. I apologize.
People do say that, to call on someone, get them up & out. I've certainly heard it.
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Re: How Do You Handle Foul Language?

Postby gsbod » Tue Jul 20, 2021 6:10 pm

Interesting, that must be a regional thing. It's not used in the south of England or south Wales, as far as I can tell.

Reminds me of the furore when our former prime minister David Cameron used a certain swear word which is considered very mild where I grew up (near London) but is fighting talk in some other parts of the country.
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