| 1 | [[quoteright:400:[[WebVideo/LifeOfBoris https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/untitled335_20221025183101_3.png]]]] |
| 2 | [[caption-width-right:400:Yeah, [[HypocriticalHumor who'd throw food into a pot, like this]]?[[note]]'''debil''' (дебил) means "moron", '''blyat''' (блять) means "fuck" or "damn"[[/note]]]] |
| 3 | |
| 4 | ->'''Chandler:''' I walk into a room, and he won’t even talk to me. He just mumbles something in Italian. And I ''know'' he only knows the bad words.\ |
| 5 | '''Joey:''' ''[later to Chandler]'' ''Va fa Napoli, ah!'' [[labelnote:translation]]literally, "Go to Naples!", which is a Tuscan insult meaning "[[PlaceWorseThanDeath Go to hell!]]" [[/labelnote]] |
| 6 | -->-- ''Series/{{Friends}}'', "[[Recap/FriendsS4E8TheOneWithChandlerInABox The One with Chandler in a Box]]" |
| 7 | |
| 8 | The use of foreign curses that, in their country of origin, would be considered much more offensive to use on television or outright censored. Sometimes the pronunciation is deliberately mangled to obscure it even more. |
| 9 | |
| 10 | Compare PardonMyKlingon, InsultingFromBehindTheLanguageBarrier, UnusualEuphemism, DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch, and ForeignLanguageTirade. Sometimes an adjunct of PoirotSpeak. Often a way of GettingCrapPastTheRadar. |
| 11 | ---- |
| 12 | !!Examples: |
| 13 | |
| 14 | [[foldercontrol]] |
| 15 | |
| 16 | [[folder:Anime and Manga]] |
| 17 | Japanese media likes to use GratuitousEnglish, including gratuitous English swearing, because [[RuleOfCool it sounds cool to Japanese ears]] -- even though the swearing can sometimes be rather strong to English ears. Sometimes they even use English swearing ''gestures'' like FlippingTheBird as an expression of general displeasure, even in works for younger audiences. Localizers, [[ValuesDissonance knowing that wouldn't fly in the Anglophone world]], will often [[{{Bowdlerise}} edit the fingers out]], which [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools is understandable]]. |
| 18 | * ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'': |
| 19 | ** Asuka, being German [[ButNotTooForeign (kinda)]], gets a few German words, many of them curses. In the manga (both in Japanese in English), the first word out of her mouth is "Scheiße!" Her [[Creator/TiffanyGrant English voice actress]] speaks German with some degree of fluency, giving her even more German lines in the dub that are periodically peppered with German swearing. |
| 20 | ** The eighth episode's Japanese voice track has the antagonistic UN admiral saying a clearly audible English "shit" to his second-in-command before continuing in Japanese. It's present in the German subtitles as well. |
| 21 | * ''Manga/ZatchBell'': EnsembleDarkHorse Victoream regularly uses the phrase "very shit" on a show generally targeted at a younger age group. It's generally translated for American audiences as "very bad". |
| 22 | * ''Webcomic/HetaliaAxisPowers'' is about NationsAsPeople, who sometimes get frustrated in their native languages. It's even more prominent in the dub than in the original Japanese. |
| 23 | ** Early in the series, Italy is sent back to Germany in a box with "[[AccidentalInnuendo Fuck]]" written on it. The ones who sent him in that box were [[GratuitousEnglish America]] and [[ClusterFBomb England]]. |
| 24 | ** Romano (South Italy) has thrown out an occasional "Che palle!" |
| 25 | ** The first line of TheMovie is Iceland saying "[[OhCrap Oh skít]]" |
| 26 | * ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'': |
| 27 | ** Joseph Joestar's favorite English lines are a BigOMG, a big "holy shit!", and a big "son of a bitch!" |
| 28 | ** Koichi's [[FightingSpirit Stand]] Echoes [=ACT3=] has a few English swears in its repertoire: |
| 29 | -->''Okay mastah! [[ItMakesSenseInContext Let's kill da ho!]] [[MemeticMutation BEEEEEETCH!]]'' |
| 30 | ** The English dub of ''[[Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventureGoldenWind Golden Wind]]'', being set in Italy, includes a wide selection of Italian profanity. |
| 31 | * ''Manga/{{Genshiken}}'' has a scene where an OccidentalOtaku compliments Ogiue on her {{Yaoi}} doujinshi in English -- and in graphic detail. The manga [[CensorBox blurred out the words]], but the anime had outright English dialogue about how awesome it was when the guys started butt-fucking. |
| 32 | * In the Japanese ''Anime/SonicX'' episode 2, Sonic shouts "Shit! Let's go!" when he is detected by security in the top-secret military base Area 99. Right in front of [[KidAppealCharacter Cream]], no less. The English dub obviously changed the line. |
| 33 | * ''Anime/GaoGaiGar'' episode 26, Mic Sounders the 13th lets out a "Shit!" while dodging missiles. |
| 34 | * In ''Anime/GirlsUndPanzerDerFilm'', after being stalled and stymied, Kay (leader of the American themed team) pushes her periscope away with a loud cry of "Shit!" in English. |
| 35 | * ''Anime/PantyAndStockingWithGarterbelt'' uses this trope quite liberally: |
| 36 | -->''You fatherfucker!'' |
| 37 | -->''FUCK YOU, [[ThisIsForEmphasisBitch BITCH]]!'' |
| 38 | * In ''Manga/BlackLagoon'', Revy is a total ClusterFBomb, despite not being bilingual -- she just thinks the English "fuck" sounds cool. She tends to say it more when she's upset than when she's actually trying to curse (those tend to be [[UnsoundEffect onomatopeiae]]). |
| 39 | * ''Anime/{{Oreshura}}'' has Fuyuumi's SecretDiary, read aloud for the audience in her voice, in which she curses with "Shit!" several times. She never actually says it out loud, though. |
| 40 | * Michiko of ''Anime/MichikoAndHatchin'' has a foul mouth, but given the setting, a stylized version of Brazil, the dub has her occasionally swear in Brazilian Portuguese (such as calling a stripper a ''puta'' or "whore"). |
| 41 | * Lt. Surge, an American character, cursed in English in both ''Manga/PokemonZensho'' and the Japanese version of ''Anime/PokemonTheOriginalSeries'', the latter of which gave him a loud "Goddamn!" |
| 42 | * ''Anime/DragonBallZ'': |
| 43 | ** In the German dub, Perfect Cell lets out a very well-pronounced "OH SHIT!" when about to get hit with Vegeta's Final Flash. |
| 44 | ** The Danish dub used "shit" a lot, including in the aforementioned scene. Hercule[=/=]Mr Satan also says "Fuck! Fuck! Fuck!" when he thinks Majin Buu is going to kill him. |
| 45 | %%* In ''Manga/AirGear'', "Fuck" is more or less Agito's catchphrase. |
| 46 | * ''Manga/MissKobayashisDragonMaid'': Tohru calls Takiya a [[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/stultus#Adjective "stultus"]] -- Latin for "idiot" or thereabout -- for trying to seduce Kobayashi (or at least that's what Tohru thinks). |
| 47 | * ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'': One of All Might's first lines of GratuitousEnglish is "shit". Strangely, he's also fond of dramatically shouting [[GoshDangItToHeck "Oh my goodness!"]] |
| 48 | * In ''Manga/ChiosSchoolRoad'', Chio gets a message from an English-speaking opponent in a video game. Turns out it's [[CountryMatters the C-word]]. She doesn't know what it means, and has to [[DelayedReaction run it through a translator]] before [[UnstoppableRage going ballistic]]. Oddly, both the original word and the translation are shown on screen, sort of defeating the purpose. |
| 49 | * ''Manga/SazanEyes'' has Mei Xing, a Chinese girl, using her mother language to deliver an insult back at an older classmate for her previous racial slur. |
| 50 | -->'''Morgan:''' Well? Say something!!\ |
| 51 | '''Mei Xing:''' ''(smiling)'' Uhm... Hundan! ''("Asshole!")''\ |
| 52 | '''Morgan:''' What?\ |
| 53 | '''Mei Xing:''' [[BlatantLies Uh, nothing...]] |
| 54 | * Gina Boyd in ''Manga/HowHeavyAreTheDumbbellsYouLift'' is Russian, and often swears in her native tongue when frustrated about something. A specially common one is "Blyat!" which is roughly the equivalent of "Fuck!" in English. |
| 55 | * ''Manga/YuGiOh'': Pegasus in the Japanese version uses a lot of GratuitousEnglish, and during his duel against Yugi in the Duelist Kingdom finals, he says "Shit!" and "Goddamn!" when the latter is gaining the upper hand against him. |
| 56 | * ''Manga/ChainsawMan'': When [[FromTheMouthsOfBabes the young girl Nayuta]] is upset over [[spoiler:Public Safety briefly kidnapping her]], she demands Denji tell the man responsible "fuck you/fakkyū". The English version makes her line "[[TWordEuphemism eff]] off". |
| 57 | [[/folder]] |
| 58 | |
| 59 | [[folder:Comedy]] |
| 60 | * PlayedWith in a sketch by German comedian Didi Hallervorden, in a prisoner gets a visit from his wife (or girlfriend) while Didi plays a chaperone who will honk a horn and take away points any time they get too lovey-dovey or obscene. This gets pretty ridiculous, and the prisoner protests. Then: |
| 61 | -->'''Didi:''' What's your name, anyway?\ |
| 62 | '''Prisoner:''' Slotchkovsky!\ |
| 63 | ''(Didi honks twice and takes four points)''\ |
| 64 | '''Prisoner:''' What was that for now?!\ |
| 65 | '''Didi:''' Do you think I don't understand Polish?! |
| 66 | [[/folder]] |
| 67 | |
| 68 | [[folder:Comic Books]] |
| 69 | * During the early run of ''Comicbook/NewMutants'', Sunspot got away with swearing by doing it in Portuguese. This continued in the original run of ''Comicbook/XForce'', both for Sunspot (in Portuguese) and his teammate Rictor (in Spanish). |
| 70 | * Colossus from the ''Comicbook/XMen'' would sometimes swear in Russian in his early appearances. The word would even be written in Cyrillic characters to obscure it further. His favorite was "chyort vozmee...!", a relatively mild "the Devil take...!" Nightcrawler would similarly sometimes shout "zum Teufel!" ("to the Devil!"), but often with hilarious misspellings. |
| 71 | * Victor of ''ComicBook/{{Runaways}}'' once used the Spanish curse word ''cabrón'' and when he was turned to speaking binary, the first thing he said was "WTF"? |
| 72 | * Characters in ''Comicbook/NikolaiDante'' frequently exclaim "Diavolo!" when surprised or annoyed. |
| 73 | * In ''ComicBook/{{Maus}}'', at one point, Art and his father Vladek are speaking in Polish with English subtitles. Art's father swears, and the Polish contains the actual word (cholera[[note]]means what you think it does, but in this context better translates as "dammit!"[[/note]]) but the English subtitle simply says "@#%$!" |
| 74 | * [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julie_Doucet Julie Doucet's]] best-known comic, ''Dirty Plotte'', has [[CountryMatters a strong French swear word]] right in the title. |
| 75 | * In one issue of ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'' comic, Homer starts swearing while trying to repaint a room and gets wrapped in wallpaper. His kids notice that he's running out of curses, and throw him a Chinese phrase guide, whereupon he starts cursing in Chinese characters. |
| 76 | * Played with in ''ComicBook/{{Asterix}}'': the SpeechBubbles never show anything dirtier than SymbolSwearing, but [[FootnoteFever footnotes]] explain which ancient language this is supposed to represent (though there is at least one instance of "owl swear words"). |
| 77 | * In ''Literature/TheMagicians: [[ComicBookAdaptation Alice's Story]]'', the legendarily crass [[SadistTeacher Professor Mayakovsky]] uses far more Russian expletives than he did in the original novel: in his introduction alone, he dismisses the student magicians' achievements with "eto vsyo huynya!" [[note]] It's all bullshit![[/note]] and calls Quentin a "mudak." [[note]]translated literally, it means "testicle," but it's used on the same terms as dickhead or asshole[[/note]] For good measure, he caps off his... [[GoYeHeroesGoAndDie introduction]] to the dreaded final exam by remarking "eto mnye do huya." [[note]] I don't give a fuck[[/note]] |
| 78 | * ''ComicBook/TheBoys'' has Stormfront call The Female "Fotze", which is the German equivalent to [[CountryMatters the c-word]]. |
| 79 | * ''{{ComicBook/Laika}}'': As Mikhail's friends leave him and go off to play somewhere else because he exploded at them, they mutter, ''"Zhopa!"'' and ''"Sobakin sin!"'' (Russian for "ass" and "son of a dog"). |
| 80 | [[/folder]] |
| 81 | |
| 82 | [[folder:Fan Works]] |
| 83 | * In ''Fanfic/TheBridgeHumanitysStand'', Sasha and Alexis Kardainovsky call the kaiju Agon “Pizda!” [[note]] “Pussy!” in Russian [[/note]] as Cherno Alpha punches it in the face. |
| 84 | * The ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' fic [[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/6902768/1/Wrong_Place_Wrong_Time "Wrong Place, Wrong Time"]] has Mac overhearing Stella swearing in Greek after she was slightly injured and the hospital wanted to keep her overnight for observation. |
| 85 | * ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' fanfic writers ''love'' to make Asuka swear in German: |
| 86 | ** In ''Fanfic/ACrownOfStars'' -- for example, after an argument with her ex-teammate: |
| 87 | -->''"Gott damn you, you snotty fucking blue-haired prig!"'' |
| 88 | ** In ''Fanfic/AdviceAndTrust'' -- for example, in chapter 6, when she is [[spoiler:unfairly detained and put in solitary confinement]], to which she expresses her displeasure ''very, very'' loudly: |
| 89 | -->''"Verfluchtes Arschloch! Kommandant Ikari ist eine Idiot! Ich werde mit meiner EVA auf seinem Haus herumtanzen! Zum Teufel mit euch allen!"'' ("Damned asshole! Commander Ikari is an idiot! I'm going to dance with my EVA on top of his house! To hell with you all!") |
| 90 | ** In ''Fanfic/TheChildOfLove'', at the end of the first chapter –- and at other times -- Asuka exclaims "Scheisse!" ("Shit!"). |
| 91 | ** In ''Fanfic/ChildrenOfAnElderGod'', Asuka resorts to swearing in her native tongue when she gets angry: |
| 92 | *** In episode 4, an Angel rips off her robot's hand (and Asuka feels it as if it was her own hand). Her answer? |
| 93 | --->''"ICH WILL DIESEN KLEINEN SCHEISSKOPF TOTEN!!!"'' ("I WANT THIS LITTLE SHITHEAD DEAD!!!") |
| 94 | *** In an omake, an Asuka action figure says "Gott in Himmel!" if you squeeze her chest. |
| 95 | ** In ''Manga/{{Evangelion 303}}'', Asuka uses them every so often. "Scheisse" is a popular one, although she used a variant in chapter 3 ("Heilige Scheisse"). |
| 96 | ** In ''Fanfic/{{HERZ}}'', Asuka swears in German a lot. "Scheisse" is fairly often used. |
| 97 | ** In ''Fanfic/TheOneILoveIs'', Asuka and Rei are having a very heated argument, and at one point Asuka yells: "Du... du Hure!" |
| 98 | ** In ''Fanfic/NeonMetathesisEvangelion'': ''Gottverdammt, Verfickt, Arschloch, zur Hölle'', and everything else. |
| 99 | * ''Fanfic/RedFireRedPlanet'': |
| 100 | ** Chapter two has Ensign Kate [=McMillan's=] fiance, who's from Quebec, drop a "Merde" when his supervisor interrupts their video call to demand he get back to work. |
| 101 | ** When the listening post spots the Bird-of-Prey IKS ''[=Hegh’QeDp=]'' after it destroys the shuttle, Crewman Sherazi's remark is "Kiopek oghlu", Azerbaijani for "son of a bitch". |
| 102 | * The ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'' fics by Creator/AAPessimal do this a lot. Characters from [[UsefulNotes/SouthAfrica Rimlands Howondaland]] use ''[[PrecisionFStrike voetsaak]]!'', among other things, when grievously provoked. [[UsefulNotes/{{Russia}} Zlobenians]] use ''Govno!'' almost for punctuation. [[UsefulNotes/{{France}} Quirmians]] resort to ''Merde alors!'' when feeling a need. And so it goes... the author appears to take a delightfully scatalogical glee in getting round Platform/FanFictionDotNet's restriction on profanity by putting most of it in foreign. |
| 103 | * "Fanfic/AenrhienVailiuri" has Lieutenant Commander Jaleh Khoroushi cuss out her CO, Morgan t'Thavrau, in Farsi after she [[spoiler:[[WhatTheHellHero kills an unarmed Kazon prisoner]]]]. [[http://www.youswear.com/index.asp?language=Farsi According to this,]] her "''Kire asbe abi too koonet!''" translates to "hippo's cock in your ass". There's also "''lanat bar sheyan''", an equivalent of "Oh, my God". |
| 104 | * Irishman Chet Kelly uses a string of what his colleagues realize are Gaelic swears in the ''{{Series/Emergency}}'' fic [[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/7876121/1/O-is-for-Outdoors "O is for Outdoors"]] when he finds out his temporary replacement at Station 51 was a lot more of a dirtbag than he first realized. Chet says he learned the words from his immigrant grandmother. |
| 105 | * ''Fanfic/AGoodCompromise'' features swears in Ukrainian ("''povna sraka radoshchiv''", literally meaning "ass full of joy" and equivalent to "clusterfuck") and Spanish (the all-purpose insult "''pendejo''", as well as "''Que puta tu madre!''"[[note]]Your mother's such a whore![[/note]]). |
| 106 | * Jones from ''FanFic/TwelveRedLines'' being a Canadian, often utters ''sacre'' when she gets stressed. Her favourite swears are ''Merde'', ''Tabarnak'' and ''Osti d'épais de marde''. |
| 107 | * ''Fanfic/DontSayGoodbyeFarewell'' has a couple instances of Finnish swears from Eleya's friend Captain Jarkko Mäkinen. |
| 108 | -->'''Eleya:''' Keep [the Orions] off me, Jarkko!\ |
| 109 | '''Jarkko:''' ''(over radio)'' Don't tell me how to do my job, El! You focus on that ''helvetin huora''[[note]]roughly "fucking whore", referring to an Orion dreadnought[[/note]], let me deal with the little ''vitut''[[note]][[CountryMatters "cunts"]], referring to Orion corvettes[[/note]]! |
| 110 | ** And later, after Jarkko gets a medal: |
| 111 | -->'''Jarkko:''' ''Tämä on perseestä''[[note]]Lit. "it comes from the ass", fig. "this sucks"[[/note]], isn’t this typical. I get two medals because I’m too dumb to dodge properly, and ''you'' save the day and get reassigned to someplace behind God’s back. |
| 112 | * In ''Fanfic/IveGotYourBack'', [[VideoGame/Splatoon2 Marina]] curses a blue streak [[NarrativeProfanityFilter in Octarian]] when Pearl tries to disinfect a gash on her chest with hydrogen peroxide, with the implication that the pain was terrible enough to drive ''Marina'' to swear. |
| 113 | * As Kara puts it in ''Series/Supergirl2015'' fic ''Fanfic/FutureShock'', Kryptonian curses are just better. |
| 114 | * In ''[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13868500/1/Dynamite-for-the-Quarry Dynamite for the Quarry]]'', [[WesternAnimation/ThomasAndFriends Gina]] loses her temper with 'Arry and Bert and proceeds to give them a scathing Italian rant filled with profanity, although she refuses to tell Percy just what she said. |
| 115 | * ''Fanfic/ASongOfSilkAndSaplings'': Rosha, an Africanized honey bee originally from what used to be Brazil, swears liberally in Portuguese. |
| 116 | [[/folder]] |
| 117 | |
| 118 | [[folder:Film]] |
| 119 | * ''Film/TheBourneIdentity'': Marie says "Scheiße" (German for "shit") often, usually when she gets caught in the crossfire between Bourne and the CIA. |
| 120 | * In an old 1950's war film, ''The Thousand Bomber Raid'', an American actor playing a British pilot calls a friend "toss-pot". While the word's original meaning was "drunken idiot" and might still have been used in that sense in the 1940's, in modern times it is more often employed as a variation of "tosser", so it was probably an "under the radar" word for the scriptwriter. |
| 121 | * In ''Film/TheMatrixReloaded'', The Merovingian likes to swear in French, claiming "It's like wiping your ass with silk." What he says to demonstrate this is "Nom de Dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperie de connard d'enculé de ta mère", which literally translates to [[spoiler: "name of God of the whore of the whorehouse of shit of sluttery of an idiot of (someone receiving anal) of your mother"]], which might be {{Woolseyis|m}}ed to something like [[spoiler: holy damned bullshity fucking motherfucking shitting son of a bitch]]. French allows you to just tack on curse word after curse word with no real grammar involved -- it works particularly well for French Canadian swearing. |
| 122 | * In ''Film/TheShapeOfWater'', [[TheSpeechless Elisa]] boldly signs "Fuck you" to Strickland, knowing that he can't read sign language. When he starts angrily asking Zelda what Elisa is saying, Zelda translates it as “Thank you” so Elisa won’t get in trouble. |
| 123 | * This bit from [[SpellMyNameWithAThe the Jesus]] from ''Film/TheBigLebowski'', used in a ThisIsForEmphasisBitch sort of way: "Let me tell you something, ''pendejo''." |
| 124 | * ''Film/YoungFrankenstein''. "He would have an enormous schwanzstucker!" "Schwanzstueck", literally means "tailpiece" in German and doesn't mean anything itself; "Schwanz" on its own is a slang term meaning "penis," similar to "dick." |
| 125 | * Similarly, Johann Krauss' "Suck my ectoplasmic schwanzstucker!" at the end of ''Film/HellboyIITheGoldenArmy''. |
| 126 | * ''Film/{{Titanic|1997}}'': |
| 127 | ** Some of the background characters swear in Swedish. "Jävla helvete, det är vatten på golvet!" ("Bloody hell, there's water on the floor!") |
| 128 | ** Fabrizio swears in Italian several times. |
| 129 | * ''Film/BonCopBadCop'' has a little lesson about the usage of the word [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U72QVCgh_Q "tabarnak".]] |
| 130 | * Creator/PeterStormare delivers a line of curse words in Swedish in ''Film/TheLostWorldJurassicPark''. "Helvete. Helvete Jävlar. Fan!" Translates to something like [[spoiler: "Hell. Bloody hell. Damn!"]] |
| 131 | * In ''Film/BillAndTedsExcellentAdventure'', Napoleon attempts bowling. When he rolls a gutterball (the force pitching him onto his face), he repeatedly shouts, "Merde! Merde merde merde merde merde merde!" which is helpfully subtitled, "Shit! Shit Shit Shit Shit Shit!" |
| 132 | * ''Film/AustinPowers'': |
| 133 | ** The title character is quite fond of saying "shag," which sounds merely funny and innocuous to American ears. |
| 134 | ** Goldmember uses the word "Scheiße" quite often, which means "shit" in German ([[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign even though the character is supposed to be Dutch]]). |
| 135 | * Every French Canadian remembers Justin Timberlake's ''highly'' unsuccessful attempt to say "tabarnak" in ''Film/TheLoveGuru''. |
| 136 | * In the ''Film/GetSmart'' film, the Russian farmer who goes to check on who crashed into his barn is swearing pretty profusely. In fact, most of the Russian phrases were ad-libbed by the actors. On the other hand, the farmer couple who sees Max and 99 in a Ferrari do ''not'' say "holy shit", as the subtitles suggest but merely ''blin'' (literally "pancake"; as a cuss word, close to "darn"), which is pretty mild. |
| 137 | * The Hispanic agent in ''Film/BallsOfFury'' calls a bad guy a ''pendejo''. |
| 138 | * In ''Film/{{JFK}}'', during the scene when Willie O'Keefe recalls the night David Ferrie explained the plan to assassinate Kennedy after a party, one of the exiled Cubans calls Khrushchev ''hijo de la gran puta'' (son of [[Literature/TheBible the Great Whore]]). Arguably, the worst insult one can say in Spanish. Yet, some official hearing-impaired subtitles tone it down, translating it as "bastard". |
| 139 | * Tuco shouts two similar Spanish curses in ''Film/TheGoodTheBadAndTheUgly''. First, when being carried tied-up into town, he shouts out "''¡Hijo de puta que te parió!''" ("Son of the bitch who whelped you!"). Then, when Blondie abandons Tuco in the desert, Tuco yells the big one: "''¡Hijo de una gran puta!''" ("You son of a big whore!"). |
| 140 | * Subverted in the 1948 film ''Film/IRememberMama''. Little cousin Arne, the son of Aunt Sigrid, is in the hospital after surgery for a fractured kneecap. When Uncle Chris comes in to visit, he teaches Arne what he says is a Norwegian swear word: "dumme gjet." (His explanation is that the swearing helps ease the pain. Off the back of some recent research, that's TruthInTelevision.) When a shocked nurse upbraids him for teaching a kid to swear, he informs her that "dumme gjet" actually means "stupid old goat." |
| 141 | * In ''Film/{{Bunraku}}'', Yoshi says the Japanese equivalent of "shit" when he realizes he's surrounded in the bar. Unlike the rest of the Japanese in the movie, it's not subtitled. |
| 142 | * In the ''[[Film/{{Bedazzled 2000}} Bedazzled]]'' remake, Creator/BrendanFraser's character's first wish is to be powerful and married to his LoveInterest. The Devil, being a LiteralGenie makes him a Colombian drug lord. Besides suddenly speaking in Spanish, he also finds out that his character speaks Russian when dealing with some Russian dealers. When he figures that out, he curses in Russian. |
| 143 | * In ''Film/TheBobo'', Peter Sellers' wandering musician character, looking for his big break, plays a song to an unenthusiastic theater owner, who critiques him with "As they say in France -- ''merde''." |
| 144 | * The Swedish film ''Fucking Åmål'' (also known by its English title ''Film/ShowMeLove'') has a pretty obvious English cussword in its title. |
| 145 | * In the first ''Film/NationalTreasure'' movie, Diane Kruger plays a character of Saxony German origin (a nod to the actress' own nationality). When she is kidnapped by the heroes after they steal the Declaration of Independence, we get this exchange: |
| 146 | -->'''Ben:''' We did everything we could to keep [the Declaration] safe.\ |
| 147 | '''Abigail:''' ''Verdammt!''[[note]]Subtitles often change this to "That's dumb!"[[/note]] Give me that!\ |
| 148 | '''Ben:''' You know something? You're shouting again.\ |
| 149 | '''Riley:''' Pretty sure she was swearing, too.\ |
| 150 | '''Ben:''' Well, we probably deserved ''that.'' |
| 151 | * Used several times in ''Film/Scarface1983'': |
| 152 | ** "'Cause you've got your head up your culo [Spanish for buttocks], that's why." |
| 153 | ** "Coño" (Spanish for cunt) is said 15 times. |
| 154 | ** "Last chance, pendejo [Spanish for motherfucker]!" |
| 155 | ** "Maricón" (Spanish for faggot) is said twice. |
| 156 | ** "I'm no fucking criminal. I'm no ''puto'' [male prostitute] or thief." |
| 157 | ** "¡Quieto! ¡No te muevas, cabroncito!" (Spanish for "Stop! Don't move, you little motherfucker!") |
| 158 | * In ''Film/TheSecretOfRoanInish'', Grandfather tells Fiona the story of his great-grandfather, Sean Michael, which is [[SeparateSceneStorytelling depicted on screen]]. At one point, the schoolmaster publicly humiliates Sean Michael for speaking Irish in school, so Sean Michael attacks him while screaming at him in Irish. The viewer never learns what exactly he said (and unlike some examples of this trope, it's not something most viewers would recognize), but judging by Grandmother's reaction, it wasn't something Grandfather should have been repeating in front of a child. |
| 159 | * Surprisingly, ''Film/HarryPotterAndTheChamberOfSecrets'' revealed that [[BlackSpeech Parseltongue]] included one such phrase--specifically, its word for "open" sounds ''exactly'' like the Maltese for "he fucked a lettuce leaf". [[NotMakingThisUpDisclaimer No kidding.]] |
| 160 | * According to the cast of ''Film/TheHobbit'', most of the Khuzdul they learned consisted of curses to throw at their enemies. None of which are subtitled. |
| 161 | * In ''Film/EasyA'' Olive is suspended from her California high school for saying a British swear word. She doesn't want to tell her parents in front of her little brother, so she spells it out in Alpha-Bits (t-w-a-t). |
| 162 | * In ''Film/{{Paws}}'' Samantha tries to solve Alex's clue to where the money is hidden, which seemingly involves GratuitousFrench. When she deduces that it's referring to the racetrack, where everyone else is involved in a HostageForMacGuffin exchange, she says, "Merde!" |
| 163 | * In ''Film/ColorMePerfect'', Dina studies French from a tape. When her cassette player starts acting up, she mutters, "Merde." |
| 164 | * In ''WesternAnimation/TurningRed'', just before Ming transforms, Grandma Wu mutters "sei laa" which in Cantonese literally means "dead" but in context means [[OhCrap "my god!", "oh-uh!", or "damn!" in the sense of regretting the situation caused]]. |
| 165 | * ''WesternAnimation/SpiderManAcrossTheSpiderVerse'': When Miguel phrases his order to apprehend Miles as "[[WhosOnFirst stop Spider-Man]]", it results in every Spider-Man present [[AscendedMeme pointing at each other in confusion]]. Miguel mutters "ay, coño." (literally meaning "oh, [[CountryMatters cunt]]", but in this context being along the lines of "oh, dammit" or "oh, for [[PrecisionFStrike fuck]]'s sake") before clarifying his orders. |
| 166 | * In ''Film/LostAndFound1999'', Lila angrily throws her ex-boyfriend out of her apartment, yelling"''Connard!''" (French for "motherfucker", "shit head ", or "asshole"), after coming out of her bathroom and finding him stark naked in her living room (she dumped him and moved to California because of his frequent cheating). |
| 167 | [[/folder]] |
| 168 | |
| 169 | [[folder:Literature]] |
| 170 | * In ''Literature/TheAliceNetwork'', Lili mostly curses in French. |
| 171 | * A minor (but suitably irritating) character in Joseph Heller's ''Literature/CatchTwentyTwo'' is named Scheisskopf (his wife being the lovely Mrs. Scheisskopf). At several points later in the book, the name is translated directly back to "Shithead" (although a word meaning literal shithead does not exist in German). |
| 172 | * It used to be common for translators of bawdy works in Latin or other romance languages to leave steamier passages in the original language, so that they could only be read by "gentlemen": |
| 173 | ** OlderThanRadio: Stephen Jay Gould reported that the only reason his father mentioned to study Latin was to translate the passages in Kraft-Ebbing's ''Psychopathia Sexualis'' (1886). |
| 174 | ** A bit later, the Loeb edition of Suetonius's ''Twelve Caesars'' had a page or two of his biography of Tiberius left untranslated. They were the pages about his rumoured debauchery on the island of Capri. This was corrected in later printings, since newer translations generally include the passage. |
| 175 | ** Liddell and Scott's ''Literature/LiddellAndScottGreekEnglishLexicon'' (first published 1819, still the standard dictionary for Classical Greek) frequently gives sexual meanings in Latin. One of the great joys of taking Latin is to read literary masters call their critics or rivals "donkey-brained shitheads". |
| 176 | * There's a book about Japanese street slang and insults with the title ''Zakennayo'' -- while you might hear it on TV sometimes, it's not something you'd display prominently in a bookstore. Translations range from "Don't screw with me!" to "Fuck off!" Japanese swearing is weird; while the literal translation is simply "Don't joke with me", the original phrase is "Fuzakeruna yo!", which says the phrase in the least polite way possible, and mangling the pronounciation makes it even ''ruder''. It's [[MindScrew that kind of language]]. |
| 177 | * Creator/DaveBarry's column "Europe on Five Vowels a Day" gives three "idiomatic expressions" commonly used by foreigners, with translations. "Ach du lieber!" and "Caramba!" are both translated as [[GoshDangItToHeck "Darn it!"]], which in the first instance is actually a subversion (the phrase is innocuous, translating as "Oh you dear", and would really require a masculine noun at the end to be complete). The French phrase "Zut alors!", however, is translated as, "Look! A lors!" |
| 178 | * Creator/VivianVandeVelde's ''Literature/CompanionsOfTheNight'' has its [[FriendlyNeighborhoodVampire leading man]] muttering "merde" several times under his breath. Several times [[ClusterFBomb all in a row]]. |
| 179 | * Creator/DaleBrown is fond of making characters drop into untranslated, say, GratuitousRussian oaths. |
| 180 | * Creator/ErnestHemingway made extensive use of this in ''Literature/ForWhomTheBellTolls.'' The Spanish-speaking characters have their dialogue written in [[BlindIdiotTranslation awkwardly literal]] English, but expletives [[{{Bowdlerise}} appear as]] "muck" and "befoul" and even "obscenity" ("Go and obscenity thyself"). However, when the Spanish is left untranslated, it's "mierda" (shit -- noun), "cagar" (shit -- verb, as in "take a shit") and "joder" (fuck -- both the verb and the interjection) all the way. A particular favorite is along the lines of "Me cago en la leche de tu puta madre": "I shit in the milk of your whore of a mother". Pretty forceful -- although the {{snowclones}} leave something to be desired. ("I shit in the milk of their airplanes!") |
| 181 | * ''Literature/TheDarkElfTrilogy'': Done in-universe by Drizzt Do'Urden, when he taunts some stone giants by saying "Mangura bok woklok" which is "Stupid blockhead" in stone-giant language. |
| 182 | * Played with in ''[[Literature/TheShipWho The Ship Who Sang]]'': one character, angry with another, spends a straight ten minutes yelling angrily at him in Russian. After he's left the room, suitably cowed, she admits that what she's ''really'' been doing was just reciting one of her grandmother's recipes... in Russian. |
| 183 | * ''Literature/MayasNotebook'': The driver coming to pick up Maya overhears her yell ''Fucking dog!''. Since he doesn't know English, he assumes she is calling out to her dog, not trying to shoo away a friendly stray, and tells her that there is room in the truck for her dog, "Fákin". Maya just brings the dog with her and Fákin ends up becoming her CanineCompanion. |
| 184 | * In Terry Pratchett's Literature/{{Discworld}}, a character from Far Überwald (Discworld's "Slavonic" countries) shrieks ''Bodrozvachski zhaltziet!'' at a time of great stress. Terry invented this as a piece of pseudo-Slokian which means nothing in any known Slavonic language, but which conveys all the sulphurous intensity of real Polish or Russian swearing. In fact, the Czech translator of his books left the cod-Slavonic in place, but went so far as to make the character voicing this oath into an explicit Russian, adding the explanatory footnote that cultured Czech readers would instantly know that only one race on this planet swears like that. |
| 185 | ** Similarly, Rincewind the LovableCoward... er, Wizzard, is known to have a command of Latatian (Latin to us Roundworlders), and once when urged to come up with a battle cry, used "Stercus, Stercus, Stercus, Morituri Sum", or "Shit, shit, shit, I'm gonna die." |
| 186 | ** ''Literature/TheFifthElephant'' has an In-Universe example with the Dwarfish slur "Ha'ak". An exact translation is not given, but it seems to be an extremely offensive word for openly female dwarfs. Case in point, when a dwarf says the word to Cheeri Littlebottom, Sergeant Detritus points the [[{{BFG}} Piecemaker]] at the offender and declares that he does not want to hear that word again. |
| 187 | * ''Franchise/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' has a joke about an award being given for the "Most Gratuitous Use of the Word "Fuck" in a Serious Screenplay". For the book version, though, the censors didn't want such an explicit "fuck", so Creator/DouglasAdams changed it to the nonsensical "Belgium", which is now the single most offensive word in the Universe -- allowing him to throw another jab at Earth for being so ignorant that it named a country after it. |
| 188 | * In ''Literature/TheQuantumThief'' Mieli swears like a sailor at times, in the author's native tongue, Finnish. |
| 189 | * In ''I Can Get It For You Wholesale'' by Jerome Weidman, Harry confides to Meyer that "Teddy Ast is a big ''schvantz''." ("Schvantz" is Yiddish for "cock.") |
| 190 | * ''Literature/StarTrekFederation'' has Jean Luc-Picard remark, "Sacre merde" ("Holy shit") upon finding out that the chunk of Borg ship they just acquired from the Romulans [[spoiler:has an artifact of the Preservers inside it]]. |
| 191 | * ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles: Storm Front'' has a bit in Bob the Skull's introductory scene where Bob grumbles something in Old French, "though I got lost when he got to the anatomical improbabilities of bullfrogs." |
| 192 | * Zoe Durant, born in Montreal, occasionally busts out a ''torrieu'' in the ''Literature/AhrimanTrilogy''. |
| 193 | %%* ''Literature/{{MARZENA}}'': Somebody said Foreign Cusswords? Sata-nee-fittan Yayzüs Skit! Bllin Märde Yäyfla Hellfeta JÄVLA HORA Gottferdamnten Idioten Schlampa-Bitch-Kunt Ficken Fücken Sodding Sewka You! Alter Falter Mann! watch your language girl! |
| 194 | * In ''Literature/TheTreasureOfTheSierraMadre'', the {{bandito}}s tell the protagonists: "Badges, to god-damned hell with badges! We have no badges. In fact, we don't need badges. I don't have to show you any stinking badges, you god-damned cabrón (bastard) and ching' tu madre (fuck your mother)! Come out there from that shit-hole of yours. I have to speak to you." Most of this tirade was famously reused in the film version, but not the cussing in either language. |
| 195 | * Creator/HarryTurtledove often uses these in his books, mostly in Yiddish. This is interesting, considering that the English words in his stories include [[ClusterFBomb Cluster F-Bombs]], CountryMatters, and racial slurs that include the n-word. |
| 196 | * ''Literature/SardHarker'', set in South America, includes characters saying some pretty hair-raising things in Spanish, which remain untranslated even when the rest of the conversation is rendered in English. |
| 197 | * A minced version in ''Literature/SmallMedium'' with necromancer Vaffanculo. While his name is recognized by native Chase as swearing (or rather, she doesn't realize that Thomasi '''isn't''' swearing when calling for him), it's implied that out of universe, it was meant to get by the censors by sounding like a generic fantasy name. |
| 198 | [[/folder]] |
| 199 | |
| 200 | [[folder:Live-Action TV]] |
| 201 | * An episode of the words-and-numbers game ''Series/{{Countdown}}'' saw a contestant assembling a seven-letter word out of an unpromising letter selection. The word spelt '''voetsak''' was accepted by adjudicator Suzie Dent, who explained it's a loan-word from Afrikaans which has entered South African English[[[note]] and therefore the Oxford English dictionary[[/note]] and means, roughly, something like "Go Away!" or "Buzz off!". Viewers pointed out she was perfectly correct, the phrase ''almost'' means "Go Away!" or "Buzz off!". |
| 202 | * ''Series/ASmallLight'': A stressful moment has Otto Frank yelling out Scheiße, which is German for shit. |
| 203 | * ''Series/TokumeiSentaiGobusters'' features Kendall saying "Oh, shit!" in English on two occasions (the 17th and 22nd episodes, specifically). |
| 204 | * ''Series/{{Firefly}}'' has extensive (and generally mispronounced) swearing in Mandarin. One wonders if the surreal effect this must have on native speakers of Mandarin is responsible for the show being completely unheard of there. Whoever wrote the DVD subtitles didn't even recognize it as Mandarin: anything more than a few words is rendered as [SPEAKS GALACTIC LANGUAGE]. |
| 205 | ** The novelization for the film actually translates the swears in footnotes. |
| 206 | * British curses abound in ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'': |
| 207 | ** Giles often uses obscure British slang terms, whose true meanings few Americans would know, but which generally sound like insults in context. Some of these have highly vulgar origins; for instance, Giles uses "berk" as an insult, which comes from the Cockney rhyming slang "Berkshire Hunt". |
| 208 | ** Spike often used less-than-polite British slang, including the memorable "We band of buggered" (parodying the St. Crispin's Day speech "we band of brothers") as well as frequent "bloody"s and "sod off"s. A shot of him giving the two-fingered British "up yours" gesture in one episode actually ended up as part of the TitleMontage in later seasons. |
| 209 | * Desi Arnaz, on ''Series/ILoveLucy'', using the French (not even his native Spanish) equivalent of "pregnant" (''enceinte'') when the English word was unacceptable for broadcast. |
| 210 | * ''Franchise/StarTrek'': |
| 211 | ** Captain Picard of ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' has let slip a "merde" at least twice, in "The Last Outpost" and "Elementary, Dear Data." He also swore up a storm in Klingon in one episode. Even the visiting Klingon passenger was impressed (swearing being something of a respected art-form among Klingons). |
| 212 | ** ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'': In "Scorpion", the holographic UsefulNotes/LeonardoDaVinci says "''Che chazzo''", which translates to "What the fuck?" in Italian. |
| 213 | ** On ''Series/StarTrekPicard'', [[DashingHispanic Captain Rios]] tends to curse in Spanish, saying things like "malparido" (bastard) and "puta madre" (son of a bitch). |
| 214 | * ''Series/{{Leverage}}'' |
| 215 | ** In the pilot, Sophie calls Nate a "wanker" when he shoots her ''after'' she shot him when he tried to arrest her. Not a problem on American TV, but not a word that can be broadcast on British television before the {{watershed}}. The literal meaning is "someone who masturbates", although it's more generally used in Britain to mean a stupid or unpleasant man. |
| 216 | ** In "The Two Live Crew Job" the Israeli muscle for the opposing team throws out a quick "Kus shel ha ima shelha" at the team leader. Generally used as a "Fuck you" equivalent in Israel, the literal translation is "Your mothers cunt". |
| 217 | * In the pilot episode of ''Series/{{Lost}}'', Sawyer (a Southern redneck) accuses Sayid (an Iraqi) of having caused the plane to crash. During the ensuing fight and argument, Sayid calls Sawyer "Ibn al-Kalb", which is Arabic for son of a bitch. |
| 218 | * One episode of ''Series/StargateSG1'' features a very surprised Russian soldier saying "Bozhe moi," which is (inaccurately) translated by the DVD closed captioning-- not the subtitles-- as "Holy shit." SG-1 is notable for being a show that wasn't afraid to take advantage of its cable heritage and [[{{Pun}} let a "shit" hit the fans]] now and again. |
| 219 | ** For reference, the actual translation is "My God." Same basic exclamation as in English. |
| 220 | ** In ''Series/StargateAtlantis'', Dr. Radek Zelenka is played by David Nykl, a Czech Canadian who speaks fluent Czech. (The character was originally supposed to be Russian, but when Nykl auditioned and told the creators he could speak Czech, they quickly changed the character's background to match the actor's, more or less.) WordOfGod says only about half of Zelenka's Czech lines are scripted, and Czech fans have confirmed that not only is there a lot of uncensored swearing, he sometimes [[BilingualBonus breaks the fourth wall]]. |
| 221 | * [=LeBeau=] of ''Series/HogansHeroes'' occasionally speaks French (it helps that the actor actually is French). What he says then is not particularly offensive; it's mostly colloquial French, with a dose of ''argot'', but there are one or two expressions that would not have been aired on 1960s French TV. |
| 222 | * ''[[Creator/DavidLetterman Late Night with David Letterman]]'' did a bit where a woman shouted out obscenities in Finnish. On stage. Uncensored. In reality, however, none of what she said was actually obscene, but relatively mild insults delivered in a tone that suggested very offensive content. Apparently they would have still had to bleep the bad words out had there been any, so they settled for what they could get away with. |
| 223 | * In ''Series/CutieHoneyTheLive'', the character Duke Watari is noticeably fond of screaming out "SHIT!" whenever he gets upset about something. |
| 224 | ** Similarly in ''Manga/SoulEater'' Free sometimes yells "GODDAMN SHIT" after messing up. |
| 225 | ** ''Swing Girls'' has a cute high school girl shouting "Shit!" as she misses her stop on the subway. In subtitled anime, the Japanese word for 'shit' (kuso) is often translated as 'damn' for American audiences because of the similar usage. |
| 226 | * ''Series/MarriedWithChildren'''s Peggy comes from Wanker County, Wisconsin (IIRC). |
| 227 | ** It's also her maiden name. In one episode she meets an old classmate or similar, who even goes so far as to greet her as "Peggy Wanker, no need to thank her". |
| 228 | * In the last episode of the first season of Series/{{Heroes}} (and then again in the first episode of the second season), Hiro says something in Japanese that is subtitled only as "&%#* ". |
| 229 | * Subverted in ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'' -- in "Guide to-Bad Habits", Moze tries trash-talking he volleyball opponents in Dutch ([[AsLongAsItSoundsForeign but not really]]) to avoid getting penalized for foul language. The referee turns out to be Dutch (wearing wooden shoes in a school gym!) and penalizes her anyway. |
| 230 | * ''Series/AirCrashInvestigation'': In "Pilot vs. Plane", the pilot audibly shouts "Merde!" right before he crashes his plane into a forest. |
| 231 | * Botched regularly in ''Series/{{Friends}}'', by Joey. He says "Va fa Napoli!" (which roughly means "Go to Naples!", in Italian), when he actually he meant to say "Vai a fare in culo" ("Go do [[SexTropes it]] in the ass", or, less literally "Go get fucked in the ass"). |
| 232 | * ''Series/MalcolmInTheMiddle'' has Lois' ambiguously foreign co-worker shouting "chaluzmerack!" when the store is held up. |
| 233 | * In the Russian medical show ''Interny'' ("Interns"), the American intern Phil Richards speaks Russian very well but will occasionally swear in English. Of course, most Russian know what "shit" means but don't consider it to be as offensive as equivalent Russian swears. |
| 234 | * ''Series/TopGearUK'' is fond of letting non-English speakers express themselves. The best example was probably the ''Top Gear'' vs. ''D-Motor'' challenge, where the Germans were cursing with great passion. English subtitles were provided that made them sound like an English granny in a very mild snit. |
| 235 | * In the ''Series/CovertAffairs'' episode "Begin the Begin", Annie has to protect an Estonian asset, who, upon getting shot at during a car chase, launches into a string of what are presumably profanities in Estonian, given that [[{{Omniglot}} Annie]] responds, "You have some mouth on you." |
| 236 | * In the fifth season premiere of ''Series/MadMen'', Megan, Don's new French Canadian wife drops a rather brilliant "... calisse." Any French Canadian will immediately recognise this as an absolutely perfect PrecisionFStrike as well. |
| 237 | * An August 1973 telecast of ''Series/MatchGame '73'' had the question "Jack's ________ fell asleep at the movies." Bert Convy's response was "arse." Richard Dawson took Convy's response card and tore it up. |
| 238 | * PlayedForLaughs in the Korean drama ''Faith'' (aka ''The Great Doctor''). The titular doctor gets angry at an aristocrat and insults in English.[[note]]It was F**K you (asterisks pronounced), go to hell.[[/note]] Later, he gets sick, and they think she put a curse on him. It gets so prevalent that her saying "Red Cross" is enough to get three fully armed men to back off. |
| 239 | * There's at least one season one ''Series/{{CSINY}}'' episode where Stella was apparently cursing in Greek, although there's no translation given. Also, an antiquities smuggler cursed at her in Greek while attacking her in a subway stairwell in season five's "The Cost of Living." No translation is given there either. |
| 240 | * ''Series/BurnNotice'': |
| 241 | ** In "Old Friends", Michael says something in Czech to a Czech assassin sent to kill him after punching the guy in the throat. The subtitles translate it as "WELCOME TO MIAMI ASS[=***=]". |
| 242 | ** One of the series' minor {{running gag}}s is the fact that despite being born and raised in Miami, Michael doesn't speak Spanish. Twice in "Enemies Closer" he has to have text messages in Spanish from a dead Latin gangster's phone translated for him, resulting in first Larry, then Fiona telling him, "He called him a ''pendejo''. That's like 'idiot' but ruder." |
| 243 | * On ''Series/MyNameIsEarl'', Earl persuades [[SpicyLatina Catalina]] to visit Joy in the Camden County Jail. The two women ''quickly'' get to trash-talking each others' appearances. Catalina remarks on the scar on Joy's belly, thinking it's a C-section scar. Joy tells Catalina it's not a C-section scar, it's where her prom date stabbed her [[spoiler: which he was paid to do by Liberty, Joy's half-sister and lifelong rival]], and that she birthed both of her children naturally. Catalina replies, "Then I guess your ''gatito'' is as saggy as your breasts!" |
| 244 | ** On the other hand: In two episodes, Catalina flings a tirade at Joy, seemingly cussing her out in Spanish, but really thanking bilingual viewers for watching. |
| 245 | * ''Series/TheWire'': The Greeks call Ziggy Sobotka "malaka"--Greek for "wanker." At first he doesn't understand what it means, but he quickly figures it out, and he comes to ''hate'' it. |
| 246 | * In the ''Series/MurderSheWrote'' episode "A Death in Hong Kong", Emma (Creator/FranceNuyen) is driving and has a near miss when a bus driver tries to cut in front of her, causing her to exclaim "Puk gai ya!" She says it's an "obscure dialect". It's actually Cantonese for either "shit", or "asshole/bastard." |
| 247 | * One episode of ''Series/LawAndOrderSVU'' has a gang banger say "I'm no ''maricón''" when Stabler insinuates that he was having a same-sex relationship with the VictimOfTheWeek. ''Maricón'' is Spanish slang meaning "faggot". |
| 248 | * In the ''Series/InsideNo9'' episode "La Couchette", Jorg drunkenly yells "verpiss dich!" ("fuck off" in German) at Kath and Les when they tell him to get out of Les's assigned bed. |
| 249 | * ''Series/InterviewWithTheVampire2022'': There are a few French expletives courtesy of Lestat de Lioncourt. |
| 250 | ** "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E2AfterThePhantomsOfYourFormerSelf ...After the Phantoms of Your Former Self]]": "''Va te faire foutre aussi!''" ("Go fuck yourself, too!") |
| 251 | ** "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E4TheRuthlessPursuitOfBloodWithAllA ...The Ruthless Pursuit of Blood with All a Child's Demanding]]": "''Putain de merde!''" ("Fucking hell!") |
| 252 | ** "[[Recap/InterviewWithTheVampire2022S1E5AVileHungerForYourHammeringHeart A Vile Hunger for Your Hammering Heart]]": "''Bordel de merde. Il me chie dans la malle jusqu'au cadenas!''" ("For fuck's sake. He shits me in the trunk up to the padlock!") |
| 253 | * In the German show ''Mama ist unmöglich'', one kid says "This is shit" in English, but is interrupted when she attempts to give a German translation. |
| 254 | * The second episode of ''Series/DocumentaryNow'' chronicles the efforts of several teams of journalists at an organization parodying ''VICE'' media to find a Mexican drug kingpin known as El Chingon—"The Motherfucker" (albeit in a complimentary way) in Mexican Spanish. |
| 255 | [[/folder]] |
| 256 | |
| 257 | [[folder:Multiple Media]] |
| 258 | * Toys/{{Bionicle}}: "Go to Karzahni" is commonly heard. |
| 259 | * On the LP ''[[Series/MontyPythonsFlyingCircus Monty Python]]: Live From Drury Lane,'' the Cocktail Bar sketch has four businessmen. John Cleese is reading the Times: |
| 260 | -->'''Cleese:''' I say, it was in page 8...Nixon's had an arse hole transplant. |
| 261 | -->''' Michael Palin:''' Y'see they stopped press there. The arse hole rejected him. |
| 262 | [[/folder]] |
| 263 | |
| 264 | [[folder:Music]] |
| 265 | * Richie Kavanagh's song "Aon Focal Eile" -- a hybrid English-Irish song about a teacher teaching Irish. ''She said 'Aon focal, dá focal, trúir focal, eile' -- and I not knowin' no focal at all''. Translated to English means, ''She said 'One word, two words, three words, another' -- and I not knowin no word at all''. The humour is from the fact that "Focal" (an Irish word meaning "word") is pronounced "Fuckal". [[http://youtu.be/DPqT6_TkU6Q Sing along, children.]] |
| 266 | * Many of Korean rapper [[{{Music/PSY}} PSY]]'s singles are epitome of this. Just listen to his debut single ''Bird'' again. |
| 267 | * Music/FrankZappa's "Stick It Out" has a section in German that's absolutely full of curse words. It's a rather aggressive solicitation for sex (with some ... unusual phrases, such as "magische Schwein"[[note]]"magical pig"[[/note]]) followed by an English rendition. |
| 268 | * As Music/{{Eminem}} was not able to do his [[CharacterTics signature]] [[FlippingTheBird raised middle finger]] on most of his TV appearances, he liked to substitute it with the British obscene VSign - not considered obscene in America, but just as rude in the Commonwealth. On his Commonwealth TV appearances, where he couldn't do either, he would substitute it sometimes with the metal horns or a peace sign. |
| 269 | [[/folder]] |
| 270 | |
| 271 | [[folder:Professional Wrestling]] |
| 272 | * Many televised airings of professional wrestling have the wrestlers get away with stuff in promos simply because it is in a foreign language, such as [[Wrestling/NelsonErazo Homicide]] in Wrestling/{{TNA}} or Wrestling/BulletClub in Wrestling/{{New Japan| Pro Wrestling}}. The former even got this turned into an angle when it turned out Dixie Carter was unaware of the type of language he'd been using. However, the World Wrestling League bleeped out foreign cuss words on their program from the very start, even when not accompanied by subtitles. |
| 273 | * Germany based westside Xtreme wrestling likes English cuss words, though the fans are more often offenders than the wrestlers.[[/folder]] |
| 274 | |
| 275 | [[folder:Theatre]] |
| 276 | * One memorable example comes from the musical version of ''Film/TheProducers'', in the number "You Never Say Good Luck in Opening Night," which features the phrases "Merde" and "Vaffanculo", which are swear words in French and Italian, respectively. |
| 277 | * In the play "A Gulag Mouse" the Russian characters all speak English - except for the curse words, which are all in Russian. |
| 278 | * The "Vaffanculo" variant "Fongool" is used by Rizzo in ''Theatre/{{Grease}}'' in the song "Look At Me, I'm Sandra Dee". The 2016 remake replaces it with "Be cool". |
| 279 | * In ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'', the UsefulNotes/MarquisDeLaFayette says "Tell the King 'Casse toi!'" "Casse toi" is a French expression roughly equivalent to "fuck off." "Casse toi" also addresses the king as a peer, not as an authority figure. |
| 280 | * In ''Theatre/TheCatAndTheFiddle'', Odette and Victor swear in French when in a rage. |
| 281 | [[/folder]] |
| 282 | |
| 283 | [[folder:Video Games]] |
| 284 | * In ''VideoGame/GodHand'', Elvis is inherently fond of swearing in Spanish in a regular basis. Most notable in the battle quotes, "Time to play, pendejo!"[[note]]asshole[[/note]] "¡No hablo inglés, cabrón!"[[note]]I don't speak English, you fucker![[/note]] |
| 285 | * In ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil4'', the Spanish-speaking [[NotUsingTheZWord Ganados]] use strong language often, and since they are untranslated the ESRB didn't address them for the game's rating in the original Platform/NintendoGameCube version (they did in subsequent ports). In fact, the ''first words said by the first Ganado Leon meets'' roughly translate to "What the fuck are you doing here? Get out of here, asshole!" |
| 286 | * Funny variation in the first ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorney'': Parts of Manella's dialogue is internet slang and leetspeak, and he therefore gets away with exclaiming "WTF!". |
| 287 | * ''VideoGame/ScarfaceTheWorldIsYours'' has Tony and some of his enemies liberally dish out the Spanish. They have no problems with using English as well, though. |
| 288 | * In the Wii ''VideoGame/PunchOut'', various boxers who are walking national stereotypes speak foreign languages. Great Tiger tells Little Mac (in Hindi) to do what translates to suggesting he go back to his mommy's milk, while Bald Bull asks (in Turkish) if Louis (Mac's Trainer) is teaching Mac how to get spanked. |
| 289 | * GratuitousEnglish-loving Date Masamune of ''VideoGame/SengokuBasara'' shouts words like "shit" and "goddamn" quite often in-game. |
| 290 | * In ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', the Spy has "Oh, merde!" (shit) as one of his angry one-liners. The Medic will also call his enemies "Schweinehunds" (pig-dog; generally equivalent to "bastard" or "mongrel", though the plural form is "Schweinehund'''e'''"). |
| 291 | * Grunty, the German mercenary from ''VideoGame/JaggedAlliance,'' often exclaims "Scheisse" (Shit) when he spots an enemy. Another mercenary, Ivan, also swears in Russian. (Then again, in the first two games, he only speaks Russian.) |
| 292 | * ''VideoGame/FinalFantasyXIV'' of all things seems to love doing this; the Gridanians have been effing and blinding with British expletives. Bollocks, arse, shite... In voice acted scenes, characters are given vaguely to strong British accents as well. |
| 293 | * Tear, the [[FairyCompanion fairy]] half of ''VideoGame/{{Recettear}}''[='s=] main OddCouple, mumbles "merde" whenever she gets exasperated. |
| 294 | * ''VideoGame/SoulSeries'': |
| 295 | ** In ''Soul Calibur II'', Yoshimitsu says a few Japanese curse words, which are also used in the original Japanese version... Only when directly translated, however. Due to Japan's lack of common curse words, it's just as take in Japan. |
| 296 | ** In ''V'', when [[VideoGame/AssassinsCreedBrotherhood Ezio]] fails a throw, he sometimes mutters "''Cazzo''" (basic Italian swearword, literally meaning "dick"). |
| 297 | * In the 2005 game ''VideoGame/TheWarriors'' (based, of course, on the 1970s cult classic film), while the New York "tough-guy" characters cuss a blue streak anyway (just as in the movie), there is also some [[BilingualBonus untranslated Spanish]] when the characters take a side trip to Spanish Harlem, and some of the Puerto Rican expressions would be even ''more'' offensive than what is normally heard in the game were they to be rendered in English. Two examples are "''Me cago in tus madres''" ("I shit on your mothers") and "''puto''" (used repeatedly, and a ''very'' offensive name to call any male, since its connotation is somewhere between "bitch" and "faggot.") [[labelnote:Note]]It literally means male prostitute. That being said, the word's so offensive you'll probably prefer to use synonyms when discussing male prostitution in Spanish (such as 'prostituto' or 'chapero').[[/labelnote]] |
| 298 | * Used frequently in the ''VideoGame/GrandTheftAuto'' games which feature communities foreign to America: they (mostly Hispanic) swear in their home language (it's easier to hear whenever you cause a traffic accident), but other languages are not exempt (Portuguese-speaking players are guaranteed to get a laugh in ''IV'' when they hear a driver -- very rare though[[note]]The Portuguese community in Liberty City is located in Alderney, which is not unlocked until halfway into the game[[/note]] -- yelling "vai tomar no cu, filho da puta!", which means "get fucked in the ass, son of a bitch!"). |
| 299 | * Interesting case in ''VideoGame/TalesOfTheAbyss'': Asch often calls Luke "dreck" as a placeholder title and insult. The word is indeed uncommon, but not completely unheard of in North American English and it was likely brought over from the German language where it carries the meaning of "trash" or "inferior goods", hence Asch's usage of the phrase. However, the original Yiddish version of the word, predating the German use, is much stronger and harsher. |
| 300 | * In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedII'', Ezio curses off the final boss, Pope Rodrigo Borgia, using an Italian phrase translating to "[[PrecisionFStrike Go fuck yourself.]]" |
| 301 | ** In ''VideoGame/AssassinsCreedOrigins'', Bayek and others, who are prone to Ancient Egyptian PoirotSpeak anyway, frequently refer to people as ''neket iadet''. The subtitles helpfully inform you that it translates to "piece of shit". |
| 302 | * In the Creator/TelenetJapan game ''Sa-Zi-Ri'' (only a Japanese version of which was released), one of the bosses yells "Shit!" when defeated. |
| 303 | * In ''VideoGame/MaxPayne3'', most of the EnemyChatter consists of Portguese cuss words. You can expect to hear "Filho da puta!" --which roughly translates to "Son of a bitch!" -- quite a lot. |
| 304 | * ''VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3SnakeEater'' has EVA say "Fuck you" in English to Volgin in the original Japanese. The English dub, [[LipLock having to contend with three syllables of lip-flap]], toned it down to 'go to hell'. |
| 305 | * In the Japanese release of ''MOTHER 2'', one skater dude in Fourside who offers you items will say "Goddam!" to you in katakana if you refuse to buy. This was predictably, though bizarrely, {{Bowdlerise}}d in the ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' localization to "Mod-boy Jerk!" |
| 306 | * ''VideoGame/WindChildBlack'' gives us two - Alexia, a gypsy girl, occasionally drops 'nenorocutule' [[note]]Romanian for 'unlucky', or 'you poor devil,' but is used culturally as an equivalent to 'motherfucker.'[[/note]]. And then there's Ecchi, an immortal snake woman who speaks what is basically Portuguese, and is [[SirSwearsALot INCREDIBLY ]] fond of dropping 'maldito' and 'foda-me' [[note]] 'Damned/fucking' and 'fuck me', respectively[[/note]]. |
| 307 | * The various [[TriadsAndTongs Triad]] characters in ''VideoGame/SleepingDogs2012'' are [[SirSwearsALot quite fond]] of "puk gai". The subtitles translate this as "asshole", which is not a literal translation but gets the intent across. |
| 308 | * ''VideoGame/TheSecretWorld:'' |
| 309 | ** Normally preferring to speak English peppered with Latin quotes, Arturo Castiglione reverts to his native Italian when he loses his temper, screaming "che cazzo!?" [[note]]"what the fuck?"[[/note]] over the course of a frustrating phone call. |
| 310 | ** Dr Anton Aldini frequently lapses back into Swedish in moments of excitement, at one point demanding to know what you've sent him with "Nämen vafaan?" [[note]]another "what the fuck?"[[/note]], and later referring to Mary Shelley as a "Förbannade horan!" [[note]]Damned whore[[/note]] |
| 311 | * ''VideoGame/{{Control}}'' has the Finnish AlmightyJanitor Ahti. His English isn't particularly clear either but his Finnish lines are [[ClusterFBomb on a whole other level of filthy]]. |
| 312 | * In the western versions of ''VideoGame/MarioParty1'' and ''VideoGame/MarioParty2'', Wario exclaims [[GratuitousGerman "SO EIN MIST!"]] (roughly "OhCrap") when something bad happens to him. The Japanese versions simply had him (and Luigi) say "Oh my god!" in the same situations. |
| 313 | * ''VideoGame/ParadiseKiller'' has [[LadyOfWar Grand Marshall Akiko 14]], who spends a large portion of the game insulting [[GentlemanDetective Lady Love Dies]] in Romanian. |
| 314 | * The third male voice for The Boss in ''VideoGame/SaintsRow2'' will sometimes curse in spanish. Particularily, if using the Flipping the Bird taunt he will yell "Chíngate!" [[note]]Fuck yourself[[/note]] |
| 315 | * ''VideoGame/{{Arknights}}'': In the English version of ''Guide Ahead'', an incensed Fiametta yells "Pedicabo ego te et irrumabo" during her final confrontation with Andoain. This phrase, taken from [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catullus_16 an infamously vulgar ancient Roman poem]], translates from Latin as "I will sodomize and skullfuck you". Earlier in the same conversation she also tells him to "I in malam crucem", or to crucify himself. |
| 316 | * ''Franchise/FarCry'': |
| 317 | ** In ''VideoGame/FarCry4'', many [=NPCs=], from civilians to the Golden Path and Royal Army, can be heard swearing in Hindi/Urdu profanity, including "kutti" (bitch) and "maderchod" (motherfucker). |
| 318 | ** ''VideoGame/FarCry6'' features a variety of Spanish profanities, but is especially fond of "comemierda" (shit-eater). |
| 319 | * ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'': Sten is a Qunari -- member of a non-human species not native to Ferelden -- and so occasionally intersperses his speech with Qunlat (the Qunari language) interjections. For instance, if you add him to the roster from the party selection screen, he'll acknowledge it in Common (read: English), but if you then remove him again, he'll react with an irritated "Vashedan!" -- Qunlat for "crap", a common expletive. |
| 320 | [[/folder]] |
| 321 | |
| 322 | [[folder:Visual Novels]] |
| 323 | * In ''VideoGame/AviaryAttorney'', one can encounter such obsceneties as "merde" and "fils de pute" instead of "shit" and "son of a bitch". Which is somewhat strange, considering that the events take place in Paris and the characters are supposed to speak French the whole time. |
| 324 | * ''VisualNovel/PhoenixWrightAceAttorneySpiritOfJustice'' combines this with PardonMyKlingon. The language of the [[FictionalCountry fictional Asian country]], The Kingdom of Khura'in, has a word "Pohlkunan". According to Maya, it's used to refer to people who are "a real piece of work, so to speak". It's used constantly throughout the game, including the entire Khura'inese courtroom gallery chanting it at Phoenix. |
| 325 | * While not a proper curse, the title to the English-language visual novel ''VisualNovel/KatawaShoujo'' is similar. "Katawa" is considered a derogatory term in Japan. |
| 326 | * ''VisualNovel/ALittleLilyPrincess'': If the route of Sara's French maid Mariette in the one followed in the post RichesToRags part of the story, Mariette turns out to still be in London, allowing for a few encounters. Upon discovering that Sara was MadeASlave in all but name by her former BoardingSchool, Mariette responds with a bunch of French words that, according to the narration, Sara can't directly translate but can easily guess the general meaning of. |
| 327 | [[/folder]] |
| 328 | |
| 329 | [[folder:Webcomics]] |
| 330 | * ''Webcomic/TheDreadful'': Erin's final words are [[DefiantToTheEnd "Leck mich."]][[note]]Short for "Leck mich am Arsch.", literally "Lick me on the ass.", German version of "Kiss my ass."[[/note]] |
| 331 | * The Drow of ''Webcomic/{{Drowtales}}'' use every normal English swear word, from the F's all the way to the B's and C's, but they most frequently use the insulting 'Mother-killer'; their culture places heavy importance on matriarchy, so someone who kills their own mother is seen as the worst kind of person. |
| 332 | * ''Webcomic/GirlsNextDoor'': |
| 333 | ** "ESPECE DE PETIT SALOPERIE DE BORDEL D'EMPAFFE DE POULET PSYCOPATHE!!!" Translated? LITTLE FUCKING PSYCHOPATHIC PIECE OF CHICKEN SHIT!!! |
| 334 | ** This is only one example, as Christine uses these more or less regularly, as does Javert and occasionally Erik. Less flowery things like "Merde" are trademark of the French characters in mother series ''{{Webcomic/Roommates}}'' too. |
| 335 | * The mostly sweet-natured French-Canadian [=DiDi=] of ''Webcomic/MenageA3'' rarely resorts to vulgarity in either of the languages she mixes quite freely, but at one point she loses it completely at the frustrating Yuki, and specifies exactly [[https://pixietrixcomix.com/menage-a-3/do-you-understand why she wants to borrow Yuki's boyfriend Gary, in French.]] |
| 336 | * Appears constantly in ''Webcomic/{{Polandball}}'' comics. There's not really a censoring board for them, but their use of non-English curses alternates between getting some fairly insensitve terms past the radar and for simple authenticity--it only makes sense to expect Polandball to use Polish vulgarities, Finlandball to use Finnish vulgarities, and so on. |
| 337 | * Lost in translation with ''Webcomic/SandraAndWoo'', as the comic is in German, [[http://www.sandraandwoo.com/2010/08/09/0189-shows-over/ one strip]] has Yuna and her mother stopping a crime and Yuna saying, "Freedom for the peoples of Burma, motherfuckers." The next strip has her asking her mother what "Motherfucker" means, to which she calmly explains is a really offensive word... And Yuna apologizes to the audience. |
| 338 | * When Lavali of ''Webcomic/SandraOnTheRocks'' breaks up with her girlfriend Claire, they sling [[https://pixietrixcomix.com/sandra-on-the-rocks/me-hee-hee-heeeeeee a couple of French insults]] at each other that might have endangered the strip's PG-13 rating if they'd been translated. |
| 339 | * ''Webcomic/ScandinaviaAndTheWorld'': Finland says [[ClusterFBomb "Perkele"]] a lot. (In fact, it's [[TheQuietOne almost the only thing he ever says.]]) In fact, given his normally mute nature and his ClusterFBomb when he [[FelonyMisdemeanor lost at hockey]], it may actually outweigh ''every other word he's ever said, ever''. |
| 340 | * ''Webcomic/StandStillStaySilent'': The very few times there has been swearing in the comic, TranslationConvention was dropped in favor of the language the character is actually speaking, creating an effect similar to the trope. |
| 341 | * ''Webcomic/TwoKinds'': What Flora says when she breaks her foot is apparently "untranslatable". |
| 342 | * ''Webcomic/{{Unsounded}}'': Subverted when Sette calls a pair of war criminals trying to rape her friends by a slur for them in Tainish, it's translated and shown in brackets. The author later confirmed that she yelled [[https://unsoundedcomic.tumblr.com/post/661901884847767552/how-is-pissmop-said-in-tainish "Padopa!"]] at the soldiers in their native language rather than "Pissmop" as shown. |
| 343 | [[/folder]] |
| 344 | |
| 345 | [[folder:Web Original]] |
| 346 | * Quebecois [[LetsPlay Let's Player]] LetsPlay/{{raocow}} does his LP's in English, but when frustrated will sometimes start swearing in Canadian French. One several occasions he's even gone into a full-blown ForeignLanguageTirade. |
| 347 | * Felix Arvid Ulf Kjellberg, better known as LetsPlay/PewDiePie will sometimes go full on [[ForeignLanguageTirade Swedish Tirade]] (or even his girlfriend's language, Italian) in some of his videos, much more so when he's playing rage games. |
| 348 | --> '''Captions:''' Oh but that fucking laser in hell for the fucking dawn vagina dick... |
| 349 | * In ''[[Platform/Fireball20XL Sonic Bastardized]]'', Knuckles exclaims "Kuso!" (Japanese roughly equivalent to "Shit!") at one point. Knuckles's voice actor, Rittz, is fluent in Japanese. |
| 350 | * ''WebAnimation/KizunaAi'': Kizuna will sometimes start swearing in English, usually "Oh my god!" or similar, during games. Usually it's played for laughs due to the dissonance between such language and her usual demeanor as TheCutie. Perhaps her [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P2yrESuyW0E most famous moment]] was a ClusterFBomb when playing ''VideoGame/ResidentEvil7'', which became a big [[MemeticMutation meme among her fans]]: |
| 351 | -->'''Clancy''': Fuck you!\ |
| 352 | '''Kizuna Ai''': Fuck you! Fuck you fuck you! '''FUCK YOU!''' [[ScrewthisImouttahere Mo owatta yo]][[note]]I am done[[/note]]! |
| 353 | * WebOriginal/ProtectorsOfThePlotContinuum have sometimes uttered uncensored profanity in languages like Russian, Greek, and Old English. |
| 354 | * Creator/GaijinGoombah’s recent videos have him resorting to this on occasion in order to avoid having his videos demonetized for mature content. Such as in his Which Ninja video on [[Franchise/DragonBall Murasaki]], where co-host Little G uses the Japanese words for “sex” and “erotic magazine” respectively instead of just saying them in English. |
| 355 | * ''WebVideo/LifeOfBoris'': Boris' first language isn't English, therefore he's prone to cussing in Russian while speaking to viewers in English. A lot. |
| 356 | -->'''Boris:''' Vadim, blyat! Having party at Monday night...\ |
| 357 | [-([[https://youtu.be/DSRUz88x6BI&t=176 source]])-] |
| 358 | * ''WebVideo/SMPLive'': Angel calls Senzu a "pendejo" when he tries to get Ty to listen to Stal again. |
| 359 | * The "Bumboclaat!" meme consists of someone absent-mindedly doing something foolish, then {{Big Word Shout}}ing "bumboclaat!" in dismay. "Bumboclaat" is a Jamacan slang word for toilet paper; roughly equivalent to "asswipe." |
| 360 | [[/folder]] |
| 361 | |
| 362 | [[folder:Western Animation]] |
| 363 | * ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'': |
| 364 | ** "Wanker" and "shite", which are [[DidNotDoTheBloodyResearch considered quite rude]] in British English, are apparently exotic enough that they can be used without anyone batting an eye. |
| 365 | ** The German version of the enraged cook's cry against Homer in ''Guess Who's Coming to Criticize Dinner'' includes Italian swearing. And not just a random swearing, but one that will get you instantly banned from any show on Italian TV, as actors and local Big Brother contestants found out at their own expenses. Despite it being one of the most common utterances in Real Life Italy.[[note]]Hint: The word used was a bestemmia (blasphemy).[[/note]] |
| 366 | * A single episode of ''WesternAnimation/{{Daria}}'' has the English character[[note]]A personification of Guy Fawkes Day; it's [[BizarroEpisode complicated]][[/note]] saying "wankers", "tossers", and a few lesser swears. When aired in Britain, the character's scenes were so heavily edited that they made little or no sense. |
| 367 | * ''WesternAnimation/DoraTheExplorer'': In "Dora's World Adventure!", Fifi the skunk, Swiper's French counterpart, mutters "Alors, zut!" (her equivalent of Swiper's "Oh, man!" phrase) when Dora, Swiper and Amelie manage to prevent her from swiping the friendship bracelets. Said phrase literally translates to "So, damn!". |
| 368 | * Oglethorpe, the Austrian-sounding Plutonian alien from ''WesternAnimation/AquaTeenHungerForce'' once called someone ''Scheißkopf'', a German word that literally translates to "shithead". |
| 369 | * In ''WesternAnimation/AmericanDad'' Klaus uses some German words that sound extremely dirty, and knowing that the show, like ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' and ''WesternAnimation/TheClevelandShow'', was created by Creator/SethMacFarlane, they probably are. |
| 370 | * Mas y Menos in the ''WesternAnimation/TeenTitans'' animated series got away with at least one and possibly more questionable phrases (including "Este viejo nos está jodiendo" -- "This old man is fucking us over!") part from the Spanish and part from their rapid-fire speech. |
| 371 | * On ''WesternAnimation/PhineasAndFerb'', Dr. Doofenshmirtz tells Perry the Platypus, "You scared the ''scheiße'' out of me!" |
| 372 | * One Nazi in "WesternAnimation/DerFuehrersFace" calls WesternAnimation/DonaldDuck a "schweinehund"[[note]]incorrectly spoken as "schweinhund",[[/note]] the German equivalent of "son of a bitch" (literally, "pig-dog", but in English that mostly sounds humorous, "son of a bitch" conveys the intent better). |
| 373 | * In the ''WesternAnimation/TotalDramaWorldTour'' episode "Planes, Trains, and Hot Air Mobiles", after Cody stole first place in the race, the scene cuts to Alejandro cursing in the ConfessionCam. |
| 374 | --> '''Alejandro''': Mala suerte, mierda![[labelnote:Translation]]"How unlucky, shit!"[[/labelnote]] |
| 375 | * Coach Steve from ''WesternAnimation/BigMouth'' apparently gets called ''pendejo'' (a strong Spanish swear word) by the staff at a sports bar in Queens where he "bartends" (actually he just hangs behind the bar, despite management constantly telling him to leave). He thinks it's just a cool nickname, and he actually calls himself [[BrickJoke "DJ Pendejo"]] when he deejays at a party a few episodes later. |
| 376 | * In the original French version of ''WesternAnimation/TheCrumpets'', Aunt Harried sometimes uses "shit." |
| 377 | [[/folder]] |
| 378 | |
| 379 | [[folder:Real Life]] |
| 380 | * In an international-level fencing championship, one fencer made a mistake and swore in Swahili. An elderly member of the audience stood up and informed the referee that he'd done so, and the offender was penalized. |
| 381 | * Some anatomical references sound not only more polite but [[EverythingSoundsSexierInFrench sexier when spoken in French]]. Take, for instance, "derrière" or (to quote Christopher Buckley): |
| 382 | -->There was another phrase much in Suzy's repertoire then: "belle poitrine." As in, "Mrs. Buckley, of the belle poitrine." For years, I laughed along with it; then, one day in French class, we got to body parts, and I discovered it meant "great tits."[[note]]This isn't actually a cuss word -- it just means "chest" -- but the effect is the same as if you abruptly discovered you'd been complimenting someone on her "chest" without knowing it.[[/note]] |
| 383 | * A football game for Euro 2000 where a young UsefulNotes/DavidBeckham tripped a striker from the opposing side (Greece). The striker's response as he was sitting on the grass? "Ante gamisou, re malaka" (ie. Fuck you, you wanker.) The referee did not catch it, but Greek viewers laughed their asses off. (Eventually, they lost, however) |
| 384 | ** When the Scottish [[note]] technically British, but all the team members were Scots[[/note]] curling team was tipped for gold medal at the winter Olympics and naturally attracted great Press interest, American TV was dismayed to point microphones at them during play only to capture ''lots'' of inventive Caledonian invective. The American TV people asked the team to tone it down a little so as not to offend American viewers. The Scots, who always talked like that and had freely done so since the days when TV crews only pointed cameras at them, saw no reason to stop now and suggested if American TV wanted to avoid offence, it should turn the fucking microphones off, do you fucking get that, Jimmy? |
| 385 | * This actually happens a lot in the Netherlands, where people ''love'' to over-use English swear words. They aren't considered as bad as they would be in English. For example, part of "Uncle Fucka" from the movie ''WesternAnimation/SouthParkBiggerLongerAndUncut'' was once shown, uncensored, on the evening news during an item about bleeping out swear words on United States television. |
| 386 | ** A reference in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nr_bizbxTiU this Dutch ad]] ({{NSFW}} language). |
| 387 | ** It's pretty common for the Dutch to ''understand'' English swearing, but find it quaint and amusing rather than offensive. And conversely, literally translated ''Dutch'' swearing can be amusing to native English speakers; you get why it's offensive, but it's so out of left field that the amusement outweighs the offense. For example, one Dutch insult translates as "cancer monkey". |
| 388 | * Fairly frequent in UsefulNotes/{{Quebec}}, with "fuck" and "shit" being seen as overall quite mild (and perfectly acceptable on prime-time television), compared to Quebec's vast array of liturgy-based swearwords. The borrowed adjective ''fucké'' (broken, ruined) is a good example -- it's just slang, not really offensive at all, as it sounds identical to two other French words, "phoque" (meaning "seal") and "faque" (a synonym of "alors" and "donc", both of which basically mean "well then", "so", or "anyway"). |
| 389 | ** Conversely, European French-speaking people have a nasty habit of finding Quebec's religious-based curses terribly amusing and grossly overusing them, or just not connecting with the fact that profanity is different from what they're used to. [[http://www.cyberpresse.ca/actualites/quebec-canada/politique-quebecoise/200902/04/01-823896-un-accueil-a-la-quebecoise-maladroit.php Can lead to hilarious situations.]] |
| 390 | * In Canada in general--or at least on the [=CBC=]--swearing isn't as heavily censored as in certain other places one might name. The 6 o'clock news, for example, won't bleep anything but an F-bomb. Individual networks vary on other matters. |
| 391 | ** In the 1970s, Prime Minister UsefulNotes/PierreTrudeau (a native French speaker) told a group of striking truck drivers to "mange[r] de la merde".[[note]]Translation: Eat shit.[[/note]] |
| 392 | * A coffee shop chain in southeastern Massachusetts named Marylou's (known to some as "Hooters of the morning" from its baristas' usual uniform of tight T-shirts and daisy dukes) has a featured drink called the "Funky Fanabla". Demangled into standard Italian, it comes out to "va fa Napoli", which means, more or less, "go to hell", and literally something along the lines of "go do it like they do in Naples".[[note]]Implicitly, in the butt, and more implicitly with you being on the "receiving" end, with the end result being "up yours"[[/note]] The drink itself is some kind of iced coffee something or other. |
| 393 | * Grand Duchess [[UsefulNotes/AnastasiaNikolaevnaRomanova Anastasia Romanova]] took French lessons, and her instructor told once told her to underline any words she didn't know and ask him. Reading ''Literature/LesMiserables'', at one point, she saw the word "merde (shit)", and since the tutor wasn't around she went to find [[UsefulNotes/NicholasII her father]] and ask him. Cue awkwardness when the Tsar asked the tutor why she was learning that word. |
| 394 | * Might be a very group-specific thing, but on some chats and forums that blot out all the common English swear words, people will use the most horrific profanities from their native language. For example, using the Finnish profanity "perkele" (basically a harsher version of "fuck") in a sentence "pretty perkeleen big" ("pretty fucking big"). [[HilarityEnsues This can lead to some comedy]] when people who don't speak the language try to use the same words, ''especially'' if the language requires inflection (because most people will use the words in the context-sensitive right form anyway.) |
| 395 | * On CNN, when discussing [[UsefulNotes/BarackObama President Obama's]] "looking for 'whose ass to kick'" statement in regards to the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, Ed Henry, not wishing to say the actual word himself, substituted it with 'arse'. (This was after he'd been teased for earlier replacing it with 'butt'.) Naturally, Obama's and Henry's words [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yghFBt-fXmw were set to music]] as a VoiceClipSong by Schmohoyo. |
| 396 | * Most swear words in modern Hebrew are actually loanwords from Arabic or Russian that were a ''lot'' stronger in the original. Hence, you'll have people throwing around things like ''kibinimat'' (Russian, from ''k yebeni materi'', which means "[go] to [your] fucked mother") and ''kuss ummak'' (Arabic, meaning "your mother's cunt", implying either that the insultee should return there or that the insulter [[YourMom had done something with it]]) a bit more freely than in the source languages. |
| 397 | ** "Yob tvoyu mat'" (Russian, meaning "fuck your mother") gets thrown around a lot too. |
| 398 | * A lot of the videos of the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chelyabinsk_meteor 2013 meteor that exploded over Chelyabinsk, Russia]] have people reacting by saying "Yebyat!" ... "Fuck!" in Russian. |
| 399 | * In UsefulNotes/{{Ethiopia}} most people learn about American culture through movies and music videos. This results in small kids trying to impress foreigners by shouting out "fuck you". The "Fuck You" capital lies around Shashamane and Awassa where kids say it the most, and is incredibly funny when they instead shout out "fuck me", and then wonder why the Americans are laughing at them. |
| 400 | * In UsefulNotes/{{Germany}} most people don't consider the English curse words to be big deal. Especially "shit" has about the same level as "Mist", which translates as crap. But Germans are generally lax about the use of swear words. |
| 401 | ** Especially when it comes to swear words that combine religion with vulgarities. "Herrgottsack!" ("By the Balls of God, the Lord and Saviour!") is pretty common and perfectly acceptable when you just accidentally hit your finger with a hammer, or did something similar. |
| 402 | *** The more common form (and where this rare, shorter former originally derives from) is "Herr Gott Sakrament" -- which follows the same idea as French Canadian of using religious terms as curses. In this case its closest translation is "Sacrament (of the) Lord (and) God". |
| 403 | * In Norway, some people love to use the word shit liberally, although as it is completely homophonous with the harmless Norwegian word "skitt" (dirt), it's hard to tell which they are using. Dirt, meanwhile, derives from the Norwegian word "drit", which today is considered vulgar. They've also got the dialectal "skit", which ''does'' mean "shit" but still isn't too vulgar for normal informal conversation. |
| 404 | ** Norwegian swear words are very context sensitive. Politicians and celebrities can sit on talk shows all day talking about how fucking well they got their shit together without anyone batting an eyelid, but the moment they call someone a fucking idiot, they can expect bunch of nasty headlines in tomorrow's papers. The issue isn't with the words themselves, but their potential as insults. |
| 405 | * The Washington, DC DMV issued a VanityLicensePlate reading "MERDE" without realizing what it meant. |
| 406 | * FourOneNineScam baiters use these a lot. One scammer was left standing at Amsterdam airport holding a sign reading [[http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/kontneuken "Kontneuker"]] (Dutch for "ass-fucker"), under the mistaken assumption that it was the surname of his contact. |
| 407 | * Amusingly, the Merovingian's famous French quote, when exposed to an [[BlindIdiotTranslation internet translator]] actually came up with "Damn fucking fucking fucking shit asshole motherfucker of." [[{{Narm}} Brilliant.]] |
| 408 | * Swedish people typically know a few Finnish curse words and sometimes use them when their own ones aren't enough -- and vice versa. |
| 409 | * An antiquated Austrian pejorative word for Italians is "Katzelmacher", which sounds oddly harmless ("Katzel" sounds like "little cat"); however, it actually arose from the Italian slang word "cazzo" (literally, "dick"), that the Italians throw around ''a lot''. |
| 410 | * Finnish people will often say "fuck", "shit" or "scheisse" when they want to swear without sounding like they're swearing. |
| 411 | * Similarly, Bulgarians use "fuck" a bit more casually than the native equivalent, "deba". "Shit" is also used, but as a noun, to mean "something that's fucked up". A derivative word, "shitnya", takes on the meaning of "shit" in English as a derogatory term for "stuff". Turkish ''ay siktir'' ("go fuck yourself") is also used and considered less vulgar. |
| 412 | ** Pretty much the same applies to their neighbours the Serbs: "šit" and "fak" (shit and fuck as transcribed phonetically) are frequently thrown around by the local youth, and ''nobody'' considers these words rude. The local equivalent, "jebati" is however a much stronger curse, though nowhere as strong as "mamu ti jebem" ("fuck your mother in the cunt") or "mrš u pičku materinu" ("go back up your mom's cunt" - which literally means '''unborn yourself'''). |
| 413 | * The Japanese absolutely love the English word "fuck" (something about the way it looks is aesthetically pleasing to them), so it's often found on T-shirts and the like that are sold in stores in Japan. |
| 414 | * A context-specific example, possibly involving ValuesDissonance: NordicNoir dramas shown on British TV, such as "The Bridge" and ''Series/{{Borgen}}'', are shown in the native language with English subs. The Creator/{{BBC}} often prefaces them with an advisory about bad language. This is a warning that there will be the occassional "fuck" or "shit" in the dialogue. But in the native Norwegian/Swedish/Danish, these words generally carry less charge than in English and might be represented in the subtitles with "bloody", "damn" or "bugger". The really shocking language might be "Go to Hell" and similar - which in Nordic languages carries the same charge as "Fuck you!" but which is often literally translated in the subs, thus losing its charge for English-speaking listeners whilst remaining shocking to native speakers. |
| 415 | * The USAAF B-17E bomber named ''Honi Kuu Okole'' at the Pacific theater in World War II. [[note]]Hawaiian for "Kiss My Ass"[[/note]] |
| 416 | * Bung Moktar bin Radin, a Malaysian politician and a member of the Dewan Rakyat[[note]]the lower house of the Malaysian parliament[[/note]], gave a definitive [[InvertedTrope inversion]] of this trope. On 7 August, 2018, he called out another member of the parliament for stating that he had visited a casino in Malay, and then switched to English to deliver two PrecisionFStrike[=s=] in front of the whole parliament. [[https://youtu.be/lOj0JIMYl5k And this was all caught on Malaysian television]]. ''Uncensored''. Needless to say, [[MemeticMutation this has spawned a handful of memes in Malaysia]]. |
| 417 | -->'''Bung Moktar:''' What is this? [You are] rude and ill-mannered. He'd better retract it, he's really rude, Mr. Speaker! YB[[note]]Yang Berhormat Willie[[/note]] does not deserve to sit here! Gangster, ''what [do] you want?'' You want to fight with me? Now is the ''time''! ''Fuck you!''\ |
| 418 | '''Other members''': Enough, please sit down, sit down!\ |
| 419 | '''Bung Moktar:''' '''''FUCK YOU!''''' |
| 420 | [[/folder]] |
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