How to swear properly

[Jason]

I have that book, too.

[arancarlisle]

Although I think it is fun to learn about the expletives used in other cultures, I generally think it is a mistake for non-natives to actually use foreign swear words.

Whenever I come across a non-native English speaker trying to use American swear words, it almost always comes across as either humorously idiotic, or at worst offesively inappropriate.

[Bueller_007]

I don't know how they apply to podcasts, but Japan also has some pretty strict broadcasting decency laws. I don't want to see them fined or jailed or anything.

Here, by popular demand, is the (complete?) list of words you can't say on the Japanese airwaves (and their politically correct equivalents):
http://www.geocities.co.jp/WallStreet/4 ... kinku.html

Enjoy!

[Satsujin]

That's great. I love how for some of the words they don't even explain the meaning just...なるべく使わない...."just don't use it".

[Charles]

I was given the book "Zakennayo," which has stuff like sexual lingo used by teenagers and ageist/sexist/nationalist/racial slurs. But an Amazon reviewer says that some of it sounds old, especially the title, which the author says is the big catch-all to put someone you don't like down, like "f--- you." The reader is directed to use "Zakennayo" if he or she had just been the recipient of other words mentioned in the book, and then walk away. ;)

[Bueller_007]

That's great. I love how for some of the words they don't even explain the meaning just...なるべく使わない...."just don't use it".

Those words aren't necessarily "offensive" though.

For example, 身元調査 (みもとちょうさ) only means "investigation into one's background". But it's often used to refer to background checks done by potential employers and in-laws to see if someone is a 部落民 (ぶらくみん). These checks are illegal (but still occur) so the use of the word is discouraged on the air.

Some of them are pretty bad though. "馬鹿でもチョンでも" means "even idiots and Koreans (can do it)". An easy-to-use camera is called バカチョンカメラ--a camera that even idiots and Koreans can use.

But all languages have ethnic slurs. So you can't really fault the Japanese in particular for this.

[Bueller_007]

I was given the book "Zakennayo," which has stuff like sexual lingo used by teenagers and ageist/sexist/nationalist/racial slurs. But an Amazon reviewer says that some of it sounds old, especially the title, which the author says is the big catch-all to put someone you don't like down, like "f--- you." The reader is directed to use "Zakennayo" if he or she had just been the recipient of other words mentioned in the book, and then walk away.

Yeah, I picked that up in the bookstore and emailed one of my friends some of the stuff in it to get her opinion. She was 22, fresh out of uni, and she said that she'd never heard of most of them, and a lot of the others sounded weird.

[patchmonkey]

The language here changes so quickly that most young people barely use the same words from week to week - and therefore any book published is out of date almost immediately.

That being said, if you just need to express something like the english usage of "shit," as in "Oh, shit, I lost my keys in the velociraptor cage," you can probably get some use out of "kuso", which means "excrement" (and whose usage as a term like that most likely comes directly from english usage) or "shimatta", which translates as "damn it", I think.

"Shimatta! uerokiraputoru no kaeji no naka ni kagi wo wasuremashita yo!"

Frankly, I think you're better off using English swear words. They'll be perfectly understood.

[Charles]

Frankly, I think you're better off using English swear words. They'll be perfectly understood.

That's actually what "Zakennayo" said, too. They've picked up every swearword you can think of through movies and other media. 8)

[Jason]

Just for the record, しまった/shimatta is a very mild expletive. i read somewhere that it would not be considered innapropriate for even a proper lady to say it. So it really doesn't merit being translated as a swear word in English. Depending on how it's said, it's more akin to something like "rats!" or "crud!" or somewhere in between. Maybe even as mild as "oh no!"

[patchmonkey]

I would slightly disagree on that - I'd say that it's not the kind of thing you'd say in front of a child, in any case.

Taking that into account, it's akin to "damn it," which I think I stated before. While "damn it" may have been evil-scary-going-to-hell-language in the past, you can say damn in public and no one bats an eye. You can say it on the television.

"Damn it, the Giants beat the Tigers! Damn! I was counting on them to win!"

or

Damn it, I misplaced my pants!

or

Damn, I really hate those skanky girls at Heartland. It's a damn shame - it's a nice bar, but such a meat market for expensive meat!

That being said, I think a very effective way to offend someone is to talk to them in the wrong form of speech. If you're pissed at a friend, and you start using distal speech with them, they'll know you're pissed. And if you want to offend someone higher, use plain forms.

This too, is not that different from English. If you normally speak with your friends in this manner:

Yo, dawgs, did you see that fuckin' game the other day? Fuckin' amazing, yeah! What's up?

and all of a sudden you speak like so:

Oh, Poindexter, it is such a pleasure to see you. And how might you be doing this fine afternoon?

Your friends may be confused, but they'll at least know something's wrong. You might laugh at this, but it's true - we tend to go to politer speech patterns when we're really pissed off at someone we normally wouldn' t be. It's much more effective than calling them a "bloody wanker" and much more hurtful. (Have you ever referred to your mom or dad as "mother" or "father" when you're annoyed? That's another way to do it.)

[Neo-Matrix]

It all depends on who you're around. All of your above sentences would get my attention, although I wouldn't get mad about it. It's probably the same in Japan. Some people mind, others don't. Japan is small, but obviously really diverse even among nihonjin. If anyone wants to learn curse words, it's pretty easy to find them in anime like Bleach, Naruto, One Piece, and a dozen other popular ones. The words are obviously not proper, but may be more modern than what you find in books. The bottom line is, you won't know what's common until you're in Japan among the people who use the language daily. Even then, older people have a different view on curse words than high-schoolers. It's the same way world-round.