Monday, February 28, 2005

Ah, the good old days...

BoingBoing points us to a dictionary of swearing, in every language imaginable. Reading the Hindi section brings back memories of the good ol' days at IIT Kanpur: I can assure you that every phrase on the list could be heard almost every day. In fact, we spent the first month of freshman year receiving instruction in all possible variations on these insults (being IITans, we were quick learners ;))

[ brief pause while I am overcome with nostalgia...]

It should come as no surprise to the Indians who read this that the Punjabi section was one of the top swear picks. Yiddish also seems like a good choice, but I am surprised at the inclusion of French in the top picks list.

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2 comments:

  1. where did u hear all these words? and here I was thiniking what a well brought up gentleman? u are. :) 

    Posted by smack

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  2. I love Insultmonger's dictionary. I've had a chance to incorporate it into my graduate linguistic studies on how taboos are reflected in languages. I also tested the words with the unwitting help of a few friends native speakers of Spanish, German, Polish, Korean and Swahili and found it remarkably credible, judging by their shocked reactions. 

    Posted by Saint Nate

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