Talk:Taboo word

I think this article or swearwords should address the relative "strengths" of certain terms in the various English-speaking countries. Human 19:26, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes, that could be a good idea. Unfortunately that will involve creating a non-family-friendly list of words.  though, at least one well known TEFL book has such a list.  I might look to it for inspiration.
 * One thing that I note with Spanish speakers is that some of them like to use "shit" and "fuck" a lot. In Spain that are really quite mild but (in most circumstances) they are a lot stronger in the UK.   "Conyo" (cunt) is very common in Spanish as well - at least in the Basque country - but it seems that fortunately most Spanish speakers don't know how to translate it. Interestingly, traditional Spanish swearwords tend to be religious rather than biological, or perhaps a strange mixture of the two.  I'm reluctant to give examples, but they  are pretty weird.--Bob M 19:38, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
 * As far as the list, it could go on a sub-page, so it doesn't come up randomly, and only have one clear link to it with a warning. You raise another issue there, too - that the translations of some words will have varying strength, that is, to make up an example, say, a French speaker used to using "merde" in any surroundings (which is the made up part, it's probably not true), on learning the English equivalent, might use it in a similar fashion and offend people.  As far as my original idea, I'm pretty sure there are a pantheon of medium-level (?) swear words that vary in usability a lot between US, UK, and Aus. usage. Human 22:01, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Actually when I re-read you post I noticed that you suggested that we try to define different levels of strength in different parts of the English-speaking world. Frankly I am not qualified to do such a thing, though there may be a web resource somewhere which might help out.  But, as I said above, translating a swearword from one language to another and thinking it works is very dangerous.  Another example:  in (peninsular) Spanish about the biggest insult you can give somebody is to call them a "cabron".  In terms of strength it would be something like "fuc*ing bastard" but the literal translation would be something like "large male goat".--Bob M 22:30, 26 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Hehe, which in "some places" would be considered a compliment on the order of "giant god". But, yes, both issues are interesting. To those of us who care about properly teaching our students of la belle Anglaise the correct use of incorrect language, at least. Human 04:34, 27 September 2009 (UTC)
 * Yes some places hold goats to be holy. While looking around the net I came across the WP article on Spanish profanity.  Make interesting reading and might suggest a structure for a similar article on English swearing.--Bob M 12:06, 27 September 2009 (UTC)

British cat
There is nothing particularly "British" about this article is there? And if there is, then there probably shouldn't be.--Bob M 12:20, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
 * Fiddlesticks! is not summat you'll hear much outside the UK...--Technopat 20:35, 30 May 2010 (UTC)
 * On reflection, I do really think that cat should be restored. Of course taboo words are commmon to all cultures, but the ones on this page deal with what is considered "light" or "shocking" in the English-speaking world. The idea of a cat is to direct readers to other themes (specific articles are under the "See also" headline) that may be related, however remotely. While some of us here know, more or less, what there is, new visitors would probably be grateful for pointers. And these, in turn, may stimulate actual input, rather than mere passive reading of content.--Technopat 04:40, 25 March 2012 (CDT)