Can any other nationality genuinely challenge the British when it comes to profanity?

Question

Let's face it - the Yanks are cr@p at it (they don't know boll0cks) and nearly all European sportspersons resort to English for a good torrent of abuse. Even the French - all they've got is merde. I think the Aussies are pretty close, but they lose marks for things like "strewth" and "gallah". I've thought about this long and hard - and producing chavs and profanity are the only things we can still claim to be world leaders at.

What I want to make certain of, though, is that there isn't some other language, like Swahili, for example, that's going to turn out to have better a swearing vocabulary.

So if you know of a language that can outdo the likes of tw@t, bugg@r, fcuk, c unt, b0ll0cks and shite, please let me know.

For Tuipecancook - I agree Australians are pretty good, but you don't make a fair comparisson. The Brits you meet are the ones who can afford to travel to Australia. Visit Glasgow, Moss Side and Newcastle for a better idea of the true Brit prowess in this area!

Answer 1

In this context, I do love a story told by the Labour politician Dennis Healey, who when Defence Secretary in 1966-70, had cause to go to Aden for the final ceremony of pulling down the Union Flag before the British withdrawal. He recounts how the Governor of Aden said to him "when the British Empire finally sinks beneath the waves, I believe it will leave two lasting memorials behind it. One is the game of Association Football, the other is the phrase 'f*ck off'!"

That story sounds funnier when you hear Dennis Healey himself telling in, because he's now in his 80's, a bit frail, and a very distinguished politician and former Minister. Good stuff.

I was interested in nhanha's comments regarding swearing in Shona. I was in a relationship with a gorgeous Zimbabwe girl not that long ago, and she used to swear both in English and in Shona while we were having sex. Lovely girl, wanted to do it 8 or 10 times a day. Never found one like her since! However, that's digressing somewhat.....

Answer 2

i'll tell u what happened to me in order to answer your question.

i was in a youth hostel in barcelona with some italian friends, and we were talking with other guys from france, germany, and uk.

somebody came up with your same question and so we decided to have a contest.

we made teams according to our nations, and also invited the spanish hostel staff to participate. each team had to write as many words they could think of.

the germans quitted almost immediately.
france and uk quitted almost at the same time, but i dont remember exactly in what order.

the spanish managed to keep writing for a while, but at the end the italians beated everyone by far.

this because in italy there are so many dialects and so for each word you can have up to ten sinonyms, and this makes a huge swearing vocabulary!!
and this without counting all the possibilities that u get with phrases, italians can be very creative on the subject!

Answer 3

Two nationalities that are as good as the British are Russian and Chinese. The Russian mentality is very similar to British and their use of profanity is quite entertaining. The Chinese use more of double entente. The American use of profanity is much like the Germans, they're just a bunch of Stock Fische.( a Bavarian profanity a "stickleback"). They don't know how to insult with style.

Answer 4

we don't say struth and galah..I have never said either..
we say fu*k s%it bu*lshit, c*nt wa*k*r, ****ole
And plenty of others.
F*CK is practically every third word I say. It just slips naturally into my vocabulary...Australians swear more than anyone I have met. And I live in a place where there are a lot of english tourists passing through (mainland whitsundays) They are shocked at our langauge...We can't help being better swearers....It just comes out!!

And in retort....The only Aussies YOU probably have met are the yuppies that are rich and bored enough to go to England!! It goes both ways..
anyway, I thought this question was about the potential for profanities, not a lack of money.

Answer 5

I think the Russians are the world champions, a professional Russian can swear fluently for hours without ever repeating himself.
the Turks are also very good, they have been perfecting this art for a 1000 years now.
the best way to find is to include friendly swearing competitions in the Olympic games,

Answer 6

The russians do have a variety of amusing phrases, possibly more than the brits, and many which dont directly translate but do have very specific meanings, from my experience, british profanity, although one of the best, is topped by the russians on account of how accurate and specific their insults are.

Answer 7

On respectable information I placed British, through fact i do no longer desire them sent back to me to fill in lower back. in spite of the shown fact that, the English, Scots, Welsh and Irish all have their very own traditions and way of existence which we could value as being unique (alongside with Manx and Channel Island way of existence). each and each unique way of existence has a lot to be happy with, consequently human beings too could be proud to declare "i'm English/Scottish/Welsh/Irish/Manx." with the aid of the way, i'm English.

Answer 8

We Hungarians (especially gypsies) are pretty creative in swearing. We can do it both very vulgarly and in a publicly acceptable way. Check the link below for an "alternative" dictionary of all the languages. ;)

Answer 9

its totally true, we are the best at swearing. its even funnier when you hear a couple of paki's talking their jibba jabba language and in the middle of it they say b0ll0cks or w@nker.
why dont they have their own words?

top quality question my friend, really made me laugh when reading it

Answer 10

My favourite is "ya Fcukin Blood Belching Cnut Rag"
Give it a go.