LL-L "Lexicon" 2002.10.30 (06) [E]

Wed Oct 30 16:52:24 UTC 2002

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 A=Afrikaans Ap=Appalachian B=Brabantish D=Dutch E=English F=Frisian
 L=Limburgish LS=Lowlands Saxon (Low German) S=Scots Sh=Shetlandic
               V=(West)Flemish Z=Zeelandic (Zeêuws)
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From: Luc Hellinckx <luc.hellinckx at pandora.be>
Subject: Lexicon

Beste Sandy,

Here goes my list (Brabantish):

1) "fart" : scheet, vèès, prot
2) "burp" : zoëe, verb = oproejen, opsmaëtn
3) "tits" : tètt(e)n, loez(e)n, mèmmen, ank
4) "balls" : kloeët(e)n, ball(e)n
5) "piss" : piss(e)n, zeiken, striëpen
6) "penis" : pië(ke), spel, gemacht (=4+6), floët
7) "arse" : gat, jèès (in combinations), kont, ol, oos, prot

Mind you, these are all the uncensored terms. If someone wants to behave
more stylish he/she can use more polite (euphemistic
or non-Brabantish) words.

Kind greetings,

Luc Hellinckx

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From: Criostoir O Ciardha <paada_please at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2002.10.29 (05) [E/S]
Dear all,

Sandy wrote:

"This submission is about rude words, so don't read on if you
don't like this sort of thing."

Indeed. I remember getting into quite a lot of trouble because of this quite
some time ago, and into even more bother when I vainly tried to point out
that swearing formed an integral part of my language (in the sense that it
had positional uses necessary to expressing certain emotions) and that it
shouldn't be looked down upon. I think I lost the argument back then and I'd
probably lose it again now, so the warning's there and other subscribers
shouldn't affect offence now having read it.

"I've been wondering about everyday words that many people
consider to be rude, especially if, because of their status,
they rarely appear in traditional literature."

It's quite intriguing because in my language, the Long Eaton sub-dialect of
Nottingham English, we only have the "non-polite" forms: we use the general
English terms when we want to be polite. This is because my language has no
status whatsoever beyond the home and community.

Let's go.

"F and C."

Here in Derry (and when I was in Australia) I'm continually mocked for the
/u/ in these words. My wife mimicks me but says the sound as [u:w] which it
most certainly isn't. It's a very pursed-lip /u/ merging into a schwa sound
(very difficult to describe) or perhaps an /o/ and I've not heard it
anywhere but in the Midlands and North of England. My Derry friends mimick
it as [O], the /o/ sound in English "cot". It was this difficult sound that
kept making me think there was some Scandinavian connection to the phonology
of Nottingham English.

"Fart".

Yep, fart is the same the world over, although in Cornwall fart is known but
not used. The common term there in informal speech is to say someone has
"shit themselves" e.g. "I just shit mysel an am stankin' [stinking].". This
was a bit strange to a Nottingham English speaker, as it means soiling
oneself accidentally. I never heard anyone in Western Australia say "fart":
there was always a turn of phrase employed instead, e.g., "Who's dropped
their lunchbox/guts?"

"Burp."

Same. Although again turn of phrase (probably brought about by taboo) is
more likely to be employed, as in "I wo jus nilly sick in mi maaf." (I was
just nearly sick in my mouth meaning a strong belch). Belch is about as
likely to be heard as burp, if you'll pardon the pun.

"Tits."

I got the sense as a child that "tits" was a informal loanword perhaps
brought about by service in the army. "Boobs" in the natural term to a
Nottingham English speakers, and I've heard "dugs" on more than one
occasion.

"Balls."

Always bollocks. Bollocks is used far more elastically than balls, too,
e.g., "Uh you gunnuh kol thuh landlord uh baat this eatin?" "Am ah
bollucks." (Are you going to call the landlord about this heating?" "Am I
bollocks.")

It's the most versatile word in my vocabulary after fuck and can be inserted
almost anywhere. "Ah, bollucks" is what I would say for "OH shit.", with the
emphasis on the "ah". If I narrowly averted getting hit by a car (which I
have done on my occasions in this city), I'd say "OOH bollocks"... ooh
[u:w:] seems the natural verbal expressant of shock/relief, whereas ah [ae:]
is used for exasperation, stress, etc.

A very inventive term I heard in Western Australia for testicles was
"cluster". It cracked me up then and it's cracking me up now, because it's
so clever.

"Piss."

Always piss, never pish. Used in the same way as Scots, although I would
say, "Pissin *it* daan" (note the inclusion of "it"), "Rippin *thuh* piss".

Penis

"Willy" when you're younger, then afterwards "knob" and "cock". "Dick" seems
to be imported.

Arse.

Same.

And that's it.

Bollucks tuh this! :) (Meaning I've other things I *have* to do now, not
meaning in any way that I have not enjoyed writing this letter).

Go raibh maith agaibh

Críostóir.

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From: Elsie Zinsser <ezinsser at simpross.co.za>
Subject: LL-L "Lexicon" 2002.10.29 (05) [E/A]

Haai all,

Here are the Afrikaans equivalents of Sandy's list.
Some might be my family specific:

>  "F" and "C" Words:

/f/ is one of the few Afrikaans words starting with an /f/. I suspect it
should be spelled
with a /v/. [I only realized at age 42 that my parents knew the word
too.]

/c/ is spelled with a /k/.

> "Fart"

Formal: wind laat
Casual: poep

> "Burp"

Formal: wind opbreek
Younger people: E. "burp"
We use "kraak" in my family.

> "Tits"

Formal: borste
Rude: tiete

> "Balls"

Informal: Knaters,
Formal: Testikels [My secondary school Biology handbook in the late 60's
still had it as
"teelballe"]

> "Piss"

Informal: pie {pronounce: pee}, piepie
Formal: water laat
Rude: pis

Also: "sy pis alweer" - she's lacrymose again.
"gepis" - drunk.

> "Penis" - "Tossle" /tos=l/

Informal (not rude): tros, trossie, [tolleman is used in my family]

> "Arse"

Rude: gat, poepol, hol
Acceptable: anus, agterwereld

Incidentally "gatsak" is a back pocket, and quite acceptable. ("gat"
means "hole" - in a roof, or in flooring)

Regards,
Elsie Zinsser

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From: R. F. Hahn sassisch at yahoo.com
Subject: Lexicon

I wrote:

> > "Penis"
>
> noun: Pint [p_hInt] (masc., pl. ___s)
>       Pieler(t) ['p_hi:l3`(t)] (masc., pl. __s)
>       Piedel ['p_hi:dl=] (masc., pl. __s)
>       Piehahn ~ Piehaan ['p_hi:hQ:n] (masc., pl. __s)
>       R: Pisser ['pIs3`] (masc., pl. __s)
>       R: Dödel ['d9:dl=] (masc., pl. __s)
>       Pesel ['p_he:sl=]  masc., pl. __s) [mostly of animals]

Add to this lovely array the following:

noun: Niller ['nIl3`] (masc., pl. ___s)
      Diller ['dIl3`] (masc., pl. ___s)
      Diddel ['dIdl=] (masc., pl. ___s)

> > "Burp"
>
> verb: MP: upstöten ['?Upst9Itn=]
>       MP: upbolken ['?UpbolkN=]
>       MP: upkolken ['?UpkolkN=]

Also:

      MP: upbölken ['?Upb9lkN=]
      MP: böllern ['b9l3`n]

What really interests me about words of this type is tabooization,
replacement and their consequences.  For instance, I have noticed that at
least older Lowlands Saxon (Low German) speakers in Germany, or anyone
feeling the need to sound more polite tends to use the more polite *German*
equivalents or loan translations for such words to make them sound more
"medical" or "clinical."

To give you a classic example for what I called "tabooization" and
"replacement" above I have to resort to a language that, although also
Germanic, is outside the Lowlands area: Yiddish.  As most Americans know,
"shmock" is a swearword derived from Yiddish.  Usually people call a person
a "shmock," typically a male, and some people know that the original meaning
is 'penis', and they use it for in that sense in some contexts, especially
on the American east coast.  What is interesting is that Yiddish _shmok_ or
_shmuk_ seems to have really started out as a replacement for a tabooized
word.  (Thus, similar to "family jewels" for "testicles" in English.)  The
original meaning of Yiddish _shmok_ or _shmuk_ is 'jewelry', 'finery',
'decoration', obviously related to German _Schmuck_ (verb _schmücken_ 'to
decorate'), LS _Smuck_ (adj. _smuck_ 'pretty', verb _smuck maken_ 'to
decorate', 'to embellish'), Danish _udsmykning_ (verb _smykke_, _udsmykke_),
Swedish _smykke_ (verb _utsmycka_), perhaps also (Old English _smoc_ >)
"smock" (a type of garment) and verbal "to smock" > "smocking" (a special
type of decorative garment stitching).  As far as I can tell, because of the
replacement, Yiddish does not seem to use _shmok_ or _shmuk_ in the original
sense anymore, though the derived noun _shmokler_ ~ _shmukler_ 'lacemaker'
survives.  The word for 'jewelry', 'finery', 'decoration' tends to be
_cirung_ (cf. German _Zier_ 'prettiness', _Zierde_ 'embellishment', etc., LS
_Tier_ 'prettiness', 'delicate or affectedly fine manner').  So it seems the
taboo replacement word then became tabooized itself and also came to be used
as a swerword.  Perhaps you can come up with similar cases in Lowlands
languages.

Regards,
Reinhard/Ron

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