Ill start:
“Me cago en tus muertos” - ill shit all over your dead relatives. Spanish.
Teletubbyzurückwinker.
Someone that waves back at the Teletubbies.
This is by far the best one.
No harsh words or vulgarity but lots of emotional damage.
Schnitzelkind. Breaded-veal kid (wienerschnitzel / milanesa). Basically a kid so ugly, that the parents needed to put a schnitzel around his neck so that at least the dogs would play with him.
Is that what it means? We had a kid at school everyone just referred to as “Schnitzeljunge”, never knew where that name came from.
Triangeljosti.
The Jostiband is a Dutch orchestra for people with a developmental disability, mainly people with down syndrome.
A [triangle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_(musical_instrument\)) , or triangel in Dutch, is possibly the simplest instrument you can think of.
So calling someone a ‘triangeljosti’ is basically comparing them to someone who plays the simplest possible instrument in a band for developmentally disabled people.
That’s so specific. lmao
That just sounds like ableism
Well, yeah, it’s an insult so it’s not exactly meant to be flattering for either the insulted party or the person they are being compared to.
- Rikudou_Sage ( @rikudou@lemmings.world ) 22•2 years ago
I mean, OP asked for insults. You should be prepared to see some you don’t like (which is the point of an insult after all).
It absolutely is. Many insults are.
As an autistic I aprove, if you arent saying this to a ND or mentally disabled person.
I mean if any intelligence-based insult is, this one certainly is. The thing is it is better to be smart than not, so trying to shut those all down is probably a fool’s errand.
I’m wheezing. Never heard it before but the image is livid in my head.
This reminds me of the not-very-edifying-at-all moment when “joey” became a universal term of abuse in UK playgrounds.
Never heard that one being used, though.
It’s not super common but I do hear it on occasion.
Salame
Yes that’s right, it means salami and in spanish it’s used to call someone an idiot. Soft insult, but I use it, and saying so and so is a salami in english would only get me weird looks.
English has https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gammon_(insult)
That’s interesting, I didn’t know. It seems gammon makes reference to the color red and to anger, and according to the link, it has some political connotations. None of that is applicable to salame, it’s not so much about being angry or hot headed in any way, it’s just a way to say someone isn’t the sharpest tool in the shed.
same in Italian
What’s the specific meaning of the insult? Maybe we can think of a good English equivalent.
There is no specific meaning, a good translation would be a twat or a dummy. Why salame out of all things? I have no idea.
We have meathead…
Definition of meathead seems to check out, but Ive always seen it used with the burly/jock type of connotation. Never heard anyone call a cute child, or a businessman, or a hot looking girl a meathead, but maybe I’m wrong as usage may vary in different places.
No you’re spot on. Sausage remains “not directly translatable” I guess.
While not my native language, in Japanese, many insulting things to call people are often translated as English curses, but actually are just increasingly disrespectful ways to refer to the listener. The actual translation for them is just “you” but not respectful. This might not be a complete list, but I got most of them at least.
Anata - Polite way of saying “you” but not often used in conversation except between spouses or lovers. It’s preferred to use the listener’s name instead.
Kimi - Rude in a polite setting, but not explicitly disrespectful, necessarily.
Omae - Now you’re on the level of picking a fight, but good friends often use this for each other.
Temee - Extremely disrespectful
Kisama - Extremely disrespectful
Kono yarou - Extremely disrespectful
I’m not a native speaker, but I’ve heard Japanese doesn’t have any outright curses. That is, there are no words which are always bad, just bad in certain contexts.
Omae and Kisama were how one would refer to emperors. There are no more emperors so referring to someone that way is always sarcastic.
Yup, that’s why I mentioned they were disrespectful, but are often translated as curses for English understanding.
What about “baka” or “bakaro” whatever the difference is, which I’ve heard countless times translated as “idiot” in anime?
Baka and it’s various forms are actually stupid, fool, idiot, and the like. Calling someone stupid is a pretty common way to insult them, so if you see that, it’s probably pretty literal
I don’t know the word but there’s one Japanese word that means “stupid” but is basically the equivalent to the r-word in English. It’s banned from being said on Japanese television.
The word you’re probably thinking of is kichigai. But there are oceans of words that you can’t use on TV in Japan as I understand it, and there have been since the 70s.
Naruhito?
m*nko begs to differ.
Really interesting. I watch anime occasionally and I’ve been wondering about this. But suddenly the dramatic shoutouts between the good guys and the big bad makes a little bit more sense.
I’d be glad to hear more examples!
“Omae wa mou shindeiru”
“NANI?!”
German: “Dich soll der Blitz beim Scheißen treffen” - Lightning shall strike you while you’re taking a shit
Best insult ever, imo.
“Spargeltarzan”, which is German for “asparagus Tarzan”. Basically someone who is physically weak, but tall and lanky.
I also like “Lauch”, which just translates to “leek”, the veggie. Oh, and “Bohnenstange”, which means bean stalk. We do seem to have quite a few vegetable-related insults in German, now that I think of it…
Wir sind halt auch Kartoffeln
In Chile, not really an insult but rather a lament over how dumb people are sometimes:
“Si los weones volaran, pasaría nublado” (If dumb people could fly it would always be cloudy)
In Germany we have the saying: “Herr lass Hirn regnen. Oder Backsteine. Egal Hauptsache du triffst!”
Which roughly translates to: “lord let it rain brains or bricks. Doesn’t matter as long as it hits”
Yiddish is not my native language but I think this one is so good it absolutely deserves a mention:
All of your teeth shall fall out except one that gives you a massive toothache.
Portuguese is full of these, but how about vai pra casa do caralho.
Which roughly translates to “go to the dick’s home”, basically another way of saying “go fuck yourself”, but even more vulgar somehow.
Portuguese here. “Diz que vais cagar e baza”, which translates to “Say you go shit and get outa here”, when someone is not welcome.
Oh, another one: “deves comer gelados com a testa”, which translates to “you must eat icecream with your forehead”, a not so soft way to call someone stoopid
forehead, not forefront. :)
Corrected. Thanks :-)
You’re welcome! I should have added that it’s at least the translation from Brazilian Portuguese, since it seems like yours is Portuguese Portuguese. I hope it translates the same.
Brazil “eu caguei e andei” (I shat and walked). Functionally equivalent to “I don’t give a shit” but in Portuguese one actually shits but doesn’t care to wipe and walks away or walks at the same as is shitting.
I’ve heard ‘caralho’ used to be the name for the lookout on top of a ship’s mast (later turned into yet another word for dick) and sailors were sent to duty on the caralho as punishment?
I’m not Portuguese though, so if any native could confirm …
That’s what I’ve heard too, I don’t know how accurate that is though.
Caralho, aka Gavea, being the crow’s nest (the highest spot on the ship) is correct, though it’s uncommon knowledge. No idea when it was phased out of “professional” usage. As for why it became slang for dick, it’s a big and hard mast with a noticeable “head” at the top.
Mandar alguém para o dito já é insulto que chegue, quanto mais dizer-lhes para lhe encontrar a morada…
Another portuguese gem: “tens um parafuso a menos”, which means “you have a missing bolt” (LOL), a way to call someone crazy
In polish, calling people with the neutral gender. It’s a grave insult which implies lack of agency and dehumanisation, and thank to some rightwinger assholes in parliament is also a specific transphobic insult now.
While in english it’s completely normal thing to say if you’re not sure of a person’s gender.
So definitely not my “favourite”, i would never said this to anyone in polish and i occasionally get a hiccup of misgendering someone in english because of that, but interesting from language point of view.
Is it kind of like calling someone “it” as an insult in English?
I’d say so, and I’ve seen it used in the same transphobic contexts.
Pretty much yes, the closest thing that would be.
Băga-mi-aș pula-n coliva mă-tii de să-mi sară coaiele din bomboană-n bomboană
This is a highly niche one in my native language as well, as one must also know what is colivă - it’s basically a desert that we eat at funerals with m&m-sized candies in it as well. So it roughly translates let me stick my dick in your mother’s coliva so hard that my balls jump from candy to candy
Does the insult mean the colivā is served at your mother’s funeral, or that it’s the colivā your mother made? Also in what kind of context you use this insult?
That is elaborate, vulgar, and 100% delightful. I love hearing stuff like this. Cursing in American English is so boring lol
In Bulgaria we have the very creative insult „You’re as sharp as an edge on a round table”, which I find pretty amusing
Cartoon character Foghorn Leghorn, a caricature of an American southern gentleman, comes pretty close when he describes another character as “about as sharp as a bowling ball”
Wow so much lost in translation. I grew up with dubbed looney tunes, never knew he was supposed to be a gentleman let alone that it had a regional flavour. For me it was just a quirky rooster.
“Κλάσε μου τα αρχίδια” which literally stands for “fart my balls” in Greek.
It’s a way of telling someone to go fuck himself.
Which can also be lovely further embellished such as “πάρε φορά και κλάσε μου τ’αρχιδια” (“take momentum and fart my testicles”) or “θα μου κλάσεις μια μάντρα αρχίδια” (“You’ll fart me a yard of testicles”, usually utilized as a defiant answer to a physical threat)
My personal favourites from Finnish.
“Ei ole kaikki muumit Muumilaaksossa” “Not having all the Moomins in Moomin Valley” Used for people who are either stupid or lack sanity. There are other variants of this and Moomin one is not older than a couple of decades.
I find our version of Grammar Nazi pretty great. We call them comma fuckers.
“Ei voi kauhalla ottaa jos on lusikalla annettu” “You can’t take with a ladle if it was given with a spoon”. This refers also to a lack of something, usually a lack of intelligence or sense.
Comma fuckers, lol. Do you guys say it in English or is there a Finnish version?
In Finnish. Pilkunnussija is the word.
“Not having all the Moomins in Moomin Valley”
That’s totally something we’ll use. Thanks :D Also I’m stealing that. I’m stealing that insult and Americanizing it and you can’t stop me
Just be warned Moomins are a gateway to communism (Weird internet theory). Or at least to more Moomins. We literally have Moomin everything here.
Moomins are life though
In Denmark you have:
- Paragraph Knight - someone who cares too much about rules and regulations.
- Fly Fucker - someone who cares too much about something deeply insignificant.
In German there is “Paragraphenreiter” - Paragraph rider.
Here are a few Austrian ones:
“Häferl” (Cup): someone with anger management issues
“Du rüttelst am Watschenbaum” (You are shaking the slap tree): I’m close to deliver the fruit of said tree to you.
“Ohrwaschlkaktus” (Ear cactus): Someone with large, protruding ears
“Saubauch” (Hog belly): A way of telling someone that they are fat and dumb at the same time. But in a nice way.
I’m definitely gonna start working “You’re shaking the slap tree!” into my rotation.
That’s amazing.