I was personally amused when "Four Weddings and a Funeral" was shown on American television. Naturally, to suit the censors they had to change the inital several words of dialogue (the F word repeatedly uttered after Hugh Grant's character oversleeps the day of a wedding).

What amused me was the substitution they chose: Bugger. That's not particularly considered a swear word here, and is even used by churchgoing folks who don't want to take the Lord's name in vain by saying damn.

They obviously have no conception of the original meaning of the word, which many would consider filthier than the word they were replacing.



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"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith

Remionds me of a guy who was talking on the radio about having to give up swearing to stop his kid from picking it up. Being a logical chap he decided to exchange the syllables of 'bugger' to 'gubug' whenever he felt the need to swear. All went well, and even though his son latched on to the cussing, it wasn't going to offend anybody. Unfortunately it became his favourite word. This wouldn't have been a problem, until visting Granny one day, when he decided to repeat the word, at a high frequency...

"gubugubugubugubugubuggerbuggerbuggerbugger...."



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

I had a pair of hard-to-fasten mary jane dress shoes as a child. Apparently on one occassion when we were visiting my dad's folks, my grandmother was trying to put them on me to go to chuch, and having difficulty. I told her that it was okay because "Mom always has trouble with those damn buckles" too.

I'm sure that was just what mom wanted me to say to her mother-in-law.

And apparently on one other occassion we had a fairly straight-laced couple over for dinner, and my little brother and I were downstairs playing with their daughters. I reputedly came upstairs, announced to the room at large that my brother was an @sshole, and then went back downstairs.

I have no recollection of the incident, but I'm sure he deserved it.



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"I've often said that the difference between British and American SF TV series is that the British ones have three-dimensional characters and cardboard spaceships, while the Americans do it the other way around."
--Ross Smith

I picked up a 'healthy' vocabulary on the terraces of football matches quite early on in life. There was one time when a bunch of fans near to me and my father noticed me and tried very hard to cut out the swearing. After one particularly harsh foul they were really struggling to find words for their anger 'Referee, I dare say that was a little bit unfair you silly person' doesnt really unleash one's feelings. Fortunately for them I was bouncing up and down on my chair unleashing a volley of high-pitched expletives.

My Dad swears he saw them all blush...



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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.

My family always had a relitive approach to swaering. If I'd just dropped a huge rock on my foot, I'm allowed a few F words. On the other hand, if it was just that one of the cats needed letting in, all I could get away with was a bloody, maybe a bugger.
But then, working in a pub kitchen no only desensitises you to all forms of language, but you also learn a whole new set of even worse expletives...



.

In my husband's family, they really don't swear much. You hear the occasional "crap" or "damn" but it's rare. However, his mother, likes to drop the "sh*t bomb" in times of stress and usually quite loudly...

One weekend we had just gotten back from one of the boys' soccer games and we had gone to Burger King for lunch. And the restaurant was PACKED and very loud. Well, in the process of trying to steal the van keys, my husband's little brother knocked over my mother-in-law's large and very hot cup of coffee...mostly onto my husband. But it was my mother-in-law who screamed out, "SHIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!!!!!!"

The whole busy restaurant went silent....until the quiet was broken by a little girl who said to her mother, "<GASP> Mom! She said a BAAAAD word!" At which point, we burst out laughing! I thought my father-in-law was going to have an annurism right there in the middle of Burger King! The rest of the restaurant laughed and got back to business while my husband tried to clean himself off. Thankfully, he wasn't hurt, but this story has become legend in our family and we can make her blush with every telling!

I was taking my little cousin home a few years ago (she was about 2 or 3), some *(^% cut me up in the car. I let fly an expletive or three. Realising that I shouldn't have said it with Jina in the car, I said 'oops, sorry Jina...' This little voice from the back seat came back with 'My daddy says that...'

I had to pull over I was laughing so hard..

I won't say what were the first portuguese words my boyfriend learnt...

and i used to think i could get away with swearing in portuguese!
:-)

I used to go to school with a lot of Polish kids. The only words of Polish I ever knew were all rude. (I've forgotten them all now).

The only Irish phrase I could ever commit to memory was Pog ma mhon. Which is less poetic than eating cats, but more effective as a rejoinder, I feel.



- - -
I am very interested in the Universe. I am specialising in the Universe and everything surrounding it. - E. L. Wisty

Did you know that 'Pog ma mhon' was the original name chosen for themselves by the pop group who became 'The Pogues'? Apparently somebody senior at the record company made them change it when he found out what it meant...

Yes, I knew that, since I am divorced from an Irish musician who regularly used to pass on such interesting snippets. Some of them I really didn't want to know. Oh well, he's his new girlfriend's problem now!



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That which does not kill us makes us stranger.
(Llewelyn the dragon, Ozy and Millie)

Sarah

I knew that, and believe that at least one of us posted it on a previous thread, although I wouldn't recomend trying to find out which, lol



PSD

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This is the work of an Italian narco-anarchic collective. Don't bother insulting them, they can't read English anyway.