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The Delightful Perversity of Québec's Catholic Swear Words
- GnarfGnarf 10y agoHostie d'tabarnak d'enfant d'chienne de calisse de saint-ciboire de crisse de trou d'cul...
- cornelius747 10y agoHostie de calisse de mongol de tabarnak d'épais de crisse de sacrament de trou de viarge!
- tonyarkles 10y agoThanks, you two, for the chuckle! I did French Immersion for primary school and my brain exploded. "YOU CAN'T SAY THAT! YOU'LL GET IN TROUBLE!"
- alasano 10y agoCan't forget the polite yet still religious based versions. Being very mad --> Être en saint s'il-vous-plaît
- simlevesque 10y agoDécrisse avant que j'te dévisse !
- gnuvince 10y agoEsprit de tabarnouche de p'tit vlimeux de caline de saint-cibole de crime de péteux...
- SFJulie 10y agoIt's not merde, it's mârde. Y' devrait me donner une piasse pour ça. Kâlisse de saint Simonach. Btw piasse is pronounced between a pièce (coin in french) and piastre (spanish ancient money) that was used a lot by smugglers. And tabernâk, he forgot to speak about the "pot" (prounouced pote). An old quebecan band with english subtitles to improve your quebecan :) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5gidM31MCM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v5gidM31MCM
- cornelius747 10y agoWhen you said old I was expecting Offenbach or Beau Dommage not Les Colocs. I can't believe it's been 17 years. RIP Dédé.
- SFJulie 10y agoSometimes I miss Montréal and the music. I am back in Europa, and I long for the live music in this place. Is this song https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuHODi3Ry2o https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XuHODi3Ry2o Acceptable for the right pronounciation? Grim Skunk- Mange d'la marde Montréal is fortunately underrated (except by some maudit f....), I hope it will never become the new San Francisco.
- cornelius747 10y agoGrimSkunk is quintessential quebecois through and through. They're rolling their r's a bit more than is usual for effect, the song has a humorous tone. I really hope we don't become like San Francisco either, but the hipsterisation of the city is very palpable, unfortunately. The music scene is still as awesome as ever though.
- dpc59 10y agoMontréal will never become some kind of new San Francisco, if we could elect better politicians than fucking liberal party affiliates we could be more like portland, denver and seattle though.
- carlob 10y agoFWIW some other catholic countries have beautiful blasphemous profanities: Italy and Spain come to mind, but I'm pretty sure Poland has some too. In Italy profanities that attack religion are so pretty much a taboo that is weird to foreigners: you can have a prime time tv show with full frontal nudity and some violence, but you will not hear swearing against god until after midnight. Edited to reflect a comment by gattilorenz
- icebraining 10y agoFor interested people, I recommend Your Mother's Tongue: A Book Of European Invective by Stephen Burgen. While it doesn't cover Quebec, it's an extremely funny and informative cross-continent compendium, and I think it reveals quite a lot of the culture of different countries and peoples.
- gattilorenz 10y agoI don't think the description of the italian situation is quite correct: it seems to me that "regular" profanity is much less censored, nowadays. On the other hand, "blasphemous" profanity (swearing at $DEITY) is still a no-no, even after midnight, and a sure way to get suspended from TV, even though you can easily hear people on the street saying that aloud in some regions (for example Tuscany, Veneto, Trentino and Friuli). By the way, in Trentino we also say "osti" (host) as a plain exclamation, exactly as in Québec.
- carlob 10y agoYou're right, when I wrote profanity, I meant blasphemous profanity not scatological or sexual profanity. I'll edit my comment. Thanks
- vdl0107 10y agoIn Argentina -also catholic- is not uncommon to hear "Me cago en Dios" (I shit in God) or "La concha de Dios" (God's pussy/God's cunt) not to swear another one but to express disgust with some event -e.g: the rival team scores a goal-
- tosseraccount 10y agozounds crikey blimey godamit gadzooks egad darn English ha[s,d] the same thing.
- alasano 10y agoFirst time seeing my province on HN. Swearing in Québec feels like an extension of your body and even the most well spoken people give in to the treat that are our swear words. I'm always reminded of this quote from the Matrix trilogy (although relating to French from France). Merovingian: Yes, of course, who has time? Who has time? But then if we do not ever take time, how can we ever have time? Chiteau Haut-Brion 1959, magnificent wine, I love French wine, like I love the French language. I have sampled every language, French is my favourite - fantastic language, especially to curse with. Nom de Dieu de putain de bordel de merde de saloperies de connards d'enculis de ta mire. You see, it's like wiping your ass with silk, I love it.
- kspaans 10y agoI'm roughly a quarter French-Canadien and grew up in North-Eastern Ontario near the border. My french education has been a blend of Parisian and Québecois. I remember taking a very enlightening french class at UWaterloo: FR373 History of French-English Bilingualism. My favourite anecdote was of French tourists visiting Québec after it was "rediscovered" by France, and being surprised when their sex-based swears didn't phase the Canadians and similarly the church-based swears didn't bother the French.
- alasano 10y agoProfane Symbiosis, it's the root of our relationship with the french people.
- make3 10y agod'enculé de ta mère (*)
- deleted 10y ago[deleted]
- mraison 10y agoI'm also reminded of this nice Wikipedia article (in French) about Captain Haddock's insults: https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocabulaire_du_capitaine_Haddock https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vocabulaire_du_capitaine_Haddo... Apparently those were used to replace actual swear words, that may have been inappropriate for children.
- john_fushi 10y agoSome songs to practice hearing the sacres : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM05U9rHdwY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jM05U9rHdwY - Fourrer https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2sClLoRFOM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2sClLoRFOM - Enfant de Chienne https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daE5bOnYNNY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=daE5bOnYNNY - god bless the topless https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3Ol8wIYoPQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3Ol8wIYoPQ - la petite grenouille
- john_fushi 10y agoAnd a more 'meta' song on the subject : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgiNoNqYXMA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AgiNoNqYXMA
- tormeh 10y agoAs a Norwegian, I find English profanity to be pretty tame. It all means the same, but I think we have more pathos: "May the devil take you" and "go hang yourself" has to be the highlights....
- semi-extrinsic 10y agoThere is also quite an interesting geographical variation in swearing in Norway. In the northern parts, swearing is sufficiently common that it's legal to call a policeman "you horse cock".
- pcrh 10y agoThe English are masters of the subtle insult, though. This is usually illustrated by quoting Churchill, for example: Bessie Braddock to Churchill -- "Winston, you're drunk!" Churchill: "Bessie, you're ugly, and tomorrow morning I shall be sober" Edit: there was a great one on TV yesterday, one politician was commenting on the former London Mayor Boris Johnson's stance in the upcoming referendum on the UK's continued membership of the EU and said: "He is far too intelligent to believe what he said." http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36401104 http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-eu-referendum-36401104
- sheraz 10y agoAgreed -- the Brits are in a class of their own when it comes to wit. They can tell you to fuck off, and you are actually happy to do so :-)
- pcrh 10y agoThere you go, quoting Churchill :-) Winston S. Churchill — 'Diplomacy is the art of telling people to go to hell in such a way that they ask for directions.'
- david-given 10y agoOoh! Ooh! Churchill quotations! Lady Astor: "Sir, if you were my husband, I'd poison your tea." Winston Churchill: "Madame, if you were my wife, I'd drink it."
- fungos 10y agoAs an immigrant that have chosen Québec, I can say that one of the various reasons why I've chose this province (and city for the matter) is this distancing from religion and as a bonus the catholic bad words. I simple love it and I love the history of how this come to be. But tabarnak, even after some years here I'm not able to use it naturally. The english words always get out instinctively, even english being my third language!
- alasano 10y agoI'm also an immigrant in Québec (and Québec City), I've been here for 17 years though so I basically grew up a Québecois after having been a little German boy and being born in Bosnia. Where are you from originally?
- fungos 10y agoI'm from Brazil. I'm about 3,5 years in Québec City now.
- olalonde 10y agoEven if it doesn't sound natural we like it when you try (especially the swear words) :)
- fungos 10y agoYeah true! Others reactions to when I succeed at using is amazing :)
- t1m 10y agoI am an anglo who speaks french (like an anglo) and don't think I have amused my Quebecois friends more than when I used 'tabernouche' in a conversation. It's a bit of a pro-tip for anglos - you can sound a bit crass going full-on tabernak calise etc., but droping the 'tabernouche' with anglo accent wins every time.
- justratsinacoat 10y ago
- Globz 10y agoVive le Québec Tabarnak!!! If only we could get better politicians and move forward instead of being stuck in infinite corruption.
- jordigh 10y agoC'est beau le joual! http://mononc.com/chanson/le-joual/ http://mononc.com/chanson/le-joual/ A funny thing to observe, as the article notes: the verb "fuck" will be conjugated in French, as attested by "fucké" in the lyrics above, but it's not really a big deal in French. It's not taboo language like "tabarnak" is. One thing the article says is that the cursing is completely meaningless. It is not. For example, "câlisser" as a verb means to throw something violently: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/c%C3%A2lisser https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/c%C3%A2lisser This isn't interchangeable with other taboo words. I don't think tabarnak even has a verb form.
- realo 10y agoYes, tabarnak has a verb form: "Je vais t'en tabarnaker une si tu continues." e.g. "I will (provide you violently) a punch you if you continue." tabarnaker: to do with violence
- jordigh 10y agoNeat! I didn't know! Your Wiktionary needs you! https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/tabarnaker https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/tabarnaker But that does sound interchangeable with câlisse, then, isn't it? You can't say "je vais te tabarnaker" avec le même sens qu'avec "câlisser" (sans les mots "en" et "une", je veux dire).
- alasano 10y agoThe most common usage is indeed calisse when used in the expression the poster above you described. "Je vais t'en calisser une si tu continues" also appropriate is "Je vais t'en crisser une si tu continues" Tabarnaker is very funny though and not commonly used in that way, although people would understand it would be weird.
- realo 10y agoWell... it is a bit more complicated than that... "Câlisse-moi patience" : leave me alone "J'ai décalissé le char" : I wrecked the car "Tabarnak-moi patience" : NOT USED. NO ONE SAYS THAT.
- B1FF_PSUVM 10y ago> "For example, ma blonde means 'my girlfriend.'" As in "Auprés de ma blonde, qu'il fait bon, fait bon", e.g. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjEIVO9Xitk https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AjEIVO9Xitk
- spudlyo 10y agoMy favorite curse comes by way of Maledicta which is a scholarly journal on verbal aggression. If I recall this particular curse was Hungarian in origin. This curse is sexual, scatalogical, and blasphemous. If you are offended by such things, I'd suggest you read no further. "Oh Lord, why are you slapping me with your cock, which is covered in shit from fucking Jesus!?"
- jstoiko 10y ago"Little" correction: the word "Enculé" is a more specific kind of "Fucked", it means "Fucked in the ass". It has the word "cul" in it which means "ass".
- dghf 10y ago> ... and should you get in trouble with the law, it's going to be time to find a Francophile lawyer. Maybe, but a francophone one would be more immediate use.
- sxcurry 10y agoI grew up in Quebec, speaking English, but can still hear my friends with their "maudit tabarnak" and "sacre bleu".
- plugh123 10y agoSo, if these are the same words that apply to Catholic worship, do the priests have to use euphemisms for tabernacle and host?
- jfabre 10y agoNot really (I don't go to church). All swear words are pronounced differently from the actual word (see 'joual' on google). The priest (or anybody else) can say the word in proper french and it won't be heard as a swear word. Also, I think it has to do with how you use the word. When it's a noun, it's pretty clear that you're not swearing.
- fanf2 10y agoThe film "Bon Cop Bad Cop" has a great scene in which the Quebec cop explains to the Toronto cop how to swear properly. Sadly it is dufficult to get a copy of the film with subtitles that do justice to the script, especially in the UK.
- justinnhli 10y agoHere's the clip in question: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U72QVCgh_Q https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U72QVCgh_Q
- mattdeboard 10y agoHey I know some related but irrelevant trivia! "Ostia" is a curse in Spain, with the same etymology as the "osti" et al. in the article.
- shermanyo 10y agoLived with a Canadian, can confirm. I still mutter "tabarnak" when I drop something in the kitchen :P