6 ms·

I'd say yes, but to some extent. My native tongue is Russian, but i'm also fluent in English. I often find myself cursing like a sailor in English (mostly in a

by avenoir 10y ago

I'd say yes, but to some extent. My native tongue is Russian, but i'm also fluent in English. I often find myself cursing like a sailor in English (mostly in a group of close friends) while I find cursing in Russian absolutely disgusting. This is hard to explain, but when I say "fuck" and "shit" it really doesn't mean much to me because it isn't said in my native language. Somehow it doesn't register as me cursing the same way it does when I curse in Russian. If i do slip and curse in Russian i always catch myself right away and then feel bad about it for a few hours. I always found this weird and wonder if anybody else experiences it this way? PS. It makes me wonder how much of it has to do with Russian cursing being more "colorful" for a lack of a better word and more diverse than in English. You can make a dictionary of Russian curse words which will rival English lol. I'm exaggerating of course, but it's a pretty massive vocabulary of vulgar terms.

nier 10y ago
There were consequences for swearing in my mother tongue. I’m not only talking about my own trespasses. You hear someone say a bad word, you can reasonably expect somebody voicing their problem with that. It’s social control. It changed me to have barriers when it comes to certain words. There was no such opposition in my consumption of English language movies and music.
robteix 10y ago
I am the same. I curse a lot in English and French (I live in Quebec) but I can't stand cursing in my native language. I always shared your theory too. I think we are somehow shielded from the cultural baggage of foreign swear words. They're just "funny" instead of offensive.
yepgo 10y ago
Same situation here. My first language is Russian and i find myself using curse words more freely in English than I do in Russian. For some time it felt like following some kind of "double standard", but then I realized it has to do a lot with the differences in cultures and how it shapes the way we speak in different languages. Words like "fucking" etc. are more engrained in everyday language and life in the English-speaking world and are used by mostly everyone. For instance, one of my professors who has a great sense of humour is known for dropping the f bomb during his lectures. This is always followed by the burst of laughter by us students. I cannot imagine the same situation and reaction happening with one of the Russian equivalents for F word if the university professor would use it publicly. Russian curse words do sounds more rough and offensive to me, but I think it has to do with culture. I think there is a greater separation between the slang/curse language and "elevated" language in Russia than in the English-speaking world.
rocgf 10y ago
You're definitely not the only one, I've talked about this with friends and it's quite common, as far as I can tell. I swear in my native language too, but I perceive it very differently in English. If someone calls me a "twat" or something like that, I'd probably not even register it. Also, I think of certain words (for example "nigger", "paki") like completely meaningless words, not that I ever used them.
- elros 10y ago
  Regarding your second paragraph: I find the English word "cunt" extremely interesting, because my own native languages (French and Portuguese) simply do not have any words that convey the level of offensiveness that seems to be communicated by it. I guess this probably has to do with English speaking societies being, generally, way more prudish than French or Portuguese speaking societies.
int_19h 10y ago
Same exact thing here, also Russian/English. I think this is due to early childhood condition we received. You're also from a "good family", aren't you? The kind where swearing anywhere around adults would earn an immediate reprimand and lecture about good behavior, and you were told very early on that other kids who swear are bad apples?
anaxag0ras 10y ago
You remind me of Osho's talk on the word 'Fuck'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2lNFikMFdY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2lNFikMFdY
taneq 10y ago
You aren't alone - I'm a native English speaker, and when I was traveling in Germany I noticed that the Germans were far more liberal with their cursing in English than (as far as I could tell) they were when speaking German.
Karlozkiller 10y ago
In a translation course I took at university they told me that when translating subtitles from English to Swedish the translators often take a lesser curse word in Swedish, as it is perceived by Swedes that the equivalent word in Swedish is generally more offensive than its English counterpart. So I would say it is at least somewhat general that native curse words are perceived rougher than foreign. And both languages have many curse words that technically mean the same thing. I also got very weird looks from students in the US when I started cursing in English there... Like I was summoning a demonspawn.
- Maultasche 10y ago
  That's interesting. In German, the equivalent word to an English curse word tends to be far less offensive (with a couple exceptions), usually to the point of being either totally innocuous or just slightly impolite. It was funny to hear little kids and old ladies loudly swearing in English in regular conversation because the German equivalent wasn't offensive. I found that the worse curse words in German were usually religion-oriented (crucifix!), and wouldn't even be considered remotely offensive in English.

by avenoir 10y ago

nier 10y ago

There were consequences for swearing in my mother tongue. I’m not only talking about my own trespasses. You hear someone say a bad word, you can reasonably expect somebody voicing their problem with that. It’s social control. It changed me to have barriers when it comes to certain words. There was no such opposition in my consumption of English language movies and music.

robteix 10y ago

I am the same. I curse a lot in English and French (I live in Quebec) but I can't stand cursing in my native language. I always shared your theory too. I think we are somehow shielded from the cultural baggage of foreign swear words. They're just "funny" instead of offensive.

yepgo 10y ago

Same situation here. My first language is Russian and i find myself using curse words more freely in English than I do in Russian. For some time it felt like following some kind of "double standard", but then I realized it has to do a lot with the differences in cultures and how it shapes the way we speak in different languages. Words like "fucking" etc. are more engrained in everyday language and life in the English-speaking world and are used by mostly everyone. For instance, one of my professors who has a great sense of humour is known for dropping the f bomb during his lectures. This is always followed by the burst of laughter by us students. I cannot imagine the same situation and reaction happening with one of the Russian equivalents for F word if the university professor would use it publicly. Russian curse words do sounds more rough and offensive to me, but I think it has to do with culture. I think there is a greater separation between the slang/curse language and "elevated" language in Russia than in the English-speaking world.

rocgf 10y ago

You're definitely not the only one, I've talked about this with friends and it's quite common, as far as I can tell. I swear in my native language too, but I perceive it very differently in English. If someone calls me a "twat" or something like that, I'd probably not even register it. Also, I think of certain words (for example "nigger", "paki") like completely meaningless words, not that I ever used them.

elros 10y ago
Regarding your second paragraph: I find the English word "cunt" extremely interesting, because my own native languages (French and Portuguese) simply do not have any words that convey the level of offensiveness that seems to be communicated by it. I guess this probably has to do with English speaking societies being, generally, way more prudish than French or Portuguese speaking societies.

int_19h 10y ago

Same exact thing here, also Russian/English. I think this is due to early childhood condition we received. You're also from a "good family", aren't you? The kind where swearing anywhere around adults would earn an immediate reprimand and lecture about good behavior, and you were told very early on that other kids who swear are bad apples?

anaxag0ras 10y ago

You remind me of Osho's talk on the word 'Fuck'. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2lNFikMFdY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2lNFikMFdY

taneq 10y ago

You aren't alone - I'm a native English speaker, and when I was traveling in Germany I noticed that the Germans were far more liberal with their cursing in English than (as far as I could tell) they were when speaking German.

Karlozkiller 10y ago

In a translation course I took at university they told me that when translating subtitles from English to Swedish the translators often take a lesser curse word in Swedish, as it is perceived by Swedes that the equivalent word in Swedish is generally more offensive than its English counterpart. So I would say it is at least somewhat general that native curse words are perceived rougher than foreign. And both languages have many curse words that technically mean the same thing. I also got very weird looks from students in the US when I started cursing in English there... Like I was summoning a demonspawn.

Maultasche 10y ago
That's interesting. In German, the equivalent word to an English curse word tends to be far less offensive (with a couple exceptions), usually to the point of being either totally innocuous or just slightly impolite. It was funny to hear little kids and old ladies loudly swearing in English in regular conversation because the German equivalent wasn't offensive. I found that the worse curse words in German were usually religion-oriented (crucifix!), and wouldn't even be considered remotely offensive in English.