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English curse words are actually pretty restricted compared to some other languages. Example: https://img.joemonster.org/mg/albums/userpics/10001/prefix.jpg ht

by ajuc 6y ago

English curse words are actually pretty restricted compared to some other languages. Example: https://img.joemonster.org/mg/albums/userpics/10001/prefix.jpg https://img.joemonster.org/mg/albums/userpics/10001/prefix.j... There's over 30 different pre- and post- fixes that can be added to any version of "fuck" (and Polish has several levels of vulgar verbs for "to fuck" coming from different roots: jebać, pierdolić, pieprzyć), and they each have slightly different primary and secondary meanings, for example: najebać/napierdolić (się) = to get completely drunk najebać/wjebać/wpieprzyć/wpierdolić (komuś) = to beat (someone) up jebnąć (w coś) = to hit (into something) podjebać/podpierdolić/podpieprzyć (coś) = to steal (something) podpierdolić/podjebać (kogoś) = to backstab (someone) spierdalać/spieprzać = to escape spierdolić/zjebać/spieprzyć = to fuck up something (you had a chance and wasted it in spectacular manner) wypierdolić/wyjebać/wypieprzyć (coś) = to throw (something) out wypierdolić/wyjebać/wypieprzyć (się) = to fall spectacularly wpierdolić (coś w/do czegoś) = to put (something in something) pierdolnąć (coś na coś) = to put (something on something) napierdolić/napieprzyć = to put too much of something nawpierdalać/nawpieprzać (się) = to eat too much wpierdolić (coś) = to eat a whole dish at once odjebało/odpierdoliło (mu) = (he) become insane wjebać/wpierdolić/wpieprzyć (się) = to get into inescapable situation because of your mistake odjebać/odpierdolić (coś) = to do (something) crazy/amazing/unbeliveable rozjebać/rozpierdolić/rozpieprzyć = to destroy something violently zapierdolić/zajebać (kogoś) = to kill (someone) the list goes on and on :) The root word determines the level of vulgarity and the pre/post fixes determine the meaning. These prefixes also work with nonvulgar words, but average word only supports several of them, not all at once. Most Slavic languages have similar constructions (but the exact meanings are often swapped).

wl 6y ago
You make the case that Polish uses affixes and inflection to convey meaning where English would use helper words. Fusional vs. analytic. That's not the same as the assertion that English curse words are pretty restrictive in comparison.
- ajuc 6y ago
  All of these words are variants of "to fuck", but instead of one root word (fuck) there's three (actually 4 - I forgot of "walić" - the least vulgar out of them) with different levels of vulgarity, and instead of less than 10 helper words there's dozens of pre- and post fixes-, and helper words also modify the meaning (to X someone vs to X something vs to X self can be completely unrelated). I can translate each of English vulgar fuck+sth into several versions of Polish fuck+sth. For example "fuck off" would be "odwal się" (mildly vulgar, but rude), "odpieprz się" (definitely vulgar) or "odpierdol się" (very vulgar). An in the meaning of "go out" "fuck off" would be "spieprzaj" or "spierdalaj". But there's no direct equivalents in English for most of the examples I gave in my previous post. Yes you can say "I fucking ate too much", but that's the equivalent of "zjadłem, kurwa, za dużo", and not of any of these verbs. The nuance is lost :) So I rest my case - cursing in English is very limited. Which isn't good or bad, just interesting how languages differ.

by ajuc 6y ago

wl 6y ago

You make the case that Polish uses affixes and inflection to convey meaning where English would use helper words. Fusional vs. analytic. That's not the same as the assertion that English curse words are pretty restrictive in comparison.

ajuc 6y ago
All of these words are variants of "to fuck", but instead of one root word (fuck) there's three (actually 4 - I forgot of "walić" - the least vulgar out of them) with different levels of vulgarity, and instead of less than 10 helper words there's dozens of pre- and post fixes-, and helper words also modify the meaning (to X someone vs to X something vs to X self can be completely unrelated). I can translate each of English vulgar fuck+sth into several versions of Polish fuck+sth. For example "fuck off" would be "odwal się" (mildly vulgar, but rude), "odpieprz się" (definitely vulgar) or "odpierdol się" (very vulgar). An in the meaning of "go out" "fuck off" would be "spieprzaj" or "spierdalaj". But there's no direct equivalents in English for most of the examples I gave in my previous post. Yes you can say "I fucking ate too much", but that's the equivalent of "zjadłem, kurwa, za dużo", and not of any of these verbs. The nuance is lost :) So I rest my case - cursing in English is very limited. Which isn't good or bad, just interesting how languages differ.