4 ms·

and if we were to ask Sarko for some big words? https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casse-toi,_pauv%27_con_!#Retentissement_européen https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cas

and if we were to ask Sarko for some big words? https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casse-toi,_pauv%27_con_!#Retentissement_européen https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casse-toi,_pauv%27_con_!#Reten...

kragen 2y ago
Is con even a cussword? Most of the translations are non-taboo insults referring to stupidity rather than to genitalia, with the exception of the Italian and the Argentine rajá, pobre pelotudo, which refers to different genitalia and is not taboo. (The Greek "shabby wanker” is maybe an exception?) But there may be some selection bias involved in the translation sampling process; by definition, taboo words won't be printed in a major newspaper headline. If he had used a racial slur against Maghrebis, for example, the NYT surely would not run a headline containing the N-word.
- kgwgk 2y ago
  The original meaning of "con" is cunt. It's also used for very unpleasant or stupid people (like cunt, but much more).
  - 082349872349872 2y ago
    Around here, people will say of actions or other people that they are stupid, but not con, so I get the impression it goes well beyond stupidity, into sheer bloody-mindedness. (whether the latter rates cusswordedness I prefer to leave to L1 speakers) Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWCNFzdE31A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWCNFzdE31A (fr-u-sd-caqc)
    - kgwgk 2y ago
      I don't where is "around there" but https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/con/17848 https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/con/17848 says: Très familier. Stupide, imbécile, idiot.
      - 082349872349872 2y ago
        Guess it depends upon the region; https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/con#Nom_commun_1 https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/con#Nom_commun_1 has an example (sense 3) with the valence I tend to hear: – C'est un imbécile..., lâcha le garçon. – Non, c'est un con. – C'est pareil. M. Pelletier s'arrêta de jouer. – Non, c'est pas pareil. Si tu expliques trois fois un truc à quelqu'un et qu'il ne le comprend pas, c'est un imbécile. Mais si, à la fin, il est certain de l'avoir compris mieux que toi, alors, tu as affaire à un con. — (Pierre Lemaître, Le Grand Monde, Calmann-Lévy, 2022, pages 20-21) (it does seem very mild compared to the evolution and use in russian: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/пиздец#Etymology https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/пиздец#Etymology )
        cryptonector 2y ago
        https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/d%C3%A9conner https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/d%C3%A9conner > Ferme ton déconophone, dit Alexandre. Je veux dormir, moi. "déconophone" (laughter emoji deleted by HN)
    - cryptonector 2y ago
      Nah, "con" must have been a very bad word a few hundred years ago. The French people I grew up with used it like it was nothing. Much like "merde". Doesn't mean that you should be saying it willy nilly. I'm sure if you call a stranger a "con" they won't take it well -- you need some familiarity to do that. "Espèce de con" ("some kind of cunt") is for when you mean it a bit more.
- cryptonector 2y ago
  "Con" is very much a curse word, it's just that in French everyone is allowed to use "con" (and "conard"/"conne"/"conarde"/"conasse") and just about all cuss words. I remember my childhood French teachers using those words like it was nothing; kids too. French is a really crass language that everyone seems to think is beautiful. Well, it is beautiful, but it's also crass. "Petit con" is "little shit". A French teacher might say that to a troublemaker student, say.
- cryptonector 2y ago
  "Boludo" and "pelotudo" are just Argentine variants of "huevón" -- a big fat zero. They do not refer to genitalia. I know many people think that, but that's not their origin. And what, why should "ballsy" be a swear word? Of course it's not, not even in Argentina. Similarly "weon" is Chilean for "huevón". "Carajo", however, is an old word for "cock". "Conchudo" is basically "cunty". Etc.
  - kragen 2y ago
    Hmm, I thought boludo and pelotudo came from the idea that too-big testicles made a man stupid, perhaps related to coglione. There's also an urban legend that they come from improvised weapons used in the war of independence, adapted from livestock herding equipment. But I'm trying to unpack the distinction here between insults and taboo words. Taboo words may not be insults; to use an outdated example, if I say that I'm going to the shitter, nobody is being insulted — probably not even the plumbing facility in question. Similarly if I am tired of waiting in line and exclaim "God damn it!" And insults may not be taboo words; if I say, "Your mother wears army boots," many people will take it as an insult, even though in English it contains no taboo words.
    - cryptonector 2y ago
      I used to think so to, but, no, they come from a ball (bola, pelota) being round, like a zero, just as huevón is big egg just like a big zero.
    - 082349872349872 2y ago
      In that sense I think con is an insult, not taboo, because I've heard people say punaise (for putain) and nom de bleu (for nom de dieu) but I can't recall ever having heard a similar substitutions for con.

and if we were to ask Sarko for some big words? https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casse-toi,_pauv%27_con_!#Retentissement_européen https://fr.wikipedia.org/wiki/Casse-toi,_pauv%27_con_!#Reten...

kragen 2y ago

Is con even a cussword? Most of the translations are non-taboo insults referring to stupidity rather than to genitalia, with the exception of the Italian and the Argentine rajá, pobre pelotudo, which refers to different genitalia and is not taboo. (The Greek "shabby wanker” is maybe an exception?) But there may be some selection bias involved in the translation sampling process; by definition, taboo words won't be printed in a major newspaper headline. If he had used a racial slur against Maghrebis, for example, the NYT surely would not run a headline containing the N-word.

kgwgk 2y ago
The original meaning of "con" is cunt. It's also used for very unpleasant or stupid people (like cunt, but much more).
- 082349872349872 2y ago
  Around here, people will say of actions or other people that they are stupid, but not con, so I get the impression it goes well beyond stupidity, into sheer bloody-mindedness. (whether the latter rates cusswordedness I prefer to leave to L1 speakers) Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWCNFzdE31A https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lWCNFzdE31A (fr-u-sd-caqc)
  - kgwgk 2y ago
    I don't where is "around there" but https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/con/17848 https://www.larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais/con/17848 says: Très familier. Stupide, imbécile, idiot.
    - 082349872349872 2y ago
      Guess it depends upon the region; https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/con#Nom_commun_1 https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/con#Nom_commun_1 has an example (sense 3) with the valence I tend to hear: – C'est un imbécile..., lâcha le garçon. – Non, c'est un con. – C'est pareil. M. Pelletier s'arrêta de jouer. – Non, c'est pas pareil. Si tu expliques trois fois un truc à quelqu'un et qu'il ne le comprend pas, c'est un imbécile. Mais si, à la fin, il est certain de l'avoir compris mieux que toi, alors, tu as affaire à un con. — (Pierre Lemaître, Le Grand Monde, Calmann-Lévy, 2022, pages 20-21) (it does seem very mild compared to the evolution and use in russian: https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/пиздец#Etymology https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/пиздец#Etymology )
      - cryptonector 2y ago
        https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/d%C3%A9conner https://fr.wiktionary.org/wiki/d%C3%A9conner > Ferme ton déconophone, dit Alexandre. Je veux dormir, moi. "déconophone" (laughter emoji deleted by HN)
  - cryptonector 2y ago
    Nah, "con" must have been a very bad word a few hundred years ago. The French people I grew up with used it like it was nothing. Much like "merde". Doesn't mean that you should be saying it willy nilly. I'm sure if you call a stranger a "con" they won't take it well -- you need some familiarity to do that. "Espèce de con" ("some kind of cunt") is for when you mean it a bit more.
cryptonector 2y ago
"Con" is very much a curse word, it's just that in French everyone is allowed to use "con" (and "conard"/"conne"/"conarde"/"conasse") and just about all cuss words. I remember my childhood French teachers using those words like it was nothing; kids too. French is a really crass language that everyone seems to think is beautiful. Well, it is beautiful, but it's also crass. "Petit con" is "little shit". A French teacher might say that to a troublemaker student, say.
cryptonector 2y ago
"Boludo" and "pelotudo" are just Argentine variants of "huevón" -- a big fat zero. They do not refer to genitalia. I know many people think that, but that's not their origin. And what, why should "ballsy" be a swear word? Of course it's not, not even in Argentina. Similarly "weon" is Chilean for "huevón". "Carajo", however, is an old word for "cock". "Conchudo" is basically "cunty". Etc.
- kragen 2y ago
  Hmm, I thought boludo and pelotudo came from the idea that too-big testicles made a man stupid, perhaps related to coglione. There's also an urban legend that they come from improvised weapons used in the war of independence, adapted from livestock herding equipment. But I'm trying to unpack the distinction here between insults and taboo words. Taboo words may not be insults; to use an outdated example, if I say that I'm going to the shitter, nobody is being insulted — probably not even the plumbing facility in question. Similarly if I am tired of waiting in line and exclaim "God damn it!" And insults may not be taboo words; if I say, "Your mother wears army boots," many people will take it as an insult, even though in English it contains no taboo words.
  - cryptonector 2y ago
    I used to think so to, but, no, they come from a ball (bola, pelota) being round, like a zero, just as huevón is big egg just like a big zero.
  - 082349872349872 2y ago
    In that sense I think con is an insult, not taboo, because I've heard people say punaise (for putain) and nom de bleu (for nom de dieu) but I can't recall ever having heard a similar substitutions for con.