"The study, which looked at taboo words in 13 languages from Serbian to Cantonese and Dutch, and across 17 countries, revealed other differences. The word shit, or its translated equivalent, for example, ranked among the most frequently used in several languages, including English, Finnish and Italian, but was not in the top rankings in French, Dutch, Spanish or German. In contrast, words that sought to disparage women, such as bitch, turned up across cultures."
"When it came to the differences between Spanish and German speakers, Andoni Dunabeitia had two theories. German, with its seemingly endless capacity to build new compound words, could simply offer more options, he said. But it could also be that some people [speaking other languages] just don't have these words readily available, or it's harder for them when asked to produce them in a very neutral environment, he said."
Taboo words recorded in 13 languages across 17 countries show large cross-cultural variation in both number and type. Native English speakers in the UK and Spanish speakers in Spain listed about 16 taboo words on average, while German speakers listed about 53, including compound insults like intelligenzallergiker and hodenkobold. Differences reflect linguistic features such as German compound formation and differences in word availability or ease of production in neutral settings. Certain expletives, like equivalents of 'shit', rank highly in some languages but not others. Gendered slurs targeting women appear across many languages, reflecting sexist cultural traditions and shifting social boundaries.
Read at www.theguardian.com
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