this post was submitted on 22 Aug 2023
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Ill start:

"Me cago en tus muertos" - ill shit all over your dead relatives. Spanish.

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[–] theKalash@feddit.ch 5 points 1 year ago

Teletubbyzurückwinker.

Someone that waves back at the Teletubbies.

[–] Mothra@mander.xyz 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Salame

Yes that's right, it means salami and in spanish it's used to call someone an idiot. Soft insult, but I use it, and saying so and so is a salami in english would only get me weird looks.

[–] randomaccount43543@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Seems to be used in Argentina, Paraguay and Uruguay. Being from Spain, I’ve never heard Salami being used as an insult.

https://dle.rae.es/salame#

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[–] UnrepententProcrastinator@lemmy.ca 1 points 1 year ago (7 children)

"Enculeur de poules mortes" which basically means dead chicken fucker. It's translatable but sounds so much better in french.

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[–] Tester@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Heard one: Your mother has a penis and your father is jealous of it.

[–] zabadoh@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Calling a male a "nephew" in Chinese 契弟 kai dai is calling them a male prostitute.

Usually it doesn't mean target male has actually been used sexually, but commonly used for general belittlement.

This term comes from ancient times: Traveling businessmen who would take a young boy with them for sexual use, but if anyone on the road or destination asked who the boy was, the business man would euphemistically explain "He's my nephew"

契弟 kai dai is commonly translated as "nephew" but it means "adopted brother"

[–] 1bluepixel@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

In Quebec French, people sometimes say of someone who's not particularly bright:

"His mom rocked him/her too close to the wall."

It's just so... vivid and random.

[–] ValiantDust@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago

Oh cool, we have a very similar one in German: "His/her swing stood too close to the wall."

[–] BastingChemina@slrpnk.net 1 points 1 year ago

A strong insult in french would be to tell that someone has been "fini à la pisse".

I don't know how to translate that but it would means that their dad did not have enough sperm so he used urine to conceive them.

[–] LoreleiSankTheShip@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

"I piss in your mother's death"

Alternatively, "May Stalin fuck you"

And yes, I live in Eastern Europe.

[–] Tiocfaidhcaisarla@hexbear.net 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

May Stalin fuck you

Please share how to say this

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[–] BorgDrone@lemmy.one 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (8 children)

Triangeljosti.

The Jostiband is a Dutch orchestra for people with a developmental disability, mainly people with down syndrome.

A [triangle](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triangle_(musical_instrument)) , or triangel in Dutch, is possibly the simplest instrument you can think of.

So calling someone a ‘triangeljosti’ is basically comparing them to someone who plays the simplest possible instrument in a band for developmentally disabled people.

[–] scytale@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

That’s so specific. lmao

[–] Schlemmy@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

I'm wheezing. Never heard it before but the image is livid in my head.

[–] vashti@feddit.uk 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

This reminds me of the not-very-edifying-at-all moment when "joey" became a universal term of abuse in UK playgrounds.

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[–] overfox@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

"Spargeltarzan", which is German for "asparagus Tarzan". Basically someone who is physically weak, but tall and lanky.

I also like "Lauch", which just translates to "leek", the veggie. Oh, and "Bohnenstange", which means bean stalk. We do seem to have quite a few vegetable-related insults in German, now that I think of it...

[–] Poopmeister@lemm.ee 1 points 1 year ago

Swedish Skitstövel - shit boot, basically means asshole

[–] schnokobaer@feddit.de 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yiddish is not my native language but I think this one is so good it absolutely deserves a mention:

All of your teeth shall fall out except one that gives you a massive toothache.

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago (3 children)

In polish, calling people with the neutral gender. It's a grave insult which implies lack of agency and dehumanisation, and thank to some rightwinger assholes in parliament is also a specific transphobic insult now.

While in english it's completely normal thing to say if you're not sure of a person's gender.

So definitely not my "favourite", i would never said this to anyone in polish and i occasionally get a hiccup of misgendering someone in english because of that, but interesting from language point of view.

[–] What_Religion_R_They@hexbear.net 1 points 1 year ago (1 children)

This seems like a thing in Slavic languages in general. In Russian the equivalent is "одушевленные и неодушевленные существительные" - animate, and inanimate objects, so I guess they add one extra pronoun to the usual three, which is just for objects. I think some genderqueer people prefer using the plural pronoun in that case ("они" instead of "оно"). Is that possible in Polish?

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

The neutral gender is perfectly grammatical in polish, just it was never used for people other than small babies, i seen some effort to use it in literature for gender fluid or genderless people but it's rare and don't get positive reviews. It might catch some day though, i don't know.

[–] zorbse@lemmy.blahaj.zone 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

Is it kind of like calling someone "it" as an insult in English?

[–] richieadler@lemmy.myserv.one 1 points 1 year ago

I'd say so, and I've seen it used in the same transphobic contexts.

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[–] Chapo_is_Red@hexbear.net 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

In polish, calling people with the neutral gender...While in english it's completely normal thing to say if you're not sure of a person's gender.

Maybe I misunderstand, but you should never call someone "it" in English, except for animals and babies. Calling someone "it" is considered dehumanizing in English.

[–] PolandIsAStateOfMind@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Yes, what i meant that in english you call people in 3rd person "them", "they" regardless of their gender, but in polish neutral gender would always be "it". That's why it's so insulting to use it despite it is gramatically existing. Polish had pronouns literally build in every noun, verb and adjective.

[–] Mrkawfee@lemmy.world 1 points 1 year ago (2 children)

كول هوا

"Kawl hawa"

Literally "eat air" in Arabic

Means shut up

[–] s20@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Oh that is fantastic. I need to use that one.

[–] BruceTwarzen@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

That's hilarious

[–] lukem@kbin.social 1 points 1 year ago

Greetings from Poland.

"bambaryła" - someone who is very silly. Also: someone who is very fat. A little old-fashioned.

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