I worked at a Chinese restaurant for some years, and my boss natively spoke Mandarin but whenever he was muttering to himself about something or another he would always cuss in English. I have no idea why this should be but it was always hilarious.
My GG-Grandpappy from Hungary (was it Austria-Hungary when he left to the US?) did the same thing. I only ever met him once before he passed but I distinctly remember not understanding a word he said unless he was cursing.
Edit: it WAS Austria-Hungary still, he left in like 1916
Similar situation in South Tyrol (an province at the border to Austria): the german-speaking minority (who is the majority in the province) primarily uses italian curse words.
A theory I once read trying to explain this is that you hope that God is less likely to notice you when you curse in a different language.
And somehow they pick a latin-derived language for that? Latin being literally the language of their church if they’re not protestants? Pope throne being in Rome?
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I worked at a Chinese restaurant for some years, and my boss natively spoke Mandarin but whenever he was muttering to himself about something or another he would always cuss in English. I have no idea why this should be but it was always hilarious.
Cursing in another language is less stimagtizeda
My GG-Grandpappy from Hungary (was it Austria-Hungary when he left to the US?) did the same thing. I only ever met him once before he passed but I distinctly remember not understanding a word he said unless he was cursing.
Edit: it WAS Austria-Hungary still, he left in like 1916
Similar situation in South Tyrol (an province at the border to Austria): the german-speaking minority (who is the majority in the province) primarily uses italian curse words. A theory I once read trying to explain this is that you hope that God is less likely to notice you when you curse in a different language.
And somehow they pick a latin-derived language for that? Latin being literally the language of their church if they’re not protestants? Pope throne being in Rome?
Swearing and gods predate all that
As a regular Swede I will say that Finnish swear words hit differently. More oomph in them xD
Tbf I also do that, but my grandma was Finnish.
I’m German and I also sometimes use perkele, just because it’s such an awesome word. Don’t know about my pronunciation though…
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