Re: OT: Slang, curses and vulgarities

Gary Shannon wrote:
> Have any of you taken any of your conlangs down the
> path toward slang, curses, cuss words and vulgarities?
> I was just wondering because it seems like every
> natlang has it's dark underbelly.  (Often hidden from
> view, however. After two years of high school German
> and a year of college German I was left with the
> impression that the German people were hyper-polite
> and had no way to cuss each other out or hurl vile
> insults at each other.
Ha! My experience exactly with Spanish and Indonesian classes. I've since
picked up a few Spanish words, but very few Indo. ones (probably as a
Westerner I was overly insulated, but it was also a subject somewhat
difficult to discuss). About the worst I learned was "otak udang" lit.
'shrimp brain'.

> But what about in conlangs? Can a you curse like a
> drunken sailor in your conlang?  Seems to me that's an
> important part of any language.
>
Hunting through files revealed about 18, 8 of which are already in the
dictionary ( http://cinduworld.tripod.com/anakrangota.htm ) or Supplement.
(Search for _slang_ will turn up most of them, along with some non-insulting
slang)

Newer ones include:
çamaka 'cartilaginous material of the penis; erection'
takas 'butt, ass, rear end'
peçukas 'crazy, silly, off-the-wall, ridiculous'
nundik 'idiot, stupid person' (this < Gwr, as I suspect the others above are
too)

fuf - sh*t! (< aful)
trok - f*ck! (means 'prick~poke' in related languages)
nákapu ~nambu 'eat (my) shit!'
yacít 'shut up!' (< yanda çindi normal imper., 'don't speak')
keporóp ~kepróp 'bouncer' (ke- 'person who...' oporopo 'kick out' < opor
'outside')

The worst insult is _felíç_ 'fool', since it equates one to the Gwr
("feliyoç" 'fools (inanim.pl)' now a non-PC term.)

One can also use the perjorative sfx. -çu; and many accidental caka- verbs
are insulting, e.g. cakonam 'preoccupied with sex; to have a dirty mind';
cakavolap 'of things, to be in bad taste'