Re: OT: Slang, curses and vulgarities

Hi!

Gary Shannon <fiziwig@...> writes:
> Have any of you taken any of your conlangs down the
> path toward slang, curses, cuss words and vulgarities?
>...
Oh yes.  Fukhian has a few vulgar words.  But not too many.

In Tyl Sjok there is at least colloquial speech, and I think many have
done that on the list.  E.g. certain particles are used more
extensively in colloquial Tyl Sjok.  But no curses.

Strange -- when I was learning Chinese, the first things I asked my
Chinese friend was about curses 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.  Such things are never
> mentioned in "polite society" and certainly not taught
> in a high school language class.)
Yes, you need a good native friend, I think.:-)

> But what about in conlangs? Can a you curse like a drunken sailor in
> your conlang?
Not really.  Yet.

> Seems to me that's an important part of any language.
Absolutely!  When bought my Dutch dictionary, I looked up vulgar terms
at the book shop to see whether the dictionary is good.  That's why I
did not consider any Van Dale but bought Wolters, which I like a
lot now. :-)

**Henrik