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curses & insults

From:Dan Jones <yl-ruil@...>
Date:Monday, August 7, 2000, 16:27
I'm not sure if this is more conculture rather than conlang, but I thought
since it has a high language content, I would post it here.

The Bultha are, by and large, a peaceful, easygoing people. However, when
they do get irritated they become quite inventive in their swearing. Here
are a few choice ones:

Sha salhyn nishath aenoth!
May a salhyn rape your grandmother!

Sha tabara nim emblath thu!
My the fairies take your livestock!

Sha neshoth dal!
My your penis fly away!

Generally, insults in Bulyth start with sha "may" and then have a normal
sentance after it (calqued on the Quenya nai...). The Bultha have very few
taboo words, generally those relating to sex and defacation, which are
considered unseemly in the mouths of children and people of dignity. There
is no feeling among the Bultha that language should be moderated in front of
or in the mouths of women. Since shock effect is not caused by swearwords,
the Bultha use "wishes" instead, generally of misfortunate things, like
being raped by a salhyn (actually, this is very insulting, salhyn are seen
as slightly "dirty" and sex with those of advanced years - who are supposed
to live a dignified life free of that sort of thing - is especially
revolting).

Of course, all this leads up to a question, how do your conpeople insult
each other, and are there any features which are grammaticalised? Kansu for
instance has contemptuous versions of the second person pronouns which were
only used for talking to inferiors and for insulting people.

Dan

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Go dtóga na púcaí do bheithígh!
                                      May the fairies take your livestock!
Dan Jones: www.geocities.com/yl_ruil/
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