Note: this post contains strong language not appropriate for young people and prudes 🙂

 

To be fair, Germans curse.  They do.  But it’s mostly in English.

When I was living in Spain, my grammar class spent the entire first month learning Spanish curse words and insults (based on region).  It was actually quite cool to learn the lowest blows…..I definitely used them 😛

So I think you should learn some German curse words (even the milder ones)

Damn – Verdammt

Shit – Scheisse/Kacke

Crap – Mist/Kacke

Oh My God – O Mein Gott

Quatsch/Bloedsinn – Bullshit

Lick my Ass – Leck mich am Arsch

Heilandzack – @#()$*#$(%*& (no translation available)

and of course, the American favorite, Fuck – Ficken

But the Germans actually use the American version because they find it less severe than the German one.

I actually think the German version is adorable.

I have to give props to Thorsten for helping me compile this very short list.  I can count on one hand the number of times I have heard some of these words/phrases (some none at all like Ficken).

We had a very interesting conversation on the topic mostly because it shows how much words have power based on perspective.   An example is the Germans use of the word fuck.  They find it less offensive yet I find the German one less so.

Also we Americans are well aware of the severity of the F-bomb but that doesn’t stop us from using it as a noun, verb, adverb, and adjective.

Bobby Knight did it.

So why don’t German curse as much? It’s just not part of their common vocabulary as much as it is for Americans.  We have become desensitized to our curse words that it has started to creep in the workplace.  That is not the case here in Deutschland.

Anyway,  that was your mental floss for the day.

Bis Montag!