What insults to other countries are part of your language?

Started by Savonarola, October 10, 2014, 01:27:25 PM

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mongers

"We have it in our power to begin the world over again"

Liep

Svensker (Swede) can be applied as a prefix to many words to signify that the action is done when very drunk.
"Af alle latterlige Ting forekommer det mig at være det allerlatterligste at have travlt" - Kierkegaard

"JamenajmenømahrmDÆ!DÆ! Æhvnårvaæhvadlelæh! Hvor er det crazy, det her, mand!" - Uffe Elbæk

Syt

"hinter schwedischen Gardinen" (behind Swedish curtains) = in jail
"Alter Schwede!" (Old Swede!) = "Whoa!"/"Wow!"
I am, somehow, less interested in the weight and convolutions of Einstein's brain than in the near certainty that people of equal talent have lived and died in cotton fields and sweatshops.
—Stephen Jay Gould

Proud owner of 42 Zoupa Points.

Admiral Yi

Quote from: Barrister on October 10, 2014, 01:59:24 PM
To Jew someone more means to talk them up or down in price.  You make it sound like it means the same as to gyp someone, which is used for actually cheating someone.

Not sure I agree with you counselor.  Remember that black and white movie with George Clooney in 1946 Berlin?  Spider Man says to the no legs dude "don't Jew me on the price."  He's not talking about the negotiation, of which no legs doesn't offer any, but the price that no legs will propose.

derspiess

Quote from: Syt on October 10, 2014, 02:00:40 PM
For some reason "englisch einkaufen" (shopping the English way) was a term for shoplifting. Also exists as "polnisch einkaufen."

I made one up on my own for a Mexican friend.  Every time she buys something nice, I ask her if she got the "Mexican discount" (shoplifting) on it.  She calls me a gringo cabron and we both laugh  :)
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Josephus

For the Maltese it's always the Turks. "Haqq-it Torok" being a key one. "Goddamn Turks"

Civis Romanus Sum<br /><br />"My friends, love is better than anger. Hope is better than fear. Optimism is better than despair. So let us be loving, hopeful and optimistic. And we'll change the world." Jack Layton 1950-2011

CountDeMoney


garbon

"I've never been quite sure what the point of a eunuch is, if truth be told. It seems to me they're only men with the useful bits cut off."
I drank because I wanted to drown my sorrows, but now the damned things have learned to swim.

derspiess

Quote from: Syt on October 10, 2014, 02:03:35 PM
"hinter schwedischen Gardinen" (behind Swedish curtains) = in jail
"Alter Schwede!" (Old Swede!) = "Whoa!"/"Wow!"

Have you ever been called Piefke or Marmeladinger by an Austrian?
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

Richard Hakluyt

"Spanish practices"......essentially when a workplace is organised for the benefit of the workers rather than customers/clients.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_practices

celedhring

#25
-"Irse a la francesa" - "French goodbye": to leave abruptly and/or impolitely. AFAIK this one is present in other languages so the French must be really adept at it.
-"Coger una turca" - "To catch a Turk" (femenine): to get REALLY drunk.
-"Beber como un cosaco" - "To drink like a Cossack": to drink a LOT.
-"Hacer el indio" - "To act like an Indian": to act like a fool, to fool around (usually used when kids play and make a lot of fuss, for example).
-"Hacerse el sueco" - "To act like a Swede": when you pretend you didn't hear/notice something.

For some reason we have shitloads about China:

-"Naranjas de la China" - "Chinese oranges!": A prudish equivalent of the English "bullshit!".
-"Un cuento chino" - "A Chinese tale": something that's a blatant lie/excuse.
-"Lo saben hasta los chinos" - "Even the Chinese know that": when something you believe was a great insight/info it's actually common knowledge.
-"Esto parece chino" - "This looks like Chinese": when a written text is really complicated (a manual, for example).
-"Trabajo de chinos" - "Chinese work": when you are doing some labor that's actually menial but that needs a lot of time/work to finish.

derspiess

Quote from: celedhring on October 10, 2014, 03:30:49 PM
"Coger una turca" - "To catch a turk" (femenine): to get REALLY drunk.

Does it *just* mean "catch"?  'Cuz in Argieland that would mean "To fuck a Turk".  Which I suppose could also work :D
"If you can play a guitar and harmonica at the same time, like Bob Dylan or Neil Young, you're a genius. But make that extra bit of effort and strap some cymbals to your knees, suddenly people want to get the hell away from you."  --Rich Hall

celedhring

Quote from: derspiess on October 10, 2014, 03:33:20 PM
Quote from: celedhring on October 10, 2014, 03:30:49 PM
"Coger una turca" - "To catch a turk" (femenine): to get REALLY drunk.

Does it *just* mean "catch"?  'Cuz in Argieland that would mean "To fuck a Turk".  Which I suppose could also work :D

"Coger" means two different things on both sides of the pond, something I discovered to my great amusement when talking to a Mexican girl once.

Duque de Bragança

French

Saoul comme un Polonais – Drunk as a Pole (self-explanatory)
Querelle d'Allemand – German quarrel (petty, meaningless quarrel) So many small wars before the German unification ;)
Faire (son) suisse – eat or drink alone, without inviting, or by hiding.
Filer à l'anglaise – To take English leave i.e Leave abruptly and/or impolitely, without telling.
Boire en allemand – drink German-style (old-fashioned) start drinking alcohol at breakfast
Parler français/anglais comme une vache espagnole – Speak French/English like a Spanish cow: to speak extremely bad a language. Might come Basque/Vasque according to some etymologies  :lol:
Téléphone arabe – Arab telephone: rumor, gossip
Aller se faire voir chez les Grecs – Why don't you go to the Greeks: basically a very colloquial, but not vulgar anymore "Fuck off" or "Go to hell". In the old days, Greece was renowned for pederasty so sending somebody there was the opposite of wishing him well.
Travailler pour le roi de Prusse – to work for the King of Prussia: work for somebody else to take all the profit and credit (origin Louis XV not helping himself after winning at Fontenoy)

Portuguese

ciganar – "to gypsy/gyp": to beg
judiaria – jewry: infamy, felony, disgrace
Ver-se grego - "to see oneself Greek": to be in real trouble
grego – greek as in "it's Hebrew to me": really difficult to understand if not impossible
salada russa – Russian salad: messy situation
palerma - from Palermo, Sicily no less: an idiot
para Inglês ver – for the English to see: to do something phoney, make believe stuff such as a Potemkine village
tosco – Tuscan: crazy, weird (from Latin probably)
trabalhar como um Mouro – Work like a Moor: work like a slave, an awful lot
espanholada – spanishry (sic): boasting, bravado

Maximus

To welsh on a deal, or to get off scot free are two that come to mind.