What insults to other countries are part of your language?

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

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derspiess

Quote from: Valmy on October 10, 2014, 11:32:35 PM
Quote from: derspiess on October 10, 2014, 11:27:30 PM
The Dutch were nothing but nice to me in my time in the Netherlands. Almost to a fault. The Flemish were equally so in Belgium. The Walloons... well, at least they made good beer.

I just thought it was funny both the countries you like are Calvinist ones :P

Granted I guess France is sorta Calvinist to in its way.

Well admittedly I've never been to Switzerland. Just going on a vibe I've gotten from them over the years.

But I just can't get over how nice the Dutch were. Except for the hooked that yelled at me in Amsterdam.
"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

Admiral Yi

I think the Swiss are the most anal retentive people in the world.  Nothing at all like the Dutch.

Razgovory

Quote from: Admiral Yi on October 10, 2014, 07:53:52 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on October 10, 2014, 07:44:30 PM
"Honky" is negative term for a white guy.  Come from "Bohunk" which itself comes from "Bohemian".

Interesting.  Where did you pick this up Raz?

And not to doubt you, but how the hell did a black person ever meet a Czech?

I'm like masking tape, I pick up all sorts of shit.  White Americans would call Eastern European immigrants "Bohunk", presumably blacks heard them and applied it to all whites.  I imagine blacks living in northern cities had a lot of contact with Eastern European immigrants in the early 20th century.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

Barrister

Quote from: Razgovory on October 11, 2014, 12:30:17 AM
Quote from: Admiral Yi on October 10, 2014, 07:53:52 PM
Quote from: Razgovory on October 10, 2014, 07:44:30 PM
"Honky" is negative term for a white guy.  Come from "Bohunk" which itself comes from "Bohemian".

Interesting.  Where did you pick this up Raz?

And not to doubt you, but how the hell did a black person ever meet a Czech?

I'm like masking tape, I pick up all sorts of shit.  White Americans would call Eastern European immigrants "Bohunk", presumably blacks heard them and applied it to all whites.  I imagine blacks living in northern cities had a lot of contact with Eastern European immigrants in the early 20th century.

Raz is right.  From my dad, bohunk/honky was definitely the slur you'd use against eastern European immigrants, like Ukrainians.  It's only from modern googling that I ever learned the "Czech" connection for that word.
Posts here are my own private opinions.  I do not speak for my employer.

Duque de Bragança


Josquius

Quote from: Admiral Yi on October 11, 2014, 12:06:36 AM
I think the Swiss are the most anal retentive people in the world.  Nothing at all like the Dutch.
I've not gotten that vibe too much.
They strike me as like polite Frenchmen (and women).
Which is odd.
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Liep

Tyrkertro (Turkish belief [a belief you'll hang on to no matter the evidence against it]).
"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

Archy

For dutch

Kolenengels spreken - speaking coalenglish  speaking bad english
Werkennmet de franse slag - working in the french way  working slowly
Geen geld geen zwitsers - no money no swiss nothing is free comes from french when the swiss were merchant soldiers

The Larch

Quote from: celedhring on October 10, 2014, 03:30:49 PM
-"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.

Not really about nationalities but ethnicities, but don't forget also "Trabajar como un negro" (to work as a black, meaning working very hard or doing backbreaking labour) or "ser muy moro" (to be quite moorish, meaning to be extremely jealous regarding your wife or girlfriend).

Viking

It might have to do with our long isolation, but Icelandic neither has national nor regional slurs which have been adopted into the language.
First Maxim - "There are only two amounts, too few and enough."
First Corollary - "You cannot have too many soldiers, only too few supplies."
Second Maxim - "Be willing to exchange a bad idea for a good one."
Second Corollary - "You can only be wrong or agree with me."

A terrorist which starts a slaughter quoting Locke, Burke and Mill has completely missed the point.
The fact remains that the only person or group to applaud the Norway massacre are random Islamists.

Sheilbh

Let's bomb Russia!

Razgovory

Quote from: Valmy on October 10, 2014, 09:22:18 PM
I had no idea my language contained so much Dutch hatred.

I think it should be remember that for a long time "Dutch" referred to Germans as well or people living in a German state.
I've given it serious thought. I must scorn the ways of my family, and seek a Japanese woman to yield me my progeny. He shall live in the lands of the east, and be well tutored in his sacred trust to weave the best traditions of Japan and the Sacred South together, until such time as he (or, indeed his house, which will periodically require infusion of both Southern and Japanese bloodlines of note) can deliver to the South it's independence, either in this world or in space.  -Lettow April of 2011

Raz is right. -MadImmortalMan March of 2017

celedhring

Quote from: The Larch on October 11, 2014, 10:47:12 AM
Quote from: celedhring on October 10, 2014, 03:30:49 PM
-"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.

Not really about nationalities but ethnicities, but don't forget also "Trabajar como un negro" (to work as a black, meaning working very hard or doing backbreaking labour) or "ser muy moro" (to be quite moorish, meaning to be extremely jealous regarding your wife or girlfriend).

I thought about those, but decided to refrain from the most racist ones :lol:

Archy

And another one in dutch
De engelse ziekte the english disease  rickets
Een frans compliment a french compliment an unclear compliment if its positive negative
Zo dronken als een zwitser as drunk as a swiss

celedhring

Quote from: Archy on October 11, 2014, 04:49:43 PM
De engelse ziekte the english disease  rickets

Similarly, in Spanish "el mal francés" (the French disease) is syphilis.