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Portuguese profanity

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Wrong protuguese and brazilian are the same

Overview

The most common words of Portuguese profanity, the ones universally used in the different dialects and variants of Portuguese, originated from Latin radicals, as well from other Indo-European sources and often cognate with peninsular Spanish profanity.[citation needed] There are also Portuguese curse words that originated from South American Amerindian or West and Central African languages; these are found in other Portuguese speaking countries than Portugal, like Brazil, Cape Verde, Guinea-Bissau, São Tomé and Príncipe, Angola, East Timor, or Mozambique even though some of these non-Indo-European-originated ones made it to enter the peninsular Portuguese.

In the case of Brazil, several neologistic curse words[which?] were borrowed not only from Amerindian or African languages but also from Italian, German or French, due to the Italian and Central-European immigration to Brazil in the late 19th century and due to the fact French used to be a lingua franca for intellectual Brazilians and Brazilian international diplomacy in the past. While the Spanish language abounds in blasphemous interjections, Portuguese lacks in this regard.[1]

Portuguese profanity, just like in any other Western language, is much marked by its sexual and scatological character.[citation needed] Scatological terms are used either with negative or positive meaning, depending on the context in which they are used.

Profanities in Portuguese are referred as profanidades, impropérios, baixo calão, obscenidades, vulgaridades. Palavrão means literally big word which can be translated in bad or ugly word, and dizer/falar palavrões (to say/ to talk) is to use obscene language. Praguejar (Portugal) and Xingar (Brazil) is to swear, to curse.

Profanities by geographical region

Similarly to other internationally spoken languages, Portuguese profanities' offensiveness varies with context and geographical location, even within the same country.

Profanities in Portugal

In terms of offensiveness Portugal can be divided in two main areas: Northern Portugal and Central-and-Southern Portugal. Northern Portugal tends to be more prone to using curse words as manner of common informal speech with the vast majority of profanities being used as a way of conveying emotion rather than as way of insulting someone. The offensiveness of these words and expressions is thus dependent mainly on the tone and context. The center and south of Portugal, especially in urban areas, tend to have a more polished speech in regards to swear words with such expressions being used primarily with the intention of offending someone or simply as interjections. The Azores use a lot of the same profanity as continental Portugal but also use some unique religiously based phrases.

Sexual related profanities:

  • "Badalhoco(a)" (IU, internationally used, meaning it is used in more than one Portuguese-speaking country) is a word to refer to something or someone "dirty". It is similar to the word "nasty" in the sense that it can also be used to refer sexually-promiscuous men and women.
  • "Cabrão" male-only term used for men who have cheated.
  • "Caralho" is a swear word for penis and can be used as an interjection. One possible folk etymology relates it to a ship's crow's nest, and the negative connotation from the expression "vai para o caralho", meaning "go to the crow's nest", because of the heavy rocking of ships in the high sea. This theory has since become a widely promulgated urban legend as the sole source of the swear word. The recorded use of caralho in its modern use (as "prick"), however, predates Portuguese caravels, ships with crow's nests.
  1. "Pra caralho" means "as fuck", as in "Grande para caralho/Big as fuck", and, while being profanity, is rarely insulting.
  • "Cona" is equivalent to the words "cunt" and "pussy" in every term possible, both to insult someone, and to describe the female genital organ.
  • "Foder" (IU) it is the Portuguese equivalent to "fuck" even though it can't be used the same way as the English adjective "fucking".
  1. "Foda-se!" is comparable to the interjection "fuck it!"
  2. "Fode-te", "Vai-te foder", or "vá-se foder" means "fuck you".
  • "Paneleiro" (IU) is a person who causes a mess, is intentionally disruptive, although it's most commonly used as a homophobic slur.
  • "Puta" (IU) is a pejorative term for a prostitute. It can also be used as a deprecatory term to refer to sexually promiscuous women (similar to "slut"). The word "puto" (which would be the male counterpart of "puta" according to Portuguese rules of grammatical gender) does exist, however the meaning is totally different (it is used informally to refer to a young boy or man). In the north of Portugal, "puta" is also used as a common interjection (either positive or negative depending on the context).
  1. "Filho(a) da puta" (IU) is equivalent to "son of a bitch" and can be used for both males ("filho") and females ("filha").
  2. " Puta que pariu" (IU). It is an interjection and can denote surprise or emotional intensity. The term translates to "whore that has given birth to you", however it is used in situations that normally "son of a whore" is used, and vice versa.
  • "Vai-te lixar" (pronounced: leeshar), which means "go sand yourself" as in sand paper, used like "go to hell" or "get out of here".

Scatological related profanities:

  • "Cu" (IU) means "ass" as in a person's buttocks or anus, not the animal.
  • "Merda" (IU) is the equivalent to "shit" in every way.

Racial profanities:

  • Black people. Though there is no equivalent to the word "nigger" (as in a word that is offensive in and of itself), "preto" (literally the color black) is the most used derogatory word for black people. "Negro" is usually considered an amiable alternative, being the most used term in central-and-southern Portugal. In northern Portugal however, "preto" is commonly used without any negative connotations, especially among the younger population, with some few people going as far as to consider "negro" as overzealous political correctness. The offensiveness is thus determined mainly by context. "Negro" is also another word for the color "black".
  • Nigga (slang). Negão is the Brazilian Portuguese equivalent of the English slant term "nigga". Negro is sometimes used in place of Negão in some contexts, as in Portugal.

Profanities in Brazil

Many of the most used curse words and phrases of Brazilian Portuguese are the same as in European Portuguese. There are exceptions, however:

  • "Viado" is a somewhat offensive word used to refer to a homosexual man. It is different from the word "Veado" which means "deer". It does not exist in European Portuguese, though a smiliar-sounding term "virado" (from the Portuguese verb for "turn around", virar) is not unheard of. Similar phrases, widely used with similar connotations and equally emotionally charged, would be "Larilas" or "Maricas".
  • "Bicha" is also a pejorative term for homosexuals and has a similar connotation to "fagot". This is also used in European Portuguese.
  • "Corno" has the same meaning and applications as "cabrão". It refers to a man that has been cheated by his partner (female: "Corna"). It is also used in European Portuguese.
  • "Sapatão" or even "Sapatona" is a pejorative term for homosexual females.

See also

References

  • Ganho, Ana Sofia; McGovern, Timothy. Using Portuguese: A Guide to Contemporary Usage, Cambridge University Press, Mar 18, 2004, ISBN 1139449389</ref>
  1. ^ Margit Raders, Julia Sevilla (eds.) (1993). III Encuentros Complutenses en Torno a la Traducción: 2–6 de Abril de 1990 p. 36.
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