• LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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    2 days ago

    Another fun fact I learnt during research for my previous novel: the Polish have more ways to say ‘fuck’ than any other language.

    Apparently variations of ‘fuck’ exploded there during and shortly after WWII.

    Also, in Denmark, ‘fuck’ was adopted as a mild expletive after roughly 1960, when western movies containing the word were imported. It was especially interesting because there never were any strong expletives there (most ‘curses’ were actual curses, like ‘let the devil take you!’), so the word didn’t have the same impact as in other cultures. This resulted in young children just casually saying ‘fuck’ in public, to the bemusement and sometimes consternation of English-speaking tourists.

    Language is funny.

    • frank@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      I live in Denmark and find curses surprisingly casual, even fuck. I fucking like it.

    • KSP Atlas@sopuli.xyz
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      1 day ago

      Yeah, stick any verb prefix onto the polish words for fuck and you’ve probably got a word that people use

      • LillyPip@lemmy.ca
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        1 day ago

        I came across a page that tried to document them by region and regularity. It was quite long.