Hijo de Puta - Profanity Related To Religion - Openly Blasphemous Expressions

Openly Blasphemous Expressions

Perhaps unique to a number of Romance languages are the openly scathing remarks directly aimed at Catholic iconography or Catholic rites. Note that many of these blasphemous expressions are more severe in Latin America than in Spain, as many countries in Latin America contain more practicing Catholics than Spain. Many of them involve acts of, such as cagar, "to shit", e.g.:

• Me cago en Dios ("I shit on God"),
• Me cago en Cristo ("I shit on Christ"). In Spain, quite often, is common to exaggerate that expressions, adding more elements, to emphasize the anger: Me cago en un tren lleno de santos, curas y obispos con Jesucristo de conductor ("I shit on a train full of saints, priests and bishops, with Christ as the train driver"). Expressions like this are highly blasphemous, therefore it is advisable not to use them, if one is not familiar with the language and culture of the audience, or in polite company.
• Me cago en la madre de Dios / en la Virgen ("I shit on the Mother of God / on the Virgin"),
• Me cago en la hostia ("I shit on the Host").
• Me cago en (todos) tus muertos ("I shit on (all) your ancestors"). Me cago en todos tus muertos, uno a uno ("I shit on all your ancestors, one by one").
• Me cago en vosotros ("I shit on you all", prevalent in Spain).
• Me cago en vos ("I shit on you", prevalent in Argentina).
• La concha de Dios ("The cunt of God")
• Me cago en Dios y en la puta Virgen ("I shit on God and on the fucking Virgin", prevalent in Spain and Argentina).
• ¡Maldita sea! (lit.: "May he/she/it be cursed ")—a common interjection used almost universally across Spanish-speaking regions (except for Argentina). Despite the literal meaning (and similarity to the North American phrase "Goddamn it"), it is widely used in Spanish-speaking television, since it is not considered very offensive; it is always much more preferable than ¡Coño!, for instance.

It is considered offensive when combined with other phrases to form a personal insult. For example: ¡Maldita sea la madre que te parió!' ("God damn the mother who bore you!"), ¡Maldita sea la chocha que te parió! ("God damn the cunt that bore you!")

• ¡Demonios! (lit.: "demons!")—used to express grief. For example: ¡Qué demonios! would be "What the hell!"
• Diablo or Diablos (lit.: "Devil" and "devils", respectively)—used as expletive fillers, similar to "Hell" in English and analogous to the British usage of the word "devil." No sabemos qué diablo/diablos hará ese cabrón means "We don't know what the hell/devil that jerk will do!"

Diablo is often used in the Dominican Republic to express extreme displeasure (El examen fue más difícil que el diablo = "The test was extremely difficult"—literally "The test was tougher than the Devil"). The phrase más que el diablo (which could translate as "Yeah, right!") is also used often in the Dominican Republic to express incredulity (Ese examen fue fácil—más que el diablo = "That exam was easy—yeah, right!").

• Diantre—used as a minced oath for diablo. Diañe, and Diache are also used as substitute terms in the Dominican Republic. Equivalents in English would be "dickens", "deuce", or "heck" (example: ¿¡Pero qué diantres has hecho!?—"Uh, what the heck have you done!?").
• "¡Santa María!"/"¡Ave María!" ("Goddamn it!")
• "Ay, Dios" ("Oh, God") or "Ay, Dios mío" ("Oh my God"). Alternatively, women may say "Ay, Virgen" or "Ay, Santa." Not considered personally offensive, but blasphemous nonetheless.
• Lavincompáe (contracted form of "la Virgen compadre")—perhaps the strongest profane utterance used in Andalucía especially in the environs around Granada. Its equivalent in American English may be "motherfucker", and the Spanish term can be employed across the same spectrum of expression. One may use it to express anger, disgust, or even an extreme pleasure, but it should be employed judiciously and not in polite company.
• ¡San … (usually involving one or more Catholic Saints)
• "¡Puñeta!" may be short for "¡Una puñeta en la cruz!" or "¡Me hago una puñeta en la cruz!" ("I masturbate onto the Cross!")
• The "… tu madre" component in a phrase can be changed to the elongated "… la madre de Dios." For example: "¡Maldita sea!" can be changed to "¡Maldita sea tu madre!" or "¡Maldita sea la madre de Dios!" ("Damn it", "Curse your mother", "Curse the Mother of God"). Similarly, "Concha-tu-madre" can be changed to "Concha-la-madre-de-Dios."

There are some creative variations, usually involving to addition of puta/puto ("fucking") to any of the above or combining words (e.g. Me cago en Dios y en su puta madre). Occasionally, the rather incongruous Me cago en San Dios, when heard, is usually indicative of a low social standing. In Spain, youths perpetuate such idiomatic expressions as a form of linguistic audacity; often phrases that seem most shocking, archaic or otherwise eccentric are favored. Thus it is not uncommon to hear Cago en tu dios ("I shit on your god"), or the more elaborate and blasphemous Me cago en la boca del Papa ("I take a shit into the Pope's mouth"), Me cago en el copón ("I take a shit into the Holy Chalice") or Me cago en el sagrado corazón de Jesús ("I take a shit onto the Sacred Heart of Jesus"). Expressions like these are considered more offensive than those previously listed and, surprisingly, are actually condemned as blasphemous—even by those who would not hesitate to utter an occasional "Me cago en Dios."

Again paradoxically, these are most common in rural regions of Spain, where Catholicism is most prevalent. However, the region in Spain where these expressions are used most profusely, and at times "creatively", is a non-Spanish speaking region, comprising Empordà and Garrotxa, where Catalan is the prevalent language and the one in which all these expressions are used:

• Em/me cago en Déu ("I shit on God"), by far the most usual, pronounced in abbreviated form cagondéu,
• Em/me cago en la Verge/la mare de Déu ("I shit on the Virgin"),
• Em/me cago en l'hòstia ("I shit on the Holy Form"), sometimes pronounced in abbreviated form cagonlhòstia,
• Collons de Déu (literally "God's balls", standing for "fucking God").
• variations which can be extremely convoluted. e.g. 'cagon' el Déu que t'aguanta (lit.: "I shit on the God that holds you"), cagon el Déu que et va parir (lit.: "I shit on the God that gave birth to you"), em/me cago en els tres/quatre puntals/pilars que aguanten la cagadera de Déu (lit.: "I shit on the three/four pillars holding God's toilet").

Common stereotypes characterize this region as the birthplace of "eccentric" characters (some of them famous. e.g. Salvador Dalí, Josep Pla or Alexandre Deulofeu) and one of the most usual attributes of this stereotype is the very casual use of blasphemous profanity—to the point of it being indicative of other states of mind aside from outrage, such as joy or surprise.

Minced oaths include ''Me cago en diez'' (lit.: "I shit on ten"), ''La madre de Dios'' (without the me cago en) or ''La madre del cordero'' ("the lamb's mother"). Once again, Spaniards rejoice in elaborating on existing swear expressions and thus one may hear ''Cago en el copón de la baraja'' ("I shit into the ace of cups" (from deck of cards)) or ''Cago en la copiona'' ("I shit onto the copy-cat") instead of Cago en el copón. In this case copón, literally "large cup" is the subject of the pun. Another source of neologisms in the field of profanity is the elaboration of intricate rebuttals (often rhymed ones) that are uttered consensually by several speakers, i. e.: a person may say "Cago en diez" "I shit on ten" and somebody else may add Cago en veinte que es más potente "I shit on twenty, because it's much more plenty" and so forth.

A common way that new phrases are developed is through the habitual avoidance of formal swearwords by substituting euphemisms. Instead of Me cago en Dios one may hear such expressions as Me cago en Dena ("I shit on Dena") or Me cago en Diógenes ("I shit on Diogenes") or Me cago en Dío ("I shit on Dío") or Me cago en Diosle ("I shit on Diosle") or Me cago en diéresis ("I shit on the umlaut"). Some of these rhymes and euphemisms are rather obscure but once they spread, they become common lore among those speakers who rejoice in discovering new expressions. A prime example of an incongruous swear expression would be Me cago en Mahoma que tiene los huevos (cojones) de plástico y de goma ("I shit on Mohammed, who has balls of plastic and of rubber").

Compare to Italian porco Dio, porca Madonna or the numerous possible bestemmie (see: Italian profanity), French Nom de Dieu or Nom de Nom or Romanian anafora mă-tii! ("Your mother's host!").

The reason why these expressions are so prevalent in Romance languages might be the totemic or comic cults practiced by the ancient peoples of the Italian Peninsula and the Northern Mediterranean Basin, or by the indigenous peoples of what would eventually become the largest area of expansion of the Roman Empire. There are villages, at least in Italy, where it is still customary to insult and boisterously poke fun at an effigy of the Virgin Mary as a sign of awe and belief (however contradictory this might seem to foreigners). Nevertheless, this is not the only reason, as open Maltheism is not unusual, especially among intellectuals or elder educated people in rural zones of Catalonia, both as a consequence of the above phenomena and of the volatile relationship established between the peasantry and working class and the upper echelons of the Catholic Church. A common phrase, sometimes attributed to philosopher Xavier Rubert de Ventós, is Déu, si existeix, és un fill de puta ("God, if He exists, is a son of a bitch"). This phenomenon is also found in Quebec, which is also of Catholic Romance background, but it would appear, rarely in Ireland, German-speaking, or Catholic Slavic countries like Poland. The Irish, for example, are famous for their profanity but usually limit it to secular words.