Profanity Related To Illness and Disability
| achterlijk | Achterlijk (literally: "retarded") is an offensive term for the mentally handicapped. A humorous variation, "achterlijke gladiool" (literally: "retarded gladiolus"), was first lexicalized in 1984. |
| debiel | Debiel is an offensive term for the mentally handicapped. It is commonly used as an insult. |
| idioot | Idioot means "idiot". |
| kanker | Kanker means "cancer". It can be used as a strong expletive, as an adjective or as an adverb. Krijg de kanker ("get the cancer") is used as an insult. In slang, it can also have a positive meaning. For example, kankerlekker can mean "extremely good tasting". Although it is meant positively, it is still frowned upon. Kanker can be paired with nearly any insult to intensify it. The word is sometimes shortened to its historical euphemism K. |
| kankeren | Kankeren (literally: "to cancer") is a verb, and means "to complain excessively". |
| kankerlijer | Kankerlijer means "cancer sufferer". It is a strong insult: an example of its legal status can be found in a 2008 court case, in which using the word kankerlijer to insult a police officer was cited as a serious offense. |
| klere | Klere is a slang word for cholera. It can be used as an expletive, as an adjective or as an adverb. Kolere is a common variation. |
| klerelijer | Klerelijer is a slang word meaning "cholera sufferer". It is used an as insult, and roughly analogous to "asshole". |
| kolere | Kolere is a slang word for cholera. It can be used as an expletive, as an adjective or as an adverb. Klere is a common variation. |
| krijg de... | To wish a disease upon someone, the words krijg de... ("catch the...", "get the...", "contract the...") are typically used. Examples include krijg de tering, krijg de tyfus, krijg de kanker, krijg de pest, krijg de takke, krijg de klere, krijg het lazarus and the more euphemistic (but more old-fashioned) krijg de ziekte. In standard Dutch, the article is superfluous or incorrect in these phrases, and consequently "de" and "het" are only paired with disease names in context of profanity. |
| lazarus | Lazarus is a euphemism for leprosy. Krijg het lazarus ("catch the leprosy") is uncommonly used as an insult. More common is the expression "zich het lazarus zuipen" ("to excessively drink oneself leprosy"). Consequently, the expression "he or she is lazarus" has come to mean "he or she is drunk". |
| mongool | Mongool ("mongoloid") is a common insult, referring to Down syndrome. Its diminutive mongooltje is often used as a somewhat more neutral or affectionate term for people with Down syndrome, although it is not considered politically correct. Kankermongool ("cancer-mongoloid") is a common variation: see kanker. |
| lijer | Lijer (literally: "sufferer") is a noun and suffix. It is correctly spelled "lijder", but the "d" becomes silent in slang. It is used both as a standalone insult and in combination with diseases, such as kankerlijer, pleurislijer, pokke(n)lijer, takkelijer, teringlijer and tyfuslijer. |
| pest | Pest (literally: "plague", compare "pestilence") can be used as an adjective or as an adverb. The verb pesten means "to bully" (whereas the etymologically related "plagen" means "to tease"). "De pest in hebben" ("to have the plague in") means "to be irritated". The word is sometimes shortened to its historical euphemism P. |
| pestkop | Literally meaning "plague head", a pestkop is someone who engages in bullying. See pest and kop. |
| pleur(it)is | Pleuris, or less commonly pleuritis, is a slang word for tuberculosis (compare tering), originally referring to any form of lung infection. It can be used as an expletive, as an adjective or as an adverb. Krijg de pleuris ("catch the tuberculosis") is also commonly used. As with tering, the phrase "alles ging naar de pleuris" ("everything went to the tuberculosis", analogous to "everything went to hell") is commonly used. As a verb, the word oppleuren (literally "to tuberculosis off") can mean "to fuck off" (compare optiefen under tyfus). |
| pleurislijer | Pleurislijer is a slang word meaning "tuberculosis sufferer". It is used an as insult, and roughly analogous to "asshole". |
| polio | Polio is uncommon as a curse word, and is mostly heard in the phrase "heb je soms polio?" ("do you have polio or something?"), which can be used to insult someone's perceived laziness. The Genootschap Onze Taal (Dutch Language Society) has recently noted a rise in the use of polio as an expletive and adjective in the Rotterdam area, and describes it as a possible alternative to the more severe kanker. |
| pokke(n) | Pokke(n) (correctly spelled "pokken") is a slang word for smallpox. It can be used as an adjective or as an adverb. |
| pokke(n)lijer | Pokke(n)lijer is a slang word meaning "smallpox sufferer". It is used an as insult, and roughly analogous to "asshole". |
| stom | Stom (literally: "unintelligent", "dumb", "mute") can be used an intensifier when using curse words. Examples are "stomme hoer" ("dumb whore") and "stomme kut" ("dumb cunt"). |
| takke | Takke (from the French "attaque") is a slang word for stroke. It can be used an adjective or as an adverb. Krijg de takke ("have the stroke") is used as an insult. A common variation is takkewijf ("stroke woman"): see also wijf. |
| tering | Tering is a slang word for tuberculosis. It is short voor "vertering" (literally: "digestion"; compare English "consumption"). It can be used as an expletive, as an adjective or as an adverb. Vliegende tering ("flying tuberculosis") is a humorous variation, originally referring to sudden-onset tuberculosis. Krijg de tering ("catch the tuberculosis") is used as an insult. Other words for tuberculosis include TB and TBC, which were historically used as euphemisms, owing to the fact that names of diseases were considered profane. As with pleuris, the phrase "alles ging naar de tering" ("everything went to the tuberculosis", analogous to "everything went to hell") is commonly used. |
| teringlijer | Teringlijer is a slang word meaning "tuberculosis sufferer". It is used an as insult, and roughly analogous to "asshole". |
| tyfus | Tyfus is a word for typhoid fever. It can be used as an expletive, as an adjective or as an adverb. Krijg de tyfus ("catch the typhoid fever") is used as an insult. The variation optiefen ("to typhoid off") is analogous to "fuck off" (compare oppleuren under pleuris). Sanders and Tempelaars (1998) note tiefttering ("typhoid tuberculosis") as a variation common in Rotterdam. |
| tyfuslijer | Tyfuslijer is a slang word meaning "typhoid fever sufferer". It is used an as insult, and roughly analogous to "asshole". |
| vinkentering | Vinkentering (literally: "finch tuberculosis") is noted by Sanders and Tempelaars (1998) as an expression that is typical in the Rotterdam vocabulary. A noted humorous variation is krijg de (vliegende) vinkentering ("catch the (flying) finch tuberculosis"). See also tering. |
| ziekte | Ziekte (literally: "sickness", "illness" or "disease") is used in the expression krijg de ziekte ("catch the disease"). It is a euphemism that can be used for various afflictions. Older variations include "drinken als de ziekte" ("drinking like the disease") and "lui als de ziekte" ("as lazy as the disease"). |
Read more about this topic: Verdomme
Famous quotes containing the words profanity, related and/or illness:
“Nothing, neither acceptance nor prohibition, will induce a child to stop swearing overnight. Teach your child respect for himself and others, that profanity can hurt, offend, and disgust, and you’ll be doing the best you can...And save your parental giggling over mispronounced curses for after the children’s bedtime.”
—Jean Callahan (20th century)
“Just as a new scientific discovery manifests something that was already latent in the order of nature, and at the same time is logically related to the total structure of the existing science, so the new poem manifests something that was already latent in the order of words.”
—Northrop Frye (b. 1912)
“The more I read and the more I talked to other parents of children with disabilities and normal children, the more I found that feelings and emotions about children are very much the same in all families. The accident of illness or disability serves only to intensify feelings and emotions, not to change them.”
—Judith Weatherly (20th century)