International Dictionary of Obscenities: A Guide to Dirty Words and Indecent Expressions in Spanish, Italian, French, German, Russian

by Christina Kunitskaya-Peterson

International Dictionary of A Guide to Dirty Words and Indecent Expressions in Spanish, Italian, French, German and Russian

Genres: Reference, Language, Nonfiction

93 pages, Paperback

First published February 1, 1981

Reviews

[GoldGato · Rating 3 out of 5]

Sometimes I find books on my shelves that I don't remember placing there. Stowaways. This is one such volume. It provides a reference for cursing in non-English when travelling in Europe. Specifically it allows one to search in English and find the equivalent word in French, German, Italian, Russian, or Spanish.

I have no idea why I bought this, as to be honest, I don't even say the majority of these words in English. In fact, some of them I haven't even heard. Very comprehensive.

Must get out more often.

Book Season = Year-Round (good luck with that)

[Seizure Romero · Rating 3 out of 5]

FINALLY! I can now be rude in more than one language.

Tu madre es un queso se alimentan de hámster.

I didn't really get that from the book, I just wanted to write "Your mother is a cheese-eating hamster" in what Google thinks is Spanish. My favorite expression from the book is tortillera, which literally means 'tortilla vendor' but is slang for lesbian. Yay! Learning is fun!

[Hansen Wendlandt · Rating 2 out of 5]

Anyone can drop a simple, lazy curse word. Real swearing is an art form. This collection is funny enough, but the gem is its peak into how idiomatic translations are. Whether with obscenity or any regular language, the flexibility of meaning is amazing.