Taboo Words, anyone?

[novin_ha]

But not the '***!!! is taboo' kind. Real Taboo words. Words not to be used in order not to call on the evil, like "Voldemort" in Harry Potter series.

Do you know about any such words in your language?

In Polish I know about two words that were invented in order not to use 'the real ones'. One of them is the Polish word for a bear - "niedźwiedź". It sounds as if it was a negation of something, but in truth it is a short way for saying what amounts to 'he who knows where the honey is'. Obviously, Slavic tribes were afraid of the animal that posed real danger to them. The other one is "bat" - in Polish "nietoperz - which means "it is not a bird". I can just imagine two guys talking, a bat flying above. "What was that?" "It was not a bird, that's sure..."

Keep your fingers crossed for me tomorrow. Linguistics semi-exam. Off to my notes now...

13 design features of language, anyone?

ETA: And isn't the non-trivial similarity between 'slave' and 'Slavic' interesting? Should I feel offended and propose a new word to describe all Slavic tribes?

Comments

[mchoneygoose.livejournal.com]

To utter the words "good luck" is considered unlucky and instead the phrase "break a leg" may be used.

"It's quiet" can also be avoided in some circumstances (professions) as it is 'tempting fate'.

Is that what you mean?

Anyway, break a leg for tomorrow! ;-)

/randomosity

[novin-ha.livejournal.com]

In Polish, you can say 'good luck' to a person that has an exam, but they will answer 'no thanks' instead of 'thanks' ;)

And be careful about legs, it's freezing here it could just come true...

And what a pretty icon!

icon - knock, index - that, symbol - dog

[mchoneygoose.livejournal.com]

LOL...ok!

Thanks. ;-)

[atlantel.livejournal.com]

In French you don't say good luck. Instead you say 'merde' which is shit. (how sweet) and if you say thank you... then there will be no luck left. So, usually, you say. I gonna site an exam. People will tell you 'merde'. You don't thank them and instead you switch to another subject. Very odd.

[novin-ha.livejournal.com]

In Polish we have a verb 'merdać' which means 'wiggle a tail' and 'pomerdać' which means, 'muck up'. I've always wondered if there is a connection...

[mchoneygoose.livejournal.com]

There are I think a number of old english sayings relating muck and fortune - can't recall them right now, but yeah this seems to be a popular theme...

It's great to get an understanding of how language travels. :-)