My roommate from Beijing is fascinated by English expletives and is asking about the most offensive terms we have. I tried to explain the difference between insulting swear words and offensive slurs, and he was delighted by ‘asshole’, ‘motherfucker’, ‘bastard’, ‘dickhead’, and ‘shithead’. Explaining slurs without using any proved to be difficult, as he just tried to insult me by saying, “You are a big slur!”
I told him that he can combine different words to make new ones and he just pointed at me and said, “Fuck you, you son of shit-sucker! You loser!”
“In China, we say ‘fuck your mom, fuck your ancestors, fuck your parents, fuck everyone… but we don’t say ‘fuck yourself’. I love that! In America, you can fuck anyone, even yourself!”
Roommate: “What are bollocks?”
Me: “That’s not a word we really use in America, but it means testicles.”
Roommate: “What is that?”
Me: [makes cupping motion with hands] “You know… balls. Cojones. Your nuts.”
Roommate: “I don’t understand.”
Me: “Uh…” [helplessly cycling through different physical gestures and words he might understand]
Roommate: [stares at me blankly]
Me: “They’re like… a dick’s little brothers.”
Roommate: “OH! I GET IT NOW!”
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