26 March 2006

Mom, don't read this; Dad, it's OK...

So Roxy put me in contact with Patrick, someone from Peoria who teaches English here in Budapest. We went to the opera last night, followed by a look at the expat scene. He explained something that had been bothering me for awhile...

My first night here, I was in an internet cafe, tapping away, when the internet connection stopped functioning. I brought this to the attention of the manager type, who spent the next five minutes telling me to wait, but not really looking at my computer, or doing much of anything other than talk to his friends. I start to pack up my stuff. He tries to explain that it's not his fault that the connection went down. It's not the connection I was bothered by, it was the five minutes of my life I don't get back.

Seeing that I was still perturbed, he said, "Fuck you!" followed by a string of Hungarian.

I repeated the expletive, and walked out without paying for the 10 minutes I did use.

Needless to say, this did not endear me to the city.

But last night, Patrick explained that cursing is an art form here. "Fuck you" isn't personal here. It's very commonly thrown around. The worst curse words translate into "God's cock," and you must be very careful in use of that one...

By now, you know why I told my mom not to read this. I'm certain she wouldn't appreciate my reflections on this subject...

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

I was really entertained with this post. You needed Randy S. with you in this situation. Ever been with him at a restaurant and the food or service is not good... lookout!

Anonymous said...

Yes, Randy has truly elevated the art of cussing out a service worker! "Those %&**())HGT^WQ(^%%$@!!" "That's it. They're on The LIST."

CKneer

Roxy said...

Wow...how bout that for cultural diversity! Learn to cuss and go to the opera all within 24 hours. Who knew that someone that I connected you with would be into opera! hee hee! So glad that you were able to spend time with Patrick...I called his mom on Saturday and told her. She was thrilled. I also told her that he was excited to see her in Rome and that really made her day! As always it was a pleasure talking with you and I continued the evening on Saturday and toasted you every drink I had...that is a lot of toasts...guaranteed!!!

I am going to get you info on Krakow asap from my Polish Party Princess..aka Diane...

Talk to you soon!

Anonymous said...

In case your wanted more practice swearing in Hungarian, here are a few tips.

kurva = whore
kurva jó = fucking good

kurva életbe = something like "this shitty life"

a kurva szentségét = the whore's holiness (but it is accusative, so it literaly means "do something to the whore's holiness" That something is left to the imagination.)

bassza meg! (bazmeg!) = fuck you!

seg = ass

seglyuk = asshole

pina = pussy (romantic)

picsa = you don't want to know

fasz = cock

fasza = cool (positive)

lófasz = horse's cock (negative)

faszkalap = dickhead

a malac faszára = onto the pig's cock (with you / with it)

geci = sperm

szar = shit

szarok rá = I shit on it.

buzi = faggot

köcsög = worse than faggot. It means "cream jug." Use you imagination.

Isten fasza = God's cock (As you mentioned, this is about the worst and not one you want to throw around lightly.)

Those are the basics. Now, the art form is to mix, match, and combine with other words to create inspired rants of obscenity. A typical example is "Hol a faszban a kurva kibaszott izé?" That would translate "Where in the cock is the fucking whore of a thing?" You can use this one when searching for your keys in the morning.

And again, a word to the wise, be careful how you mix and match. I have received a slap for saying "rohadt Isten gecies fasza" at a party. That would translate "rotten God's spermy cock." Of corse, I could have made it even worse by using the accusative form: "rohadt Isten gecies faszát." That would be "do something with etc., etc., etc."

I think everyone gets the point.

Marcia said...

Patrick,

How long did it take you to learn all of this? I don't think that I could curse this well in English, but I'm not Randy...