They say that the more a society cares about something; the more words it will have for that thing. Thus the Eskimos have 50 different words for snow – which my Googling shows may in fact be true.
And what does English have a lot of words for? According to the BBC, slang English has 3,000 words for being drunk.
The only things for which we have more slang terms are sex and money.
Sounds about right.
ReplyDeleteAnd then there is the extremely large and subtly-varying Yiddish vocabulary for inadequate or obnoxious male . . .
ReplyDelete@David
ReplyDeleteI think the Ashkenazi, more than anyone else, had reason to find fault with the average western male. Not everyone can be a mensch, but that's doubly so if you don't have adequate language to describe or explain in what ways they're failing to live up to potential.
Ah... Yiddish... I think I shall describe our current President from now on as the little putzeleh....
ReplyDeleteYiddish is definitely the most satisfying way I can think of to insult people in general, and the putzeleh in particular.
ReplyDelete"If his word were a stick, you couldn't lean on it."
"He looks with his eyes, listens with his ears, and understands like a wall."
"If he were twice as smart, he'd be an idiot."
"On all his talk you could build a church."
"He doesn't deserve to have the sun shine on him."