Monday, February 03, 2014

B*S*: What Languages Have the Term

Ran across this, based on a link from John Phipps:
I've noticed an interesting thing about bullshit: There's no word for it in Japanese. Just as some Japanese words (like 適当) can't be translated without a long and complicated explanation, a proper understanding of "bullshit" typically occupies an entire dinner party in Japan. Observing this fact, I came up with my theory of what makes (or made) Western Civilization unique.
 As it happens, I know the French equivalent for s*** is "merde".  And Google Translate  says the French have two words for b*s* : conneries and foutaise.  gives a Japanese term for it.  But Translate uses the English term for a number of languages--not sure whether that's just a default or whether Armenian has, in  fact, imported b*s* as its own term. 

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