Skip Navigation
59 comments
  • "Chatte" (female cat) is the equivalent of pussy in english.

    "Poulet" (chicken) is a cop. "Poulette" (hen) is a rather disrespectful word for a women.

    "Gorille" (gorilla) is a tall muscular person.

    "Cochon" (pig) is someone filthy, especially in the sexual sense. (can be used as an adjective, "films cochons" are porn films).

    "Canard" (duck) can be a newspaper, or a mistake when playing music.

    "Levrette" (female greyhound) is the name for the doggy style sexual position.

    "Vache" (cow) can be either someone mean, either a cop. The second case is rarely used except in the sentence "Mort aux vaches" (death to the cops) and probably comes from the Wache germanic root for Guardian, rather than the actual animal.

  • uhh, « manger comme un cochon » is to eat like a pig. more idioms but i speak english better. « malin comme un singe » is to be very clever (« as a monkey »)

    i’ve heard « serpent » for backstabber, or serpan since i’m learning haitian creole

  • In Italy "uccello" (bird) means penis in a very unformal context, usually used with friends. In Tuscany, for the regional ones, we have "Topa" (female of the mouse) to indicate a very pretty girl, also very unformal and a bit rude. Same translation for "passera" (female of the sparrow). Both can also indicate the literal female reproductive organe. "Gatta morta" (dead female cat) means somebody who acts ingenous or hide her personality under a chill, almost naif mask to act at the opportune moment.

    • Hah that's interesting! In Spanish we have "mosquita muerta", meaning dead female fly, and means exactly what the gatta morta does for you.

      I like gatta better, cats are more dangerous :)

      • Very interesting! Yeah it's strange the use of the fly, i'd argue that a cat has a more doubleface aura than a cat. Still pretty cool

  • In some Spanish-speaking regions, a goat is usually like a big dumb guy. And calling someone a horse is another way of saying they’re stupid.

    • Which regions? And do they say caballo for it or a different word?

      • Caballo, yes. That's specific to Costa Rica. I forget where I heard the goat one (cabron) but I think it was either Spain or Mexico.

  • As a lusophone (of the Brazilian variety), it's weird that "cão" (dog) can refer either to a dog or to the devil (???).

    Or how "veado" (deer) can mean "deer" the animal, a gay person (pejoratively) or "dude" in slang (depends on the region and on the speaker's vocabulary).

  • In Vietnamese I think a lot of it is metaphorical and used to convey personality traits or situations.

    For example "mập như con heo" means fat like a pig. Or "ngu như bò" means stupid like a cow.

59 comments