Expletives and colorful language

My fantasy characters often resort to saying "Gods" instead of "God" when they're frustrated. Yeah, it's lame. ;-) It's just substituting one word for another (and not a particularly clever word!) I always intend to find something better.

Here are a few sources of expletives to give you some ideas on how other writers and cultures handle expletives.

1. The first is a List of fictional expletives from Wikipedia. (Has some R entries.) Mostly it's a list of words substituted for swears, so professional writers have the same problem!
   
   (If that one isn't there, try the page at Answers.com or the Feb 2007 version I stored here at the blog. Apparently that page has a history of being deleted. Surprisingly not because it's full of swears but because it doesn't cite sources and other Wikipedia reasons. If you're curious there's a log of the page's deletes and reasons given.)
   
   Here's a sample:
   
   Bastard's Demons - from Lois McMaster Bujold's Chalion universe. General expletive referring to the one of five gods who runs hell.
   
   canner - from the movie I, Robot, a racial epithet used against robots, particularly by the protagonist.
   
   fahrbot - from Farscape; meaning insane or mentally deficient.
   
   Hab SoSlI' Quch! - Klingon for "Your Mother has a smooth forehead." The worst curse/insult in the Klingon language... especially in reference about one's mother.
   
   hippikaloric - from Ozma of Oz by L. Frank Baum - a word uttered by the Nome King, "which must be a dreadful word because we don't know what it means".
   
   mudblood - from Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling, used by "pure-blood" people to slander those whose ancestors who are non-magical (e.g. Hermione Granger).
   
   puckernuts - from Elfquest; similar meaning to "damn" or "damn it"
   
   rassin-frassin - from Hanna-Barbera's Jetsons & Flintstones a derogatory adjective of some kind. Possible corruption of the German curse "Ratten-Fressen" or "Rat Eating/Eater." Also uttered by Yosemite Sam in Warner Bros cartoons. Also similar/the same as the quiet muttering used by Muttley in Wacky Races. Also spelled/pronounced "ratchafratchin".
   
   zoinks - from Scooby Doo, a common expletive uttered by Shaggy Rogers.
   
   There are a couple more shorter lists of fictional expletives at:
   
   Swearwords of Science Fiction and Fantasy (archive)
   
   FICTIONAL EXPLETIVES and EXCLAMATIONS (archived at Wayback Machine) (archive)
   
   (Also check the comments to see if readers have added any.)
2. With the authority of actual paper there is Curse and Berate in 69+ Languages by R. V. Branham. Where else can you find how to say dumbass in Croatian (glup) or Mongolian (teneg)? The format is a bit odd -- the definitions of words are footnotes at the end of each entry -- but it's an even greater wealth of information than the Alternative Dictionaries (below). The footnotes can often be more interesting since there are several creative ways of expressing something straightforward, such as an uncircumcised penis is referred to as "Farmer's cock", "Cock with a turtleneck", and "Skin flute." The book is unabashedly NC-17.
   
   A sample (of the non-NC-17 entries):
   
   balls - Afrikaans: goons, Serb: jaja, Tagalog: yagbols, French: les couilles, and also joyeuses (bringers of joy).
   
   fat ass -Afrikaans: gwabba, Bosnian: debela kravo, Dutch: dikzak, French: gros lard. Swedish: tjockis. Also expressed as "Fat jerk", "Your fat ass has its own union steward", "fat bag", "unnecessary weight on the Earth".
   
   A sampling of entries, besides the expected ones: Adulterer, Anarchist, Balls for Brains, Bully, Chauvinist, Conceited, Crazy, Drunkard, Motor Mouth, Stool Pigeon.
   
   And, finally, under Blasphemy in the phrases section are exclamations that will make you choke if your mouth was ever washed out for saying "God!"
   
3. And The Alternative Dictionaries. (The level is mostly NC-17 so it took some digging to find some PG examples ;-) Looking through the entries, there seems to be a universal agreement that body parts, bodily functions, sex and, to a lesser extent, religion all arouse strong feelings. People pretty much say the same things to each other regardless of language which may be why writers have a hard time coming up with much that's original ;-)
   
   It's 131 pages of how to swear and insult someone in languages from Acadian to Zulu. Lots of stuff you won't learn in any language course because it would get you beaten up ;-)
   
   The dictionaries are online and can also be downloaded as a PDF file.
   
   The quality is inconsistent -- entries were written by contributors -- and it can be a bit confusing to interpret, but it's certainly a wealth of information that's hard to get anywhere else. Following the word is its type (noun, verb, exclamation, etc.), then in italics *either* its meaning or its English equivalent. So, for instance, a listing might define the word as "My God!" when it doesn't literally mean that but is used as English speakers would "My God!" Following the italics are sometimes the literal translation and often a sentence showing its usage.
   
   Some examples:
   
   Dutch
   mafketel weirdo NOTE Also "Mafkees" where "Kees" is a traditional Dutch male name. Mafketel literally means "Weird pot".
   
   German
   verdammter Schweinhund (neut. noun) idiot, absolute moron; dodo NOTE Pronounced fair-DAHM-tir SHVINE-hoont; means, literally, "Damned pigdog." Can be used as an expletive: "Ach! Verdammter Schweinhund!" or as an insult: "Du bist ein verdammter Schweinhund." Means stupid in a sloppy, revolting, or ridiculous way. Uncommon.
   
   Italian
   Porco due (excl.) "By Gosh!" (literally "Pig two!") NOTE Used to avoid saying "Porcoddio!" a blasphemous expression that means "God-pig". It sounds very similar to it. Very popular in Italy between 10-15 years people.
   
   (Similar to Zio cantante, literally "Uncle singer!" as a euphemism for "Dio Cane!" which literally means "God-dog!")
   
   Swedish
   rannskita (noun) diarrhea NOTE Literal translation: Running butt.
   
   Tibetan
   phai.sha.za.mkhan. {noun phrase} eater of father's flesh NOTE A strong insult in Tibetan.
   
   Yiddish
   shlemiel (noun) clumsy oaf. Klutz NOTE The sort of person who, when at a fancy restaurant, invariably spills his soup.
   
   
4. Similar to the Alternative Dictionaries (including the NC-17 rating) are the lists of swears from various languages at Insults.net. As far as I can see, they haven't been cribbed from the Alternative Dictionaries.
   
   Japanese
   kisama - lord of the donkeys.
   
   Morrocan
   malik maloof - Your king is a pig.
   
   Norwegian
   Morra di svetter lite til å være så feit - Your mom doesn't really sweat much for being so fat.
   
   Persian
   khange khodah - screw-up of god.
   
   Russian
   zaebal - you have bored me a lot.
   
   Serbian
   Crko dabogda stoko seljacka! - May you drop dead, you redneck ox.
   
   Tagalog
   inutil - worthless moron.
   
   
5. And certainly the award for most colorful language should go to Cockney rhyming slang which is colorful beyond just expletives. For hundreds (?) of years the people of the East End of London have replaced words with words that rhyme. And then often shortened them to make them even more obscure! ;-) There's a history (and some more slang) at A Dictionary of Slang: Cockney Rhyming Slang. The Best of British has an extensive list of slang including Cockney.
   
   There's a huge list at Cockney Rhyming Slang. Here's a sampling from Wikipedia:
   
   Apples = apples and pears = stairs ("Get up them apples!")
   Bread = bread and honey = money
   China = china plate = mate ("Alright, me old china!")
   Frog = frog and toad = road
   Rosie = Rosie Lee = tea ("Fancy a cup of Rosie?")
   Butcher's = butcher's hook = look ("Let's have a butcher's!")
   Dog and Bone =Telephone
   Septic = Septic Tank = Yank (American) ("He's a septic!" This usage has also given rise to a non-rhyming slang term, 'Listerine' meaning one who is not enthralled with Americans -- because Listerine is "anti-septic"!)
   Rub-a-dub-dub = Pub
   Wife = trouble and strife
   
   
6. List of interjections by language Though not necessarily expletives in the list, interjections are often short and might sound foul ;-) Bit of a pain to have to open each link to get to the words, but could be a good resource. Where else will you find words like the nasty looking ᐄ and экии?