Zompist Bboard Again

Someone needs to invent a curse word stronger than "fuck" that isn't a slur. My attempts to express my frustration with life have long since hit a wall. Imagine something like this but for swearing.

malloc wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:06 am Someone needs to invent a curse word stronger than "fuck" that isn't a slur. My attempts to express my frustration with life have long since hit a wall. Imagine something like this but for swearing.

Might I suggest something like /trʌmp/?

There are some non-fiction books towards which I have kind of mixed feelings. On the one hand, I think that they are important books, that I should probably read them, and that their authors deserve a lot of praise and respect for writing them. On the other hand, I think that actually reading them would require me to spend a lot more time in the worlds they describe than I really want to, even if just in my head.

Examples include John Carreyrou's Bad Blood: Secrets and Lies in a Silicon Valley Startup and Ashley Mears' Very Important People: Status and Beauty in the Global Party Circuit.

malloc wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:06 am Someone needs to invent a curse word stronger than "fuck" that isn't a slur. My attempts to express my frustration with life have long since hit a wall. Imagine something like this but for swearing.

have you tried French? tabernac is pretty intense, I'm told.

alice wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 2:57 pm

malloc wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:06 am Someone needs to invent a curse word stronger than "fuck" that isn't a slur. My attempts to express my frustration with life have long since hit a wall. Imagine something like this but for swearing.

Might I suggest something like /trʌmp/?

Can we not? I am sick to fucking death of Trump and of hearing about Trump. Even as an invective, this would push me into a manic episode. It already infects this board way more than it ought.

keenir wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 6:06 pm

malloc wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:06 am Someone needs to invent a curse word stronger than "fuck" that isn't a slur. My attempts to express my frustration with life have long since hit a wall. Imagine something like this but for swearing.

have you tried French? tabernac is pretty intense, I'm told.

Doesn't that only work if you're Québécois?

malloc wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:06 am Someone needs to invent a curse word stronger than "fuck" that isn't a slur. My attempts to express my frustration with life have long since hit a wall. Imagine something like this but for swearing.

Well there's "cunt" but that isn't so good as an expletive, and I guess "motherfucker" which has a better ring to it. I don't think you can really invent swear words though, the whole point of them is that they're taboo.

Travis B. wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 6:46 pm

keenir wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 6:06 pm

malloc wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 11:06 am Someone needs to invent a curse word stronger than "fuck" that isn't a slur. My attempts to express my frustration with life have long since hit a wall. Imagine something like this but for swearing.

have you tried French? tabernac is pretty intense, I'm told.

Doesn't that only work if you're Québécois?

probably...but from what I've heard, its still stronger than the F word, thus it answers the question we were asked. otherwise, see Darren's post.

Man in Space wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 6:31 pmCan we not? I am sick to fucking death of Trump and of hearing about Trump. Even as an invective, this would push me into a manic episode. It already infects this board way more than it ought.

I for one miss the days when I knew him only as one of those "famous for being famous" people.

I think conworlders should study the town of Baarle-Nassau. Take a look at this map:

Topographical map

What are you looking at? Baarle-Nassau is a town in the Netherlands, near the southern Belgian border, and it has 22 enclaves that belong to Belgium... which collectively form another town, Baarle-Hertog. And some of the Belgian enclaves contain Dutch enclaves.

Besides just being a neat thing, it's a reminder that borders can be far messier than the straight or mildly jiggly lines we're like to draw.

zompist wrote: ↑Sun Jul 20, 2025 4:46 am I think conworlders should study the town of Baarle-Nassau. Take a look at this map:

Topographical map

What are you looking at? Baarle-Nassau is a town in the Netherlands, near the southern Belgian border, and it has 22 enclaves that belong to Belgium... which collectively form another town, Baarle-Hertog. And some of the Belgian enclaves contain Dutch enclaves.

Besides just being a neat thing, it's a reminder that borders can be far messier than the straight or mildly jiggly lines we're like to draw.

It's also led to some other shenanigans, especially with things that are legal for sale in Belgium and which aren't in Tulipland (esp. fireworks), but also during the Covid lockdowns when Belgium and the Netherlands each had different rules for what was allowed to open and what wasn't. Still a fun study in any event.

Random: Yesterday, I went to see Judas Priest live. It's impressive how good Rob Halford sounds at almost 74, and the show was great. (They even performed Painkiller, a song in which Rob sings almost entirely in falsetto!)

zompist wrote: ↑Sun Jul 20, 2025 4:46 am I think conworlders should study the town of Baarle-Nassau. Take a look at this map:

Topographical map

What are you looking at? Baarle-Nassau is a town in the Netherlands, near the southern Belgian border, and it has 22 enclaves that belong to Belgium... which collectively form another town, Baarle-Hertog. And some of the Belgian enclaves contain Dutch enclaves.

Besides just being a neat thing, it's a reminder that borders can be far messier than the straight or mildly jiggly lines we're like to draw.

Telelane on Íröd takes significant cues from Baarle-Nassau. Sometimes different floors of a building are considered to be different sub-territories.

Learning about Baarle-Nassau immediately made me think of what I had heard about The City and the City by China Mieville (a novel I have not yet read, but plan to at some point), as well as the TV show based on the novel, since that story features a pair of cities that are physically intertwined, but whose inhabitants are conditioned to ignore each other's existence.

zompist wrote: ↑Sun Jul 20, 2025 4:46 am I think conworlders should study the town of Baarle-Nassau. Take a look at this map:

Topographical map

What are you looking at? Baarle-Nassau is a town in the Netherlands, near the southern Belgian border, and it has 22 enclaves that belong to Belgium... which collectively form another town, Baarle-Hertog. And some of the Belgian enclaves contain Dutch enclaves.

Besides just being a neat thing, it's a reminder that borders can be far messier than the straight or mildly jiggly lines we're like to draw.

straight lines = colonialism
whatever the fxck baarle-nassau is = redditors will gawk at this amazing fun fact
rivers/mountain ranges/islands/coastlines/forests/wolf pack scent markings = real borders

Darren wrote: ↑Sat Jul 19, 2025 8:09 pmWell there's "cunt" but that isn't so good as an expletive, and I guess "motherfucker" which has a better ring to it. I don't think you can really invent swear words though, the whole point of them is that they're taboo.

It does have a sharp bite with both the first and last consonants as voiceless stops, although it also has misogynistic overtones.

827 word english translation of a bit of in universe amarin mythos done

foxcatdog wrote: ↑Mon Jul 21, 2025 8:46 pm

zompist wrote: ↑Sun Jul 20, 2025 4:46 am I think conworlders should study the town of Baarle-Nassau. Take a look at this map:

Topographical map

What are you looking at? Baarle-Nassau is a town in the Netherlands, near the southern Belgian border, and it has 22 enclaves that belong to Belgium... which collectively form another town, Baarle-Hertog. And some of the Belgian enclaves contain Dutch enclaves.

Besides just being a neat thing, it's a reminder that borders can be far messier than the straight or mildly jiggly lines we're like to draw.

straight lines = colonialism
whatever the fxck baarle-nassau is = redditors will gawk at this amazing fun fact
rivers/mountain ranges/islands/coastlines/forests/wolf pack scent markings = real borders

Well yes, but as Zompist says, weirdness is also quite common and tends to accumulate over time. A few further European examples off the top of my head:

- Historically, any map of pre-unification Germany.
- Northern Ireland, and perhaps especially its religious/political makeup.
- All the tiny sort-of-states (Monaco, the Vatican State, etc.) of western Europe. They often add to the weirdness by having fairly unique forms of government.

So for conworlding purposes it may be more realistic to start out by having political borders trace the natural ones, and then consider how politics will gradually mess them up.

malloc wrote: ↑Mon Jul 21, 2025 10:00 pm It does have a sharp bite with both the first and last consonants as voiceless stops, although it also has misogynistic overtones.

I think if you're looking for swear words which aren't offensive to some people you might have some trouble.

Darren wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 5:24 amI think if you're looking for swear words which aren't offensive to some people you might have some trouble.

Sure but it's important to offend the people who deserve it, not those who already have enough problems. Speaking as a conlanger, though, perhaps I should just Frankenstein the ultimate swear word using all the harshest consonants in my current project. Good thing I went with clicks and ejectives.

malloc wrote: ↑Wed Jul 23, 2025 8:29 pm

Darren wrote: ↑Tue Jul 22, 2025 5:24 amI think if you're looking for swear words which aren't offensive to some people you might have some trouble.

Sure but it's important to offend the people who deserve it, not those who already have enough problems.

well thats more a matter of proximity or access...you'd be writing cussing with the intent it is heard or seen by the people you're aiming it at.