I'm coming home for the weekend. Anyone going to be around? This weekend trip home was already planned before anything hit the fan, but the opportunity to spend time on my home turf and think about stuff will be good too. The reason for the trip: two of my former students directed an independent film, "Invisible Things." I was a financial patron and an extra in a few scenes, so I got invited to the première Sunday night, and I'm not missing it. So I'll be home sometime Saturday and heading back to Québec Monday morning.
Now to the topic of this post: "the colorful world of Québec swear words." Definitely not for delicate ears and far from school-appropriate. Being retired, I can survive a breach of professionalism. :)
In all cultures, the most taboo language reflects the cultural taboos. Québec culture was very strongly influenced by the Catholic Church for most of the last few centuries. So the most taboo words are words from the church. So it follows that words that are completely innocuous to us are highly offensive when used as expletives. It cracks me up!
Now to the illustration that I'm still cracking up over. There is an excellent museum here in Trois-Rivières devoted to Québec popular culture. Part of one exhibit is devoted to, sure enough, these swear words which are unique in the French-speaking world. Check out this photo of the exhibit:
I walked around the corner and saw this and started cracking up laughing. This is the unhibited nature of the Québécois! Now I want to spell out an equivalency for you just to illustrate how startling and how hysterical this was. Imagine that you are attending a museum exhibit on American culture. You walk into a room, and there in huge block letters on the wall you read: "Fuck, Shit, Goddammit, Son of a Bitch, Asshole, Dickhead, Jesus Christ." This is exactly what you are looking at in the photo: Québec swear words with that level of offensiveness! They started with "tabarnak," which is the big kahuna of swear words which is why I started my list with "Fuck." Coming out swinging!!
What do they mean literally? In order of the photo, it's "tabernacle" or church; "host" like the communion host or wafer; "ciborium" which is the box that holds the host; "chalice" which is the communion drinking cup; "sacrement" which is the same in English; "viarge" which is "virgin" referring to Mary, the mother of Jesus; and "Christ." Yes, indeed, those are Québec's most taboo swear words.
You do hear people say "Fuck" up here but it has no power to them. They think they're saying something with about the offensiveness level of "damn it."
I wanted to make a funny post after my last super-serious one. I hope you find this as hilarious as I do!
Your analysis of theological cursing is fascinating. I'm sure my Huguenot ancestors would have been appalled, since their leader, Jean Calvin, was a very prudish fellow. To me it all seems rather droll, the idea that churchy words are dirtier than those that deal with bodily functions. Conclusion: each culture has its own impurities. Ainsi soit il.
ReplyDeleteTrue indeed, Jim. It says a lot about the history of Québécois culture that the worst things you can say are all church-related. My online tutor over the past year, who is a French literature grad student from here whom I met up here a year ago, says that kids today have no idea about the original meanings of any of those words. They just know that if they say "tabarnak" that that's as vulgar as it gets. Fascinating stuff indeed!
DeleteDiane, just read this and, indeed it is hilarious although I'd love to see the expressions on a few nun's faces should they ever visit the museum.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand about the culture, it would not take them by surprise! Perhaps they wouldn't use this vocabulary the way I've heard it used here which is to string a whole bunch of the words together, i.e. "hostie de câlisse de criss de tabarnak," but the Québécois are pretty uninhibited so it's nothing they wouldn't have heard before!!
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