Greetings from the frontiers of WLBOTTdom, where I am trying to overcome my Innerer Schweinehund (inner pig-dog), watching some Fernsehen (literally: far-seeing, figuratively: television), and trying to lose the Kummerspeck (literally: grief-bacon, figuratively: weight gained from emotional eating).
What I am trying to say is, I have a BLOTT idea for you – fun German compound words. Recently a German told me that airplane in German is literally “flying thing”, and another German-heritage person informed me that mannequin is literally “shop window doll.”
I learned a bit of German many years ago; it’s really a fascinating and WLBOTTY language.
And of course there are words that came from German to Ukrainian:
бутерброд (buterbrod) – sandwich (Butter + bread) цукор (tsukor) – sugar front (like the front in the war)
Tschuss, Elder KM
A WLBOTT goldmine — stern, logical, slightly terrifying, yet unintentionally hilarious when examined with love and mild confusion. And the idea of Elder KM ping-ponging between ¡Hola! and Guten Tag! while laughing at words like Kummerspeck (“grief bacon”) is exactly the energy this blog demands.
A Special Nod to Innerer Schweinehund
Elder G: Innerer Schweinehund — The Inner Pig-Dog
Ah, Innerer Schweinehund is one of the crown jewels of German psyche-words. Literally translated: “Inner Pig-Dog.”
What It Means
The Innerer Schweinehund is that lazy, defiant creature inside you that whispers:
“Do we really need to get up and do the thing? Wouldn’t it be nicer to just… not?”
It’s the embodiment of:
Procrastination
Resistance to self-discipline
The spiritual weight of a warm blanket at 5:30am
In WLBOTT terms: “The Sacred Hog-Hound of Anti-Momentum
German Cultural Note
The Germans talk about fighting, overcoming, or even training their innere Schweinehund, as if it were an unruly farm animal that must be made to trot in formation. It appears often in speeches about willpower, fitness, and duty — so naturally, WLBOTT must adopt it immediately as a mascot.
Grief Bacon
Kummerspeck, literally “grief bacon,” the weight one gains from emotional overeating. The Germans have a poetic brutality to their vocabulary that is unmatched.
Fremdschämen
Fremdschämen / External shame / Cringing on someone else’s behalf
This has WLBOTT written all over it.
Drachenfutter
Drachenfutter / Dragon fodder / A peace offering to an angry spouse
Backpfeifengesicht
Backpfeifengesicht / Slap-face / A face in need of slapping
Nuts and Bolts of German Nouns
The nouns of the German language have several properties, some unique. As in many related Indo-European languages, German nouns possess a grammatical gender; the three genders are masculine, feminine, and neuter. Words for objects without obvious masculine or feminine characteristics like ‘bridge’ or ‘rock’ can be masculine, feminine, or neuter. German nouns are declined (change form) depending on their grammatical case (their function in a sentence) and whether they are singular or plural. German has four cases: nominative, accusative, dative and genitive.
German is unusual among languages using the Latin alphabet in that all nouns are always capitalized (for example, “the book” is always written as “das Buch”).[…] Under the influence of German, the Scandinavian languages formerly capitalized their nouns; Danish retained the practice until 1948.
Noun compounds are written together with no spacing (for example, the German word for “spy satellite” is “Spionagesatellit”).
As in other Germanic languages, German nouns can be compound in effectively unlimited numbers, as in Rinderkennzeichnungs- und Rindfleischetikettierungsüberwachungsaufgabenübertragungsgesetz (‘Cattle Marking and Beef Labelling Supervision Duties Delegation Law’, the name of an actual law passed in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern in 1999), or Donaudampfschiffahrtsgesellschaft (‘Danube Steamboat Shipping Company’, 1829).
Feel free to download these WLBOTT educational guides to assist you with German noun declinations.
And We’re Not Finnish Yet
Untranslatable Finnish Words Some Finnish words are so unique that they don’t have a direct English translation. These words offer a fascinating insight into the Finnish way of thinking.
1. Myötähäpeä
Myötähäpeä is a complex emotion that combines empathy and embarrassment. It describes the feeling of being embarrassed on behalf of someone else. This word encapsulates a nuanced emotional experience that is not easily conveyed in English.
2. Hyppytyynytyydytys
Hyppytyynytyydytys is a whimsical word that means “the satisfaction of jumping onto a pillow.” While it may not be a commonly used term, it highlights the playful and imaginative nature of the Finnish language.
This mouthful of a word, lentokonesuihkuturbiinimoottoriapumekaanikkoaliupseerioppilas, translates to “airplane jet turbine engine auxiliary mechanic non-commissioned officer student.” It is a humorous example of how Finnish can create extraordinarily long compound words. While you might not need to use this word in everyday conversation, it’s a fun challenge to see if you can pronounce it!
Profanity in Finnish is used in the form of intensifiers, adjectives, adverbs and particles, and is based on varying taboos, with religious vulgarity being very prominent. It often uses the aggressive mood which involves omission of the negative verb ei while implying its meaning with a swear word.
Most words in Finnish can be used euphemistically in place of profanity by preceding it with voi (an interjection meaning “oh!”), for example voi paska! [redacted]. This also applies for vieköön (third person singular imperative of the verb viedä “to take”), an example of this is the phrase hiisi vieköön (may the goblin take it). However, this was more prominent in older Finnish. The language also has other similar non-offensive constructs like taivahan talikynttilät which means “tallow candles of heaven”, as well as having many non-offensive curse words.
Contemporary Finnish profanity often has old origins; many words have Pagan roots that,
after Christian influence, were turned from names of deities and spirits to profanity and used as such.
In general, the etymology of Finnish swears can be traced either from these formerly religious words or
from ancient Finnish words
involving
[redacted] or russians
or [redacted]
or [redacted]
or [redacted]
or [redacted]
or [redacted],
and sometimes [redacted],
and rarely [redacted][2]. In context of other Nordic countries, Finns rank second, behind Sweden,
when it comes to frequency of using profanity.
Big Texas YES – we want to read!
A list of Finnish profanity has been compiled in Suuri kirosanakirja (“the great dictionary of profanities”).
WLBOTT: G, as often happens, one thing leads to another. I was doing some side research, and I have a question. What country curses the most? Can you give me an ordered list?
Elder G had to think about this for a while, expending approximately 5,000 kwh.
Elder G: Short answer (per the best recent dataset we can find): the U.S.
Using WordTips’ analysis of 1.7M geotagged, English-language tweets (May 2024 data), here’s the ordered top 10 by share of posts containing a swear word (per 1,000 tweets):
United States — 41.6
United Kingdom — 28.6
Australia — 26.6
New Zealand — 25.2
Canada — 24.6
Mexico — 24.5
Jamaica — 23.7
Colombia — 22.6
Dominican Republic — 22.0
Egypt — 21.9
Context: that ranking comes from WordTips’ study (the original source) and matches reporting/recaps by outlets like Mental Floss (which also notes Kuwait as lowest at 3.6/1,000). Method matters—a Twitter/X-only, English-only lens favors Anglophone countries and “online behavior,” not in-person speech.
The visualization of the World Swear Index is now generated — a fine choropleth of profanity, with the U.S. glowing like a molten forge of expletives. A proud moment for America, truly.
WLBOTT Word-of-the-Day: choropleth
WLBOTT: I’ve noticed that some countries and cultures allow children to swear, where other cultures are more strict. Is it possible to identify countries or cultures that allow children to swear? [1]
ELDER G: (thought for 27 seconds)
Short answer: there isn’t a solid, global “yes/no” list. Whether kids can swear is mostly a family/subculture rule, not a country rule. That said, you can triangulate relative tolerance using good proxies (media rules, sociolinguistic studies, and how taboo is framed culturally). Here’s a quick read:
How to gauge a culture’s tolerance for kids swearing
Broadcast standards – places that wall off profanity before a set hour signal stricter norms around children. Example: the UK’s 9 pm watershed exists specifically to protect children from unsuitable content, including strong language, and Ofcom routinely enforces it.
Attitude surveys & corpora – language researchers examine when/where swearing is acceptable and by whom. Example: Nordic research maps “bad language” usage and attitudes across the region (gender, context), showing it’s common but context-bound.
Child swearing studies – observational work shows kids do swear and that most public swearing doesn’t trigger serious consequences; tolerance varies by audience and setting.
Cultural framing of taboo – in some places, profanity is integrated into everyday slang rather than purely sexual/scatological, which can shift what adults treat as “forbidden.” Example: Québec’s religious sacres are culturally salient profanities; kids hear them as part of local vernacular (though adults may still police usage).
A pragmatic classification (not a ranking)
Publicly strict / child-shielding in media: UK and many European broadcasters (pre-watershed/ratings culture) — suggests less public tolerance of kids hearing strong language, even if families differ at home.
Context-tolerant: U.S., Nordics, Québec—kids are exposed to swearing in everyday life, but adults often treat it as audience-dependent (fine among peers/private, not to elders/teachers).
Bottom line
You can identify tendencies, but not a definitive “these countries allow kids to swear” list. The best way is to combine: (1) media rules, (2) local school norms, (3) sociolinguistic studies, and (4) the family’s own “house style.”
[1] My only cultural reference is Derry Girls (Netflix), an Irish comedy set in a Catholic girls’ school. Oh, my ears! And Sister Michael! Oh, dear!
