A foolish Question

[reallych1932]

What does it signify when a Chinese person calls someone a pig (猪）？ Some people say it means foolish - what kind of foolish?

What is the difference between 猪，笨蛋 (bendan-stupid egg)

and 傻瓜 (shagua).

When would you hear these words being used?

Thanks:D

[leeyah]

There's an article on the ambivalence of the term 猪 in Chinese language, from positive (Lunar year sign) to derogatory (骂人话) meaning (I liked this: 不要吃猪脑，否则读书不上进 )

I've heard that 猪 was originally used by Muslims for non-Muslims as an insult and is now used by all. There are also 笨猪, 呆猪，猪头猪脑 meaning "stupid pig". Hence the taboo on pig brain as food

笨蛋 and 傻瓜 are used in joking, or when teasing someone, and are considered mild (I mean you cannot use those for an elderly person, but with family, gf/bf or friends it's ok) something like English: You silly XX! But 笨母牛 is bad ~~

Also if someone calls you: 神经病 or 白痴 or 杂种 or tells you to 滚蛋, 滚开 or 闭嘴 it's very, very bad.

笨蛋 is mild but there's also 坏蛋 which is very offensive, it means the same as 坏人, a rotten person, utterly despicable, someone you can't trust at all. Some adjectives are also used as very offensive eg. 臭 preceeding nouns is very offensive. Etc etc

[mr.demoman]

is 坏蛋 very offensive? or I don't understand your words correctly?

[calibre2001]

No, 壞蛋 is what mothers use to scold her kid as in "You're Naugthy!"

I hope the equivalent english phrases help to illustrate the level of rudeness of these words

神经病 = "You're crazy!"

白痴 = "What an idiot!" / "Idiot!"/"Stupid!"

闭嘴 ="Shut your gap!"

[isela]

I would like to make some clarifications about this:

Basically,

- 猪，笨蛋，白痴 all refer to a "stupid person",

- 神经病 means "crazy person"

- 滚蛋, 滚开 means "get out of my way!"

- 闭嘴 means "shut up!"

You can use all of the above in a joking tone with your friends, but you need to make sure that you and the person you are talking with are close enough. It could be taken as very offensively if the other party doesn't feel you are close enough to say such things. Bear in mind that these ARE the words Chinese people use these in their real arguments to hurt each other.

Moreover, 傻瓜 (dumb melon) is no longer used in daily Chinese, it's sort of an out-dated word.

And 杂种 means "bastard", and it's very very very bad. NEVER use it!

I hope this helps!

[leeyah]

True, 坏蛋 as used by mothers is a mild rebuke, and can be used among friends in the same way, but is definitely rude used with strangers, but so are most 骂人话 anyway. Of course, if friends use any of those with you, you shouldn't worry too much

As for the levels of rudeness I'd like to add:

神经病 is rude, equivalent to 脑子有病, and is definitely a LOT stronger than just crazy; crazy is 疯子 or as in You're crazy: 你疯了!

Stupid is expressed by 笨蛋，傻瓜 or 无聊，讨厌 or you can hear 你懂什么? used with the same meaning, or for inanimate things you can hear people say 这只讨厌的抽屉打不开！That stupid drawer won't open!

白痴 is not plain stupid, it's more like moron, imbecile, a real blockhead

One of many anecdotes on the pronunciation by the Cantonese of Mandarin words I saw in an episode of a local GZ series, where a Cantonese restaurant owner had a bit of a falling out with his Northerner guests and in order to please them he said something like: You can eat free of charge today as in 白吃, but he was misunderstood for his Southern pronunciation of 吃, which made it sound the same as 痴 and this made things worse, of course

[mr.demoman]

so are most 骂人话 anyway

really? In my opinion, it sounds very funny, especially when a man swear this. quite sissy.

[stonelee]

What does it signify when a Chinese person calls someone a pig (猪）？ Some people say it means foolish - what kind of foolish?

What is the difference between 猪，笨蛋 (bendan-stupid egg)

and 傻瓜 (shagua).

When would you hear these words being used?

Thanks

这几个词大多数还是朋友恋人之间的玩笑话~

也可以用来真正骂人~~ 不过如果笑着跟你说这些的 一定是玩笑话~ Just for funny~