Insults
As in English, a vulgar word for the sexual act is used in insults and expletives:
- cào (肏/操) = fuck (the variant character 肏 was in use as early as the Ming dynasty in the novel Jin Ping Mei). 操 is usually erroneously used as a substitute for 肏 in print or on the computer, because 肏 was until recently often not available for typesetting or input.
- cào nǐ zǔzōng shíbā dài (肏你祖宗十八代) = fuck your ancestors to the eighteenth generation, the cào 肏(fuck) has been substituted for 抄, which meant "confiscate all the property of someone and of his entire extended family." In China, ancestor worship is an important aspect of society, as a result of Confucianism, where filial piety and respect for one's ancestors is considered crucial; insulting one's ancestors is a sensitive issue and is generally confronting.
Read more about this topic: Mandarin Chinese Profanity
Famous quotes containing the word insults:
“A potent quack, long versed in human ills,
Who first insults the victim whom he kills;
Whose murd’rous hand a drowsy bench protect,
And whose most tender mercy is neglect.”
—George Crabbe (1754–1832)
“Nature will not be Buddhist: she resents generalizing, and insults the philosopher in every moment with a million fresh particulars.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“Women receive
the insults of men
with tolerance,
having been bitten
in the nipple
by their toothless gums.”
—Dilys Laing (1906–1960)