Sinhala Slang - Slang, Vulgarism, Profanity and Swear Words

Slang, Vulgarism, Profanity and Swear Words

Each dialect and within each dialect; regional, class, age and gender differences would lead to unique slang, vulgarism, profanity and swear words. Following is a list of potential slang by different categories up until 2007.

Certain slang are used only within certain social groups and sometime not understood outside of that group. For example, Aais Amma (ආයිස් අම්මා) is a slang used by certain segments of the Sri Lankan society to express pleasurable surprise (similar to wow!). This slang is not picked up by most of the social classes who regard themselves as more refined. Instead they might use Shaa (ෂා‍) to express the same feeling. Within Sri Lankan universities, diverse slang exists, which is only used and understood by the university students and the alumni. For example Kuppiya (කුප්පිය) which literally means 'small bottle' or 'small lamp' is used to refer to an informal tuition class conducted by a student, who better knows the subject area for a small study group for free of charge. Within the Army, the term Aati (ආටි) is used to refer to artillery shells so that Aati gahanawa (ආටි ගහනවා) means shelling. These terms such as Kuppia (කුප්පිය) and Aati (ආටි) are mostly not understood outside of the demographic group which uses them.