The Tribe That Cursed Too Much - the linguistics behind Oceanic taboos

[@TheAndreArtus]

It's clearly a drinking game that got out of hand.

[@janosgorondi5522]

Man I've just read ur answer and with that u made my day, good job!

[@manictiger]

@TheAwesomeAmericanWonder Listen 'ere dagnabgoneit! Yew can't just insinuate things 'bout mah culture, got it? This here country is the mighty finest on Earth, goshdarn digglynabbit consarnit!

[@emerablade2021]

I'm with Manictiger

[@emerablade2021]

It's like someone might have seen this, who was from the Island. Now how do you think they would feel.

[@Volvith]

... I think this can be said of pretty much everything.

[@reeflarkin1919]

I'm Aboriginal Australian and it's taboo for people from most of our nations to say the name of a dead person- there is a warning on many TV shows here now if they may contain the voices or images of deceased indigenous persons. I suppose I should've expected we are not unique so it's cool to learn this taboo exists elsewhere, I'm glad ours is not as complicated as this though haha.

[@quincy9908]

That's amusing to me, because it's the opposite for Black Americans. As a form of remembrance.

[@xhstan]

What does taboo mean?

[@xhstan]

@@quincy9908 not only black Americans but the rest of the world

[@yasmineelboubsi6038]

@@xhstan Google exists

[@1leon000]

@@xhstan taboo means "a ban on something that comes from social norms or aversion"

[@stumbling]

Please do not utter the names of my ancestors: "The", "And", "One", "This", "That", "An", "Coca Cola".

[@marcelineraber]

"Coca-cola?" aw, inside of pig.

[@ekvedrek]

Orion D. Hunter That’s my third-second beanie cousin-in-law’s nan

[@snowrider6669]

The

[@enzogamerukbr]

You sweared!

[@lukesmith8896]

Ok i won't its actually quite easy

[@KendrixTermina]

Didn't something similar happen with the word "bear" in Europe? People wouldn't say it in fear of accidentally summoning a bear, so we don't know what the original proto-indo-european root was, we just have various euphemisms. The Germanic terms come from "brown", the slavic ones from "honey-eater", and latin and greek flat out took their words from "destroyer", and eventually in some places those terms themselves would be avoided by superstitious people, for example there was a tedency to say "Meister Petz" rather than "Bär" or "Misha" rather than "Medved", though modernity came along before that could fully replace the older words. Still, obviously this case is a much more elaborate and dynamic phenomenon - I guess honoring the dead is serious business.

[@larbmining]

KendrixTermina maybe the proto-Indo-European speakers were fed up with summoning bears all the time

[@hai-mel6815]

I had no idea about the bear thing. Thank you so much!

[@denizhantutar1680]

I'm not totally sure that it's real but there was a similar story about wolf in Turkish: ancient word for wolf was "börü" but people stopped using it for the same reason, and they switched to the word "kurt" that means a worm, which they thought a harmless animal. Still today, many people wouldn't utter "cin"(djinn, genie) but say "üç harfli"(with three letter) instead, in fear of summoning them.

[@vaspeter2600]

It's made even more roundabout for languages with roots in animistic cultures like Hungarian. For instance, a whole host of animal names we use today are just roundabout descriptive terms: "farkas", "tailed thing" for wolf, "szarvas", "antlered thing" for stag, etc. Because of the thorough cultural assimilation (and the fact that nomadic tribes weren't the biggest fans of lasting written correspondence) we mostly don't even know what the original versions were well over a thousand years ago.

[@ridleyroid9060]

holy shit we do say honey eater in Slavic "medved". I never thought about it!

[@wenonatezi2320]

I am from Kwaio. And yes, that's so true, but we also we give nicknames for the adalo (devil or ancestor ) so that normal words are not used. Kwaio itself has many other language. East kwaio, west kwaio, Go'ikagu, Dori'o, 'ogou and many more. Most adalo's nicknamename is not known even in the tribe for only few people/highpriest (fataabu). This is one way we cannot curse.

[@seid3366]

How did these taboos even come about?

[@boglenight1551]

"An Island where every word can be a curse word" He's talking about Australia, right? XD

[@thehumanoddity]

I don't get the joke...

[@boglenight1551]

trevor bgs Have you ever been to Australia?

[@thehumanoddity]

Boglenight, no, like most people I don't have the Money or time to fly around the world.

[@boglenight1551]

trevor bgs Well then of course you won't get the joke, ya dimwit, how can you expect to get the joke when you know nothing about Australia and have never been here?

[@thehumanoddity]

Boglenight, I thought you would tell me.

[@Luboman411]

Taboos are very culture specific to time and place. For example, in Spanish-speaking Latin American cultures, insulting your mother is the worst taboo, so any profanities aimed at your mother or the virginity/purity of your mother are the worst curse words to utter. Whereas here in the U.S. it used to be that, before the 1960s, the worst curse words had to do with sex and pooping. Now the worst curse words in U.S. English have to do with racially-demeaning profanities--you don't need me to tell you that uttering the f-word is seen as far less of a breach of etiquette in most contexts with most people than uttering the n-word. And, oddly enough, in Quebec, the worst curse words are those that defile the Catholic church and Catholic ceremonies. As a result, "cursing the host" (the little wafer you get during Catholic mass) is one of the worst insults you can throw in Quebecois French. And these differences in taboos are found just in the Western-derived cultures of North America. Other cultures have far more disparate and odd taboos. So, for the Kwaio and similar tribes in Oceania, death and ancestor-worship is probably the worst taboo, so one must not utter words associated with it. Makes sense to me.

[@alanr5910]

Thanks for being like the only smart comment so far

[@TheJenniferKK]

The Dutch swear by using diseases. Sometimes we form compounds by adding body parts or other nouns. "Cancer dick", "Typhoid cunt", "Get that out of your cancer head", "Get the Plague", "That's such a pox child", "Cancer off, with that typhoid bike of yours, you can see I'm parking here, or are you cancerously blind, you filthy AIDS mongoloid?", etc. No taboos though. If you need any translations, I'd be happy to provide.

[@arcanewonders9641]

“Cancer of with that typhoid bike of yours”.

[@TheJenniferKK]

@@arcanewonders9641 ”Fuck off with that damned bike of yours"

[@MrCmon113]

I deny the virginity of everyone's mother.

[@Mortablunt]

Go home, language, you are drunk.

[@suneenough]

>be me >adventurer >land on island in oceania >hungry, looking for food >found by locals, given food and shelter >learn a few basic words, like the word for food >go to next town over to get food >cuss at locals >mfw i just pulled a gordon ramsay

[@mrmimeisfunny]

Imagine if a kwaio speaker watches this video. My friend, stock up thy pigs.

[@bfhan4959]

The Flying Dolphin wtf r u talking about

[@demonhunter5478]

@@bfhan4959 his uncle is called "speaker" so he felt insulted

[@joshkooga7204]

..right..where are my pigs??

[@prim16]

@@joshkooga7204 Based on your comments on this channel, I take it you're actually Kwaio? That's really cool if so, I find your culture fascinating

[@joshkooga7204]

@@prim16 thank you..had no idea this kind of stuff would be of interest to anybody..and yes,i am,unfortunately,kwaio😀..

[@alwinpriven2400]

Traveler's Guide To Oceanic Languages Index: 1. Basic Words 2. What Words You Can't Say 3. Replacements For Those Words

[@jobdylan5782]

Revision Edition: Don't travel to strange places

[@pjrt_tv]

I don't understand how they don't go mad with their language changing that fast :\

[@BiaZarr]

I don't know. I guess they have smaller communities where news about the language changing spreads very fast. Also I guess they got used to it.

[@fenrirgg]

In our society teenagers hate all what adults do or say, so they make some words taboo because that's how adults speak and if a teenager says those words then he is not cool, so they invent their own words or give other uses to existing words and they don't go mad, maybe the adults are a little upset because from their point of view the teenagers sound retarded, but among teenagers they are cool. I see that sometimes, at least where I live and I don't live in the South Pacific Ocean.

[@The0Skeleton123]

so you literally never encountered an elderly person raging about "the new interweb-thingy with their incomprehensible acronyms", that's basically the same thing. Being from one of THE oldest (demographic wise) countries in world, Germany, can only say that even juvenile language is enough to drive many of our elders mad. :\

[@MrTohawk]

Fast? It's like one new word every couple of years at most.

[@AtarahDerek]

Pedro Rodriguez ya i dont unddrstand y there language chng so fast an they r not anoied by it

[@johnmoone8013]

I think people are missing the point by equating the taboo words here are similar to swear word. A word is made taboo out of reverence of their ancestors, kinda like 'to speak his name is to disrespect' type of thing rather than the type we usually hear.

[@imafrog4]

John Moone Exactly!

[@bobbobson5595]

John Moone So a similar idea to not saying the name of God?

[@ceruchi2084]

Some English speakers used to make a distinction between swears and curses. A swear, or oath, is when you refer to something holy in a profane context: God Almighty, Jesus Christ, Holy Mother of God, 'Snails (God's nails, on the cross), 'Sblood (God's blood). The last two are only familiar from Shakespeare. A curse would be something diabolical or unclean, and I would include modern bodily functions: the hell with you, a pox on you, curse you, damn you, you bastard; shit, fuck, ass, etc. There's a scholarly dispute over goddamn/goddam. Either it means "God damn you," in the same sort of subjunctive as "God bless you." Or, it means "The Virgin Mary was a pig." _Dam_ is an old word for "mother" applied only to female animals, like sows and hens. So "Goddam" would mean Mother of God, but where the mother was an animal. Both spellings persist, but spelling didn't matter back when the word was coined.

[@incanusolorin2607]

@@ceruchi2084 Italians use the “virgin Mary is a pig” version of the curse. PORCA MADONNA!

[@andyarken7906]

@@ceruchi2084 I doubt the "mother" theory. As for spelling, there is also "dammit", which is not spelt "damn"+"it" either. And the simple explanation, that it comes from damning, echoes with other languages. In German there is the swear word "Gottverdammt", which means "god damned", also usually written as a single word.

[@HipposHateWater]

"Thanks for watching! You're a real adalo!" [Gasps in horror at the insult]

[@WangGanChang]

Interesting, since Chinese had a similar system of taboos called 名讳, but in written form. Essentially, the names of dead ancestors and emperors can’t be used, and since Chinese names be composed of commonly used words and characters. A complicated system evolved to create irregular character by manipulating or omitting strokes. Which make it a help tool in dating text and clans affiliation. I thought the Chinese was crazy to do this due to complication involved (for example when written letter or contract to someone, you need to observe their taboo if you don’t mean to offend. which mean you need to communicate those taboo in order to avoid the taboo while not breaking the taboos). I though we’re crazy to do thing, but i guess we are not alone.

[@janeleess]

Wasn't there that story of that extremely smart and filial daughter-in-law whose father-in-law had jiu (I forgot which character) in his name, so she avoided saying any word that can essentially be romanised to jiu when speaking to him? The father-in-law's friends heard about this and decided to test her, so intentionally sent her to pass him a message that would involve her saying a bunch of things with jiu and then were super impressed when she still managed to circumvent all the jiu.

[@KimKhan]

"You insulted me! Pay me money!" Sounds like the researcher got conned.

[@thaicurrysoup672]

"Quick! We need a new word for 'wife!'" "i got a good word man, its calle-" "nah, i got it nvm" *5 days later* "Hi, _woman of a man!_ I'm home!"

[@meigab]

Sounds like nowadays languages revolving around sensitive topics, like: Don't say Obese! Or disable! Or in Spanish now there is a problem with "gender neutral words" (that is highly impractical in a daily basis) or people that don't like relationship labels like "wife, fiancee, boyfriend, etc." and they use a very complex and unwanted long version like "we are together on an equal relationship with no labels and not social conformist" (rough translation) instead of saying "concubinato or together".😒

[@CTGrell]

@@meigab in hungary we use "házas társ" for the gender neutral version of wife and husband. It means something like marriage companion. And there's the version of without marriage which is "élettárs". That mean companion in life

[@carcharoclesmegalodon6904]

@@meigab Now that's a pretty good point.

[@Theroha]

@@meigab PSA: disabled people are generally fine being called disabled. Source: my best friend and wife are both disabled disability advocates.

[@Pyovali]

@@CTGrell Finnish has _puoliso_ for gender neutral husband/wife. It comes from the word _puoli_ - 'side' (Cognate with Hungarian _fél_ ).

[@4grammaton]

I'm guessing this "taboo" system is a kind of social shibboleth that is common for small, exclusive and isolated communities. Insiders of the community are kept up to date on the changing taboo word list, which is closely related to the changing local social history (which elders have died recently, etc), something one can only follow if one is an active member of said community. People who don't belong are easily singled out, ostracized and fined for the benefit of the in-group. Thus in-group preference and bias is reinforced and the community is kept tightly-knit. People are not only forced to engage in the island's social life and maintain their social relationships, but their mutual, collective feeling of "being in the know" also reinforces their local pride and self-identification with an exclusive group sharing a common destiny. I'm not sure whether these taboo words should be compared with swear words. I think they correspond more to slang and jargon, except in the opposite sense: instead of knowing and using certain words to be accepted within a community, these people know and *don't* use certain words to be accepted in their community. Another difference is that jargon within a group doesn't often change that much, whereas here the list is constantly updated. The only exception I can think of is internet image boards, where the current "acceptable" memetic expressions are changed like socks within the span of weeks or months. One question I have is: Do any tabu words ever stop being tabu after a certain time (perhaps after many generations when certain ancestors are forgotten)? The second question I have is: how long has this tabu system existed on these islands, and specifically, how many generations of ancestors do they remember? Do they keep strict records of ancestor death somewhere?

[@GrimFaceHunter]

This is just an excuse to rob you of your money and pigs.

[@NickRoman]

It is said that the most complex languages exist within the smallest groups. For this reason, I suppose. In places like the U.S. where there are tons of people over a wide area with a lot of foreigners, they keep us from making the language overly complicated because they can't learn unnecessary intricacies.

[@thehumanoddity]

The American-English language is overcomplicated mate...

[@NickRoman]

trevor bgs Well, that may be, but supposedly not compared to some languages. Anyway, that was my attempt at relaying a concept taught by a linguist that I have a lecture of.

[@thehumanoddity]

NickRoman, that linguist is a dumbass then.

[@troelspeterroland6998]

There is a similar phenomenon in East Greenlandic. If someone suffers a violent or untimely death, words associated with the event become taboo and are replaced with other words.

[@camerons9229]

"the one where you demanded food, walked to the next town over, and started cussing at the locals...good job" 😂😂😂😂

[@kpaukeaho6180]

Taboo words were significant in the evolution of Tahitian. Many, perhaps most, of their vocabulary differences from closely-related languages (like Hawaiian and Cook Islands Māori) came about because the original word sounded too much like the name of an ari'i of centuries past.

[@NativLang]

+Mark Stoleson The Hawaiian story is that the tapu/kapu system was brought to the islands by Tahitians. Do you know if this ever happened with Hawaiian ali'i?

[@NativLang]

The linguistic and cultural concept is, so I long assumed that every aspect of the system was just a direct Austronesian inheritance. However, some follow Pukui and trace the specific characteristics of the Hawaiian kapu system as we know it to that Tahitian invasion you mention.

[@kpaukeaho6180]

+NativLang - It may be a fairly universal Austronesian concept, but what it means varies greatly from culture to culture. Generally the stratified society of Hawai'i originated with the Tahitian wave of immigration, as did many of the gods, and the system of conduct that governed it all would be kapu. However, the kapu on ali'i names doesn't seem to have had much of an impact on Hawaiian language as compared to Tahitian, and if it did occur I haven't heard of any instances of it. I suspect that the Tahitian kapu on names really picked up after the 12th century or it otherwise wasn't brought with the Tahitian arrivals to Hawai'i.

[@kpaukeaho6180]

In fact, Hawaiʻi has the tradition of re-naming the aliʻi when higher standing or great achievements have been made, rather than inventing new words for things that sound like the name of the ali'i.

[@NativLang]

Ah, the other way around! I hadn't made that connection.

[@haraldeigerson8079]

Oh I said a bad word? Here let me put some money in the swear jar. How much would you like? One pig's worth? Say that sounds kind of expensive! Are you sure this isn't just a shake down?

[@NickRoman]

And then because it is a shakedown, you get beat up for suggesting it. You know, because you were rude. Humans are a-holes.

[@JonatasAdoM]

+NickRoman Nah, human concept of language is the problem.

[@NickRoman]

JonatasAdoM I was being mildly facetious because people do act similarly to that sometimes.

[@JonatasAdoM]

+NickRoman Well we need a middle ground.

[@marceloleal1957]

I was thinking the same thing: stranger wants to eat pig, the word pig that they taught him is now offensive, he pays the price of the pig and gets a salad

[@frzferdinand72]

This is sorta like how bon appetit => bone app the teeth => bone apple tea => bomb the japanese => phone stamp the beef => boing application.

[@Hachiae]

no, that was auto correct and a cancerous meme.

[@MrYougotcaught]

Oh like Ham, Lamb, Bee = Huh, Ram, Boo = Harambe?

[@sorou]

and somehow we ended up at 'osteoperosis'

[@frzferdinand72]

sorou because that's bone atrophy

[@johnes4882]

Катя Осипова

[@AE-ix2iz]

I appreciate the pronunciation of Samoan 🤙🏽 Btw, if memory serves me correctly, Samoa and Tahiti practiced a form of “name avoidance” as well. When chiefs used a common word as their name that word becomes taboo. However, I believe in Samoa the taboo was lifted when that chief died while in Tahiti that word is never used again.

[@sallylee4924]

That's so interesting! In ancient China, it was taboo to say the name of the current emperor. And since many Chinese characters share the same pronunciation, many words would have to be replaces (until that emperor passes away anyways). If you happened to share the same sounds in your name as emperor, you'd have to change your name. Similarly it is considered rude to use words that sounded the same as the elders of the person you're speaking to. It'd be like if I'm talking to someone whose mother's name is Daisy, then I shouldn't say daisy in a conversation with this person.

[@gabriellozanoochoa2769]

I just want to say... La calidad de este canal no tiene precedentes. Que magnífico trabajo, deberías ser el número 1 en suscriptores. Keep up the amazing work!!!!!!

[@thulx3997]

"The tribe that cursed too much" *_KZbin has join the chat_*

[@ceruchi2084]

I'm four years late, but I just wanted to recommend Melville's short novel "Typee." It's more of a fictionalized ethnography than a novel, and it navigates a lot of the taboo culture of the Marquesas Islands while also showing the incredible personal freedom that the islanders enjoyed before the French conquest.

[@PinguinCrazy]

LOL I can just imagine a tribe guy from the east comes running to a tribe guy from the west with a torch in his hand, east guys stops and asks "what do you guys call this?" (pointing at fire), west guy answers " oh shit not again." xD

[@andyarken7906]

west guy answers "how dare you say 'thing'!" guy next to west guy says "you both owe me a pig!" east guy "ah naw, we don't call this animal as you just did. Pay up!"

[@yakubaliyev7991]

I have a new year resolution, To learn a new language, Oceanic, By the time I'll be intermediate, The language I speak will be archaic.

[@GrzegorzusLudi]

It reminds me my school friend who would laugh when he heard any word that is even indirectly connected with sexual behaviour. He even laughed when somebody said "to give" because in Polish "to give arse" means to be in a passive role in a sexual act.

[@mxMik]

Similar in russian: the words to give and to want have sexual innuengos, and there is a whole host of dirty jokes vapitaluzing on this, like: Girl, why are so silent? - i am silint because i want to. - you want to, and you are silent???

[@huxley3043]

how the english language is currently evolving nut

[@pomtubes1205]

@&#*@(+¥#!"!

[@proudtitanicdenier4300]

"the M word"

[@gamegirl8722]

yesn't

[@Ninjaananas]

PEE_IS_STORED_IN_THE_BALLS Good. You forgot the punctuation.

[@MrCmon113]

How the e-word l-word is currently e-wording.

[@torbjornlekberg7756]

This sounds is similar to 'wolf' in North Germanic. It is not realy cursing, but some the words went through a similar process. We have this old saying, "When you speak of the trolls, they stand in the hallway". Meaning, if you mention somthing by name, you call for it, so you should not call for dangerous things. So, the word for 'wolf' have changed through time, as the "nickname" becomes the real one, creating a need for a new nickname. During the 1800's, people said "gråben" (grey-legg), to avoid the name "varg", and further back they said "varg" to avoid "ulv" (male wolf) and "ylva" (female wolf). Before that, it is anyones guess. Interestingly, both "Ulv" and "Ylva" have since long also been used as names (or parts of names) to give the child wolf-like abilities. Just like "Björn" (bear) in my name.

[@Jimpozcan]

Those are US dollars not Solomon Island dollars (4:06). Let's hope that don't take it as further insult.

[@jason67823]

It's pretty nifty artwork, even if they don't value it as currency. Imagine what you'd think if you could only conceive of something like that being hand drawn. There's a dude who hand draws 'money', and it takes him something like 3 days for 1 bill.

[@eveningdim7167]

Jason Bright They could trade it in.

[@OmniscientWarrior]

Considering how US dollars are worth a lot more in Solomon dollars, I would think not.

[@kpcrew0494]

Me: says hello Those islanders: do you kiss your mother with that mouth

[@Seltyk]

How long, I wonder, does it take before nobody remembers that a word is taboo? Does it just fade out of the language, or does it return to use? If the latter, is it accidental, intentional, or both? Also, who decides on the replacement of a taboo word?

[@matthewmann8969]

The history of Australia, New Zealand, Melanesia, Micronesia, And Polynesia are so underappreciated

[@edwardproxy519]

Hi, I'm money fight-fish. Don't talk about my wofe or I'll slaughter yours sacrid pug.

[@rhigenagngarayngay9264]

When you're a filipino, just hearing "fo'ota" is perceived a swear word here.

[@AppaBalloonPro]

Kwaio time travellers will have a hell of a time talking to their descendants.

[@WryAun]

Fascinating! I'd love to se a short series on taboo and swearing in other cultures

[@Koenshakuable]

i just found this channel... the monemes and phonemes of language are the most fascinating aspects of human legacy. you should do a vid on the most common 'word' that exists in all languages: huh?

[@patrickwienhoft7987]

I really have trouble following your explanations... You mix up those native and English terms and your narration style would be really good, if you understand everything, but keep in mind you're throwing like 10 new words of a foreign language at us in like a minute :) I really had to watch the part from 2:18 on 3 times because you said they ban the things which the adalo names are based on but then you say the fo'ota pig name gets changed... So does the pig also get the adalo's name? :/

[@driheart]

I AGREEEEE!! I didn't rewatch it but he jumps from one word to another and doesn't explain what pig has to do with the ancestor besides slaughtering it in their name. At the end of the video, it seemed to me like they say the word for "pig slaughtering" to avoid saying the name of their deceased ancestor and refer to them with that name because they slaughter it for them. Gradually, this word itself has to be replaced with another one again and again because of the taboo system. Another point that he didn't explain well is that basic words like "fish" or "fight" become taboo because many people have those words in their names. So when a person with that name dies, it enters the taboo system of the words that must be changed. Well, this is my reasoning after wondering about what he explains in the video.

[@no1reallycaresabout2]

3:14 We have a similar issue in English; euphemisms can often become as taboo as the word it was meant to replace en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Euphemism#Evolution

[@Sarhaly15]

This reminded me of the whole "YHVH" story

[@lifuranph.d.9440]

Yes.

[@jodazague8333]

what is that?

[@oscarcontigo87]

@@jodazague8333 The consonants from God's name.

[@spiralcraft8957]

Great video never would have imagined words get renamed like that.gotta love island cultures. There is a swear word in the language afrikaans 'poes'. Originally it means cat in dutch but to me its like saying the C word only 100 times worse. Strangely in the US it can be used to refer to someones face haha.

[@fisebilillah4406]

Niom You must be from Amerikiyya.

[@ceruchi2084]

We do say "poe-faced" sometimes, but we also have a great poet and short story writer named Edgar Allan Poe.

[@dg-hughes]

This reminds me of small isolated towns here in Canada where you may see only two surnames like Smith and Jones. There is probably more than one person called John Smith so he is given a nickname Big John Smith but if he has a son he if often Big John Smith's son then if Big John's son has a son he's also Big John? I can see how words can become "taboo" sooner or later at least when it comes to often repeated words maybe not the way as the Kwaio but it reminds me of it.

[@TransLorentz]

The names of Chinese ancestors also become taboo for their descendants, but Chinese characters in names are relatively rare, and it is binding on the descendants not on other people to the descendants. It used to be the case that the names of Emperors past and present were also taboo. The taboo generally expires after a few generations (5 or 9, depending on convention).

[@Thegentechgamer]

4:05 "A little cash could settle this just fine" apparently a little cash is ur whole entire dru- college tuition money.

[@chandramanishukla9342]

Nice research and thanks for sharing! Interesting how money is a universal language that even supersedes taboos :)

[@MjaucastRenzhion]

Could you do a video about the Jurchen Script and the later Manchu script?

[@nightglide_]

Roblox filter ain’t lettin those Kwaio speakers say ANYTHING 💀

[@Theodisc]

Coming from someone who lives in Aotearoa (NZ) the very word *"taboo"* actually comes down to us as a borrowing from the polynesian word "tapu" meaning sacred or hallowed. Specifically, in english it's first recorded use is from Cook's Voyages to Tonga, no doubt gleaned from the name of one of these Friendly Isles: "Tonga Tapu" or "South Sacred". The word is "tabou" in french, possibly also gleaned through Cook's annexation of it or through their near-contemporary voyages of what is now called French Polynesia. Perhaps someone can answer me this?

[@joshkooga7204]

Alot of pacific languages use some form of the word,i think..here in my country,it's most commonly 'tambu' or 'ambu'..

[@Theodisc]

@@joshkooga7204 Where are you fron Josh, Fiji?

[@joshkooga7204]

@@Theodisc the video is about where i'm from,funnily enough..haha..

[@Theodisc]

@@joshkooga7204 💙

[@Icewind007]

I can just imagine one of the tribes having a huge family that has ancestors with nearly every word for a name trying to have a group meeting.

[@sion8]

I remember reading about this phenomena, which just brings "why do we have bad words if empirically they don't do harm?" I mean somehow even Esperanto has bad words and sometimes they're self made not just borrowing from other European languages.

[@NativLang]

+sion8 It's a good question. I like that you're going the other direction and thinking about taboo in a modern, invented language!

[@sion8]

***** Does it proof that humans will find somethings so offensive that the words are not to be said in public maybe with kin but usually not at all or is just the cultural need of the modern people to continue having words that have stigma but your cool if you say them? (Such as modern so-called "street culture")

[@bcubed72]

Because there's a need to communicate revulsion, disgust, the fact that "if you mouth off one more F--ing time, I'm gonna kick my F---ing foot so far up your F---ing ass, that it comes out your mouth!"...is sometimes necessary communication, to give full measure to my anger and disgust. It's a necessary feature of language--if language didn't have cuss words, we'd have to invent them.

[@ceruchi2084]

Most of our "bad words" are ones that you would never say with strangers, but they can actually increase your bonding with friends when you use them in private. Just imagine 13-year-olds saying FUCK! at a sleepover and giggling.

[@osmanthewoodsman5040]

There is something similar in Turkic languages. Centuries ago people was believing saying the name of something means calling (or summoning) it. Original word for wolf is "Börü" but they were saying "Kurt" to avoid calling wolves. This believe is continuing even today in country side of Turkey, "Cin" means djinn(evil spirit). People says "üç harfli" that means "the three letters" to avoid summoning djinns.

[@chricechiu3673]

Pig guts you fish video potato dumpling cookie North Korea

[@CS_____]

How dare you!

[@spoderman15]

That'll be 100 inside of pigs sir

[@TheSimo182]

Barbra Streisand

[@Mi_Fa_Volare]

South Park?

[@TheSimo182]

***** Yuppp :D

[@EmeraldKelsi]

the sound at 1:07 layers deep within you

[@NB-gu9rs]

ITT: dozens of people cracking the exact same joke in unison... complaining about groupthink.

[@jabrown]

The words for ‘wolf’ and ‘bear’ in some languages of Europe come from taboo avoidance. Apparently this was based on a religious taboo because these animals had a religious/symbolic function.

[@openmind4641]

I can understand this it makes sense. People can be offended by words, even the same words in different cultures or situations even in my country. For instance, me talking about natural bodily emissions in a church setting is seen as taboo. But the same people who get offended, will happily carry around a book with the same terms in. When I hear curse, I think of a meaning of what characters in MacBeth do, i.e a witches curse, no matter how many times I see it written that's the meaning I think, that meaning doesn't escape me. Life is interesting, but no-one else is me. Life, words, are subjective. Basically, I live in my head, via my body, in a world I only half feel, no-one lives my life or has my emotions, memories word associations. It's a lonely world, but an interesting one. Thanks for the video.

[@ericvulgate]

i really enjoy your channel thanks!

[@Luboman411]

I just thought about this--is there a possibility that the Kwaio have this elaborate system of taboo words, but that they're not that serious about it? Like, it's all contextual, so that when you say the word "fish" or "fire" in a run-of-the-mill, practical sentence that deals with "fishing" or "fish soup" or "making a fire" you don't violate the taboo? Because that would make sense, right, otherwise how would people go about their everyday business? And that maybe they saw this rich, white Western anthropologist and figured they'd get some money out of him, so came up with this elaborate charade where whenever HE said a taboo word, he'd have to cough up money or else cause "grave offense"? Seems like that's a better explanation for what the Kwaio were truly doing--they were trolling the anthropologist. I say this for two reasons: a) because you got the only explanation for the Kwaio language from this anthropologist (who, obviously, does not want to portray himself like a fool who has been trolled, so maybe came up with this quasi-plausible explanation for their language). And b) because of the utter impracticability to everyday life of the Kwaio taboo system that I explained above in my first paragraph. Something smells fishy here, and the only way you could clear this is by speaking to an actual Kwaio from this far-off island instead of getting an interpretation from an anthropologist who may have reasons to be biased.

[@gregakis]

As an anthropology student I gotta say I like the way you re thinking...it s very anthropological I gotta say! you have to see every perspective before going to a conclusion. Although anthropologists have to stay in the place they do theirresearch for at least 1-2 years and participate in every day social life of the people before they write about them. So I think he would have seen that happening with others and between the indigenous people before he wrote about it.

[@241Groundhog]

I don't think it would be that hard to avoid using taboo words. The video gives a nice example when the narrator says instead of saying "wife" you say something like "woman of a man." That is, you can always substitute the word for eon of its definitions. Instead of saying "I'm making fish soup" you can substitute a definition of "fish" into the sentence and say, "I'm making soup made from animals which swim." Not only that, but a word is not taboo with everybody. Let's say there was a great Kwaio philosopher and their name was the word "fish." The philosopher passes away, and in order to honor them, their name is made taboo. That doesn't mean you can't use the word "fish" when speaking with anybody, just not when speaking with the decedents of the honored philosopher. It is a close knit community, you know who is who, and besides, the decedents of the great philosopher are like celebrities. So you say, "I'm making fish soup" unless you're speaking to one of fishman's grandchildren, in which case you say "I'm making soup made from animals which swim." Also, as the video says, pronunciation alterations are okay, so you could say, ""I'm making pish soup." In fact, because use of the word "fish" is never allowed with fishman's decedents, standard alternatives become adopted and second nature. Everyone just says "pish" instead of "fish" when speaking to fishman's decedents, and it's not a surprise to them, they know what it means and why people are speaking to them strangely.

[@geoff7936]

I count myself as someone who values indigenous cultures and laments the fading of their languages, customs and so on, but this is just retarded. So I hope you're right about it being blown out of proportion - makes way more sense!

[@thehumanoddity]

There is no hard evidence they are trolling everyone, although that would be a good joke.

[@DamianYerrick]

"retarded" is itself taboo nowadays. You'resupposed to say "intellectually disabled".

[@lucasvp]

About 6 years ago, my cousin moved to Montreal and he said many of the curse words they used were actually Church related. Such Hostie (the only exemple i really remember) However few years later I realized this phenomenon is happening in Brazil too with the rise of the protestant church. Words like damned (danado) or demon (demônio) are being changed into blessed (abençoado) and angels (anjos) This is quite curious and somehow related with the taboos you mentioned.

[@patriciaaturner289]

Fans of Kathy Reichs novels and stories know several expletives uttered by Montreal police officers. “Tabarnac” is the one that has stayed with me.

[@MrBlablablabla13]

Im from slavic country, and when i speak my native language, every other mine word is a swear word. But, when i speak english, german or french i barely use bad words 😂

[@Richard_P_James]

I'd like to see NativLang do a linguistic appraisal of that seminal cornerstone of English scholarship, Rogers Profanisaurus.

[@JimFortune]

Cursing is asking God (or the gods) to punish someone. Swearing is making a promise to God (or the gods). How did these come to mean saying bad words?

[@Dappledvine]

Cursing probably from the fear of Magic and Witches and the putting a curse on you. Swearing from using God's name in vain. That is my guess at least.

[@JimFortune]

TheLostWhisperer Yeah, but neither of those cover words like "fuck" or "shit", but most people would call that cursing or swearing.

[@Dappledvine]

Well that is why, in my opinion, we use the words cursing and swearing. The actual curse words come from what is "taboo" to talk about in public like bodily excretions or sex. I remember reading that in a book where in the future violence is "taboo" so words like 'war' are used as curse words.

[@JimFortune]

TheLostWhisperer So we should be calling them taboo words, not curse words, since you aren't asking God to do something nasty to the person you're cursing at.

[@NickRoman]

That was a good question and a good point. 'Bad words' is clearly more accurate. But how do you make a verb of that? 'He was bad wording.' ? 'Don't bad word me!'

[@isaacsuh1371]

This is how some Chinese characters got invented. When a new king comes to power, it is disrectful to use characters that is present in their name, which forced people to come up with new characters to replace the taboo characters

[@JossieMimo]

SO let me see if i got this. So, Grandfather dies, and he becomes all sacred and shit, so his grandchildren are forced to sacrifice pigs, but not to his name (because he is all sacred and shit) so they use another completely unrelated word to refer to good ol' grandpa, but if they FEEL like it they can also make that completely unrelated word be a bad word, and then they have to pull another word out of their behinds to refer to grandpa, which in turn can ALSO become a bad word to refer to grandpa, and that way till the end of times? How often do these people themselves make the mistake of using a taboo word on accident?

[@standbae]

Like in Indonesia. Berak means pooping. It's common to say Berak for natural fertilizer. But then it became taboo. So we said Eek (the sound of pooping person when he/she used power to release the poop). But it became taboo too. So we said Boker (we change the word Berak a little bit). But it became taboo too. So we said Bokser. We change it a little bit again. But still it became taboo again. So I found the patterns to detaboonized an action or thing. If we use 2 word and each of that word have neutral/positive meaning, we can named an action or thing without any taboo. So nowadays we name pooping Buang Air. Buang means release. Air means water. So Buang Air means release the water. It describe the action after pooping (flushing). And Buang Air is still not a taboo until nowadays.

[@squashedshibber2684]

Everyone in the comments are just saying you're disrespecting their culture and don't understand their way of life by saying this is ridiculous... oh come on. How is this not a little bit insane.

[@chadliampearcy]

I see what your doing :)

[@eveningdim7167]

Seal Girl 4 months later, everyone in the comments are insulting this culture and relating it to our modern world.

[@matrixarsmusicworkshop561]

AubrentheJack Four months later

[@dogfromthesimspsonsofficia562]

So cool how in this system every family kind of has its own unique dialect, I can see if linguists were to do in-depth research of Kwaio today it being considered a completely new dialectical system.

[@Bl4ckDrg0n]

Just remember to ask for "McDonalds" and "Coke". Probably they have it even on the other side of the planet. Greet the chief by saying "Hello madafaka" and see if he understands English lol :v

[@oz_jones]

CHI-GA-CO

[@Nugcon]

lmao

[@2x2leax]

Are you a Latin American?

[@jodazague8333]

@@2x2leax he most likely is

[@heavy0119]

i like that they have a built in 'swear jar' policy lol

[@katherinealbee7501]

Given the comments, I think it's time for a video about the "euphemism treadmill."

[@saguntum-iberian-greekkons7014]

0:47 is that a real language or he made it up?

[@TheReaverOfDarkness]

Now do a video on how many times English has decided the going word for poop is taboo, and switched to a new one.

[@Nupetiet]

Excuse me, _what_ did you call me at the end??? I demand satisfaction!!

[@diaz5292]

Jesus Christ got about 3 quarters thru that and now I got a fookin headache...

[@dariqaa]

"Every word can be a curse word" My cousin: pack your bags

[@PisauraXTX]

This seems similar to the process of words losing their political correctness and becoming slurs over time in English or German. "Cripple", for example, used to be a neutral description of a person with a disability, but it is nothing but an insult today.

[@MsZeldasaga]

Well, guess I'll just cross this out of my languages-to-learn list.

[@spencerhaynes4364]

Marklar does not understand why Marklar does not just speak Marklar.

[@Reginald_Ritmo]

"Oge 'e boo." Your free trial of life has ended.

[@RedHair651]

why are you adding /n/s when pronouncing words?

[@NativLang]

+Tarin Good ear! Kwaio has "prenasalized voiced stops" (mb, nd, ng). Some Kwaio don't nasalize them at the beginning of an utterance.

[@RedHair651]

ok :P how are they not written?

[@NativLang]

They're thought of as how those consonants behave ("that's how I pronounce my B's!") instead of separate segments ("I'm combining an M plus a B").

[@RedHair651]

I see, so are all Kwaio voiced stops prenasalized or do they only do that in certain positions?

[@NativLang]

+Tarin At least between vowels (like the b in 'ubule), even if there's a word boundary (like the second b in 'ubule 'e boo).

[@Liuhuayue]

So many curses were uttered in the making of this video.

[@jwilder6836]

This is confusing! How did anyone learn this?' Lol

[@anthonyfox585]

wow this is one of the most complex languages I think that I've ever seen

[@jansojele289]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/jIuqiGNnrsSfjtE

[@jonydude]

I am offended by all letters of the alphabet. Everyone who's commented must give me money.

[@Beleidigen-ist-Pflicht]

この庸君

[@linuogu4299]

Imagine going to sleep one night with the word for your name being all normal. Then suddenly you wake up and go out and people start calling you something else. You like "What, mate? No. I am "Charismaticfire"" And people around you gasp. They demand you pay for this horrible insult you just made. During your sleep your name became a taboo. You never knew. You now insulted the elders. You must pay for your sins.

[@UnlimitedLives1960]

should make name your kid taboo/sacred so when they die (if they were important) people can't ask which words are sacred, what they shouldn't say and yay, free pigs every day. Swap the pigs for beer and this quickly becomes that rule in drinking games where whenever someone says someone elses name they must drink

[@BettyAlexandriaPride]

This was so cute. :) As well as informative. I loved the little people.

[@Benata]

That island might actually be Turkey.

[@armincal9834]

Except Turkey is a peninsula

[@Benata]

You must be fun at parties.

[@firecage7925]

Armin, except Turkey is not a peninsula, it is a country. Turkey is located on the Anatolian Peninsula though.

[@armincal9834]

Firecage right. I agree, still it definitely is NOT an island, so my point still stands.

[@bobbobson5595]

Firecage Most of Turkey

[@natacoil]

Your videos are so cute and entertaining n.n Please consider to add spanish subtitles, I would love to show them to my friends and family. Also, I'm suddenly very aware of my writing. Cheers!

[@vogelszijnlelijk]

They just made that up to get money from the European guy.

[@horricule451]

Wouldn't surprise me

[@Itsprobably42]

If the first words you learn in a new language are swears, then this is the perfect one!

[@okamiwithacamera6077]

牛比

[@PC_Simo]

”An island, where every word can be a curse word.” So, like innuendoes are to the Western world? 🙄

[@diyadagra2246]

Hey I'm interested in taking linguistics for college so can you please tell me which branch of linguistics you studied? Thanks

[@zh84]

This also happens in Australia, and once happened in China. Emperors in particular were given "posthumous names", and the names they used when they were alive were forbidden.

[@schweizerischeeidgenossens1797]

If me and my friends were a tribe, we’d be number 1 on this list.