The most popular swear word in Austria is Austria...?

@golgaloth According to this map, people in Belgium and The Netherlands don't swear... motherfucker!

@scholar_farmer @golgaloth

Hah! Well, here's my version. Copypasta from my travel notes:

# Arnold Schwarzenegger vs Graz

I used to travel to Graz Austria three or four times a year for work. Graz is a small city near the Italian border and edging onto the Alps. There's a lot of agriculture there, including many vineyards.

[contd]

@scholar_farmer @golgaloth

I liked going to Graz a lot. For one thing the food is good – if a bit heavy on the schnitzel – and the beer is even better. For another, the people are friendly. If I had to describe their general demeanor, I'd say Austrians are like a more polite version of Germans.

By that I mean they are equally stuffy and by-the-book, but instead of yelling at you for not coloring inside the lines they get flustered instead.

[contd]

@scholar_farmer @golgaloth

The downside is they can be quite passive-aggressive about things, where a German would be very direct.

This fact is important to this story…

Turns out, Graz is Arnold Schwarzenegger's home town. He's probably the most famous person from that part of Austria. But you won't see public notice of that anywhere … now.

[contd]

@scholar_farmer @golgaloth

There is a huge football (soccer) stadium in Graz and it *used to be* named after Schwarzenegger. But back when Arnold was the governator of California he authorized some executions and local people and press of Graz criticized him for that. (Austria outlawed capital punishment in the 1950s.)

After some back and forth between Arnold and his homies he angrily told them to take his name *off* the stadium.

So they did.

[contd]

@scholar_farmer @golgaloth

They removed the giant metal letters spelling 'Schwarzenegger' from the stadium. But they didn't repaint it or give it another name.

The last time I was there you could still make out the ghost outline of Arnold's name. And I think this was the most passive-aggressive – and funny – way imaginable they could have fulfilled his request.

[fin]

@jackwilliambell and the Austrian dialect pronunciation would be “Schaas” @golgaloth

@delegatevoid neither would those in Switzerland… (seems a bit TOO neutral for my taste so I’m pinging @RalphBassfeld here) @golgaloth

@alexskunz @delegatevoid @golgaloth Being a multi-lingual country means there isn’t an official most common swear word. French- and Italian-speaking regions use swear words from their respective languages. In German-speaking areas, many swear words are derived from local dialects and may not always have direct equivalents in Standard German or English. I swear in four languages in Switzerland (including bloody f* English)

@RalphBassfeld @alexskunz @delegatevoid Yeah, I'm getting that a lot. The story is set in a version of the Austro-Hungarian empire, and the sweary character is far west, modern day Ukraine, so she would probably swear in Ukrainian, but then the Ukraine language was devastated by the Russian occupation, so maybe more Hungarian? I might just stick to English.

@golgaloth what time frame is it set in? That would certainly have an impact.

@transitionalaspect An alternative timeline somewhere around 1800 - 1830 (maybe 1840)

@golgaloth spoiler alert, we do: fuck, shit, motherfucker, godverdomme, ffs, the list goes on...

@golgaloth is this picture AI generated slop?
Because I live in Czechia and "Ptcka" doesn't mean anything. It's not a word. Not even in local dialects.
And I have doubts about Slovakia too.
In many ways we (as former Czechoslovakia) might be closer to Poland and use Kurva (with v instead of w)

@alexskunz @golgaloth

That I wouldn't have picked up on. My German is even worse than my Spanish, but it seems like almost everyone in Austria speaks some English, so it was never an issue for me.

The Turkish part is incorrect also

@golgaloth @viennawriter some suggestions?

@golgaloth Oida. It's the most popular word in Vienna period and it has so many meanings, among others it's a cussword.

PS: And that map is probably AI generated, so hiding it as sensitive would be nice.

@paula More mid-nineteenth century but that's good.

@golgaloth @paula For mid-nineteenth century @abuerkl might have some ideas. For contemporary Vienna I can confirm Oida as the most popular swearword.