Languages are funny in how innocuous words in one, can often be quite offensive in others. And when it comes to colorful curses that are hilariously inappropriate and borderline reprehensible (you draw your borders and I’ll draw mine) Turkish is full of them. So much so that English speakers can walk right into them without even realizing it. Here are some common colorful terms to know so you can avoid calling your hotel reception a vagina or telling market vendors you love eating bastards – or not, depending on your circumstances.
1. Straight Translations to Look Out For: ‘Hıyar’ (Pronounced: Hou-yar) – Cucumber
Let’s start out with this word which means cucumber, and you might see it labeled in grocery stores or open-air markets that way. Though calling someone a hıyar is equivalent to calling them a moron or stupid prick. Remember that next time you’re yelling for cucumbers to a vendor and consider the more agreeable word “salatalık”.
2. ‘Ayı’ (Pronounced: Ay-ou) – Bear
This word can go either way but mostly it goes to mean someone is an ogre or large, graceless, mentally-impaired idiot. Or something like that, Turkish curse words are like Legos, you can put them together in infinitely insolent combinations.
Phonetics F-U: You Say Tomato And I Say, What Did You Say About My Mom?
Translating words incorrectly is just fracking fun but so sleazy smooth when both sound pretty much the same in each language. Yes, while these words might, say, describe your health in English, they could be announcing you’re ready for intercourse in Turkish.
3. Sick (Turkish: Sik) – Translation: Rhymes With Duck
The ever popular F-word is also a single syllable in Turkish though in classrooms in Turkey, “sick” is usually translated into “ill”. You can imagine keeping a group of students from snickering as the teacher reads, “Timmy is going to the doctor today because he is f–k and coughing.”
4. Um (Turkish: Am) – Translation: Rhymes With Runt
If I haven’t offended you by this point let me tell you to not, um, like, um, use “um” as a filler word in Turkey. Most Turks won’t bat an eye at it because they understand the context you might, runt, be, runt, using it…but it’s secretly amusing nonetheless. Now you can use, um, while pretending not to know what it means.
5. Peach – (Turkish: Piç) – Translation: Bastard
Piç isn’t quite the same pronunciation in English and sounds more like saying the word “peach” quickly (or “pitch”). Be careful not to mix languages if that’s what you’re shopping for in Istanbul though or you might end up with a kilo of bastards at the grocery store, rather than the juicy peaches you were referring to.
Bonus: Rounding Out Some Other Coincidences
In English you don’t want to be “pushed” and in Turkish you don’t want to be one (pronounced the same, “puşt”.) There are a variety of translations on that one (don’t you just love how languages evolve) but we can settle with a male sex-toy for other men. Also, I hate to break it to rapper 50 Cent but being a pimp – or “pezevenk” – in Turkish isn’t nearly as glamorous as it is in English slang. When taken seriously calling someone a pezevenk could get you punched but among friends it’s likely to get you a chuckle.
I hope you’ve had a ball with these translations that might not go over so well and I’d love to hear what colorful terms you’ve come across in your travels or have in your native language. (The Turkish word for “ball” doesn’t always translate well either, but I digress.) Language is all about context and when you’re learning the fundamentals before your next trip, these 3 language social networks can help you discover any…unintended meanings.
[selected photos by: inflatable Chicago Bears by Chicago Man and man blowing nose by Svenstorm]
I’m British-born to Turkish parents, and as kids we used to always use these kinds of words to effectively swear at one another. Sick was of course our favourite, but we used to often call each other into the kitchen… (either slightly mispronouncing it in English or emphasising the second syllable in Turkish, either way is funny when you’re 10 years old!).
haha, I can imagine kids doing this and getting a laugh out of it and if I were there I’d be laughing too!
Never heard the cucumber one before. So glad we only know it as salatalık or else I would be paranoid when doing the weekly shop! Barry got into trouble once when he asked one of the street hawkers selling socks if he had any smaller socks for sale. He used ‘küçük’ for ‘small’ but put the stress in the wrong place (how were we to know??) The sock seller was deeply offended and stomped off up the street. Much raucous laughter amongst our Turkish friends and then they explained that Barry had basically asked the sock seller if he had a penis (dick)!! I’m very wary of using that word now just in case people mishear me. 🙂
haha, yes and I think of all these words it’s the one that you’ll find in public meaning what it’s supposed to mean 🙂
I wish there was a video of that market scene, I can picture Barry now…!
bahahah whenever I hear the word “hiyar” I remember a Kemal Sunal movie where he gets on a bus with a bucket full of cucumbers and goes up to everyone asking, “hiyar istiyonmu, hiyar?” :))
LOL 😀
I’ve heard them all before…. That may say something about my husband’s vocabulary though. I still manage to mix up sik and sık so tend to avoid talking about how often I do things!
That one little dot makes a whole difference of meaning!
Man this is pretty funny stuff. Living in Thailand, with a tonal language, there are also a ton of words that if pronounced just slightly wrong mean completely opposite. It almost seems that they designed Thai so that 1 word means something really polite, while a different pronunciation of the same word means something utterly rude. But these types of words really keep things interesting! I’ll be sure to look out for these if I can make it over to Turkey!
Seems like a built in joke they can have while listening to others trying to pronounce new Thai words. When I get to Thailand I’ll be that joke I’m sure!
This was a great post. I am currently imagining the thousands of funny scenarios I could create with these when I go to Turkey. Obviously careful of who I do this with.
Some are easier to get away with than others 😉
You forgot one of the funniest that we came across living in the Karamursel area of Turkiye in the 1960s & 1970s: peace (pis in Turkish), meaning filthy. When we came back to the States, we kids would find it hysterically funny to yell peace or you’re the peach of my eye, and know what it really meant to us! One of the first things we were taught is NEVER say peach off-base, say ceftali. It’s been 40+ years, but I still miss the wonderful people and beautiful country of Turkiye. It was something I’ll always treasure.
Pis is a good one – not too bad either – better than asking for peaches at the market 😉
We lived on the economy in Turkey and later moved on to base, Karamusel. The first thing the local children taught my son was the “wrong” words. My maid would try to trip me up and get to to say my children were home “sick”. I soon learned to say ill. This was 62 or 3. We had a son born in Ankara in 64. I did insult a man with a donkey load of “peaches”. Thank goodness my neighbor Jana was there and quickly apologized, I love our time there.
I looked up what the word “um” meant in Turkish. This morning, I was remembering sitting next to a friend from Turkey in a college classroom. The professor said “um” fairly often, but with more of an ‘a’ sound than ‘u’. He was chuckling a little and then he told me. So I came up with sentences with the our filler word “um” and I got him laughing. The professor eventually noticed so I stopped. I’ve never forgotten that. It was late ’80’s.
Anyway, I always wondered if he was telling the truth. Apparently he was, but he didn’t explain it as pronounced “am”, and he didn’t say it was the word related more to the one that rhymes with runt. Maybe he didn’t know the American word for it. I only heard it used once in the late 80’s, a guy nearly got pummelled by a couple of college girls when he called one of them the “c” word. They were super pissed. I imagine that hasn’t changed today. I’ve never used that word to this day. It is a pretty nasty word, plus they didn’t deserve to be called it.
Yes, in Turkey people will say “em” or “eeh” as filler, but it can be funny to hear the other pronunciation in other contexts 🙂