Catherine wrote: >>It's kind of funny how the "swear words" in Quebec French all relate to church things - things like "Tabarnac'!" (Tabernacle); "Sacrament!" (same word in English) "Hostie!" (which means "host" as in Holy communion wafers)<<
here in Spain/Catalunya they/we also use 'hostia'; or 'hostia puta' for emphasis. For a brit living in this Catholic culture I was initially amazed at how many people and young kids (9-15 yrs old) use 'bad language' here, usually with no negative reaction. I believe Hemingway's favourite expression was 'I spit in the milk of your whore of a grandmother'. (Is this used in Argentina, Wally?) My personal favourite was some graffiti (graffito?) in Barcelona which translates as 'I shit on Franco's skull'. Wasn't it Madeleine Albright who spoke of 'cojones'.? mike in bcn
