Work in progress! Native speakers are still checking every phrase. Spot something off? Tell us.
cursing.in curse like a local

A field guide to cursing · 11 languages · 886 phrases

Sound like a local.
Or at least curse like one.

Every curse worth knowing — insults, exclamations, joy, fear, the gestures that start fights — with plain-English pronunciation and an honest severity rating so you know exactly how much trouble you're about to be in.

The Punch-o-Meter: from grandma-safe to do-not-deploy.

Pick your language

Nine at launch. More when you ask for them.

The booklets

Print-only, saddle-stitched, printed to order and mailed. $16 each · any 3 for $40.

French CURSE LIKE A LOCAL $16 German CURSE LIKE A LOCAL $16 Greek CURSE LIKE A LOCAL $16 Italian CURSE LIKE A LOCAL $16 Japanese CURSE LIKE A LOCAL $16 Korean CURSE LIKE A LOCAL $16 Polish CURSE LIKE A LOCAL $16 Portuguese CURSE LIKE A LOCAL $16 Russian CURSE LIKE A LOCAL $16 Spanish CURSE LIKE A LOCAL $16 Turkish CURSE LIKE A LOCAL $16

Browse all booklets

The promise

We calibrate hard, because miscalibration is the whole risk.

Anyone can list rude words. The hard part — the part that keeps you out of a fight — is knowing which ones land where. Every phrase here carries a Punch-o-Meter rating, rated for the primary region, checked by native speakers, and corrected fast when we get it wrong.

How we build this

  1. 1 Grandma-safe mild, playful; fine on daytime TV
  2. 2 Bar-safe coarse but friendly; fine among acquaintances
  3. 3 Watch your audience genuinely rude; friends only, never at work
  4. 4 Fighting words aimed at a person, will start something
  5. 5 Do not deploy nuclear/taboo — comprehension only, never recommended

How to say it, everywhere at once

One concept, across every language we cover.