Turkish · The Art of the Curse
Gözün kör olsun!
gur-ZEWN KUR ol-SOON · /ɟøˈzyn køɾ olˈsun/
Damn your eyes / serves you right
3/5 Watch your audience
genuinely rude; friends only, never at work
Literally
"May your eye go blind"
Word-for-word — which is rarely what it means.
How to use it
Another invocation-curse, softer than the hearth one. It ranges from real anger to almost-rueful scolding — a parent who warned you and was ignored might mutter it. "Kör olası" ("blast the thing") is the object version, aimed at a stubborn jar lid or a broken zipper. Part of the everyday poetic-curse layer.
Heard in the wild
Gözün kör olsun, dedim sana dokunma diye!
Damn your eyes — I told you not to touch it!
Where it lands
Turkey-wide; traditional register
Quick answers
- What does "Gözün kör olsun!" mean?
- In Turkish, "Gözün kör olsun!" means "Damn your eyes / serves you right". Literally it's "May your eye go blind". Another invocation-curse, softer than the hearth one. It ranges from real anger to almost-rueful scolding — a parent who warned you and was ignored might mutter it. "Kör olası" ("blast the thing") is the object version, aimed at a stubborn jar lid or a broken zipper. Part of the everyday poetic-curse layer.
- Is "Gözün kör olsun!" offensive?
- It's genuinely rude — a 3/5 (Watch your audience) on the Punch-o-Meter. Fine among friends, never at work or with people you've just met.
- How do you pronounce "Gözün kör olsun!"?
- Say it "gur-ZEWN KUR ol-SOON" — capitals mark the stressed syllable. In IPA: ɟøˈzyn køɾ olˈsun.
Related in Turkish
Ya YAH Come on / seriously / ugh — a softener-slash-intensifier tacked on for feeling Of ya! OFF YAH Ugh! / For crying out loud! Tüh! TEW Darn! / Shoot! / Dang it! Kahretsin! kah-ret-SEEN Damn it! / Dammit! Hay Allah! HY ah-LAH Oops / oh dear / for heaven's sake Sıçtık! suhch-TUHK We're screwed / well, that's ruined
The same idea, elsewhere
Via concepts like "Damn".
- French Putain ! Damn! / F***! / The all-purpose intensifier — punctuation, really
- German Scheiße! Shit! / Damn! — the all-purpose German expletive
- Greek γαμώτο Damn it! / Dammit!
- Italian Cazzo! Fuck! / Damn! / The all-purpose Italian curse.
- Japanese くそ Damn! / Crap! / Shit!
- Korean 씨발 Fuck / fucking hell — the load-bearing Korean curse.
- Polish kurwa Fuck / damn / shit — the load-bearing word of Polish, and its most common comma.
- Portuguese Porra! Damn! / Fuck! — but mostly used as pure punctuation
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