Today’s word is one you should look out with. Although it’s commonly used in Spain, it has a bad meaning in most parts of Latin-America, where it’s a curse. There the word joder means ‘f*ck’ or ‘to screw’. It can also mean this in Spain, but there it’s mostly used as ‘to annoy’, ‘to bug’ or ‘to rip off’ (also see engañar).
If you watch a lot Spanish television (from Spain), you’ll hear the phrase ¡joder macho! quite often. This is a common exclamation which means ‘for heaven’s sake!’ or ‘good grief!’ (you could translate it to English as ‘for f*ck’s sake!’ or ‘holy shit!’ as well). Like other words that are a curse in many parts of the hispanosphere, joder is perfectly acceptable in Spain and is used by all sorts of people.
*Grammatical note: the verb joderse has a slightly different meaning. In general it means something like ‘to mess up’ or ‘to get screwed up’ (you can guess the vulgar meaning yourself, I think).
Sentences
Se ha jodido el motor.
The engine’s had it.
Y si no te gusta, te jodes.
And if you don’t like it, that’s tough!
Lo hace solo por joder.
He only does it to annoy.
¡No me jodas!
Bugger off! / Don’t mess with me!
*Sentences taken from “Pocket Oxford Spanish Dictionary”.
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Anto 11.16.08 at 11:25 pm
This is a very interesting website. I am glad that you didn’t listen to your teacher and created this blog! I will return again soon para aprender otras palabras!
Thank you
Anto’s last blog post..Posing by Ahu Tahai - Easter Island
Nestor 11.17.08 at 1:45 am
Hah yeah I guess people in Spain are a little more foul mouthed by habit than the rest of the Spanish speaking world…
Mafario Amicucci 11.17.08 at 6:40 am
Niza sitio web. Me dio una risa.
Mafario Amicucci 11.17.08 at 7:02 am
Nestor- I think UK people are more foul mouth than Spanish
eleena 11.17.08 at 4:14 pm
Mafario,
I think there might be a tie….The Spanish can definitely hold their own when it comes to swearing. In fact, I’ve been behind little old ladies in Spain while they’re talking and I’ve heard a few of them use Spanish words that would make a British sailor blush.
The other day, Mariano Rajoy, the leader of Spain’s opposition political party, a man who aspires to be prime minister of Spain, said during a news radio interview about educational reform in Spain that “la vida es dura, ¡coño!” Later on, the radio station played the audio again and made a joke out of it about what a great example Rajoy was to Spanish youth.
But that doesn’t beat the time I was in a Starbucks in Madrid and a little boy, couldn’t have been older than 3-years-old, kept screaming “¡coño! ¡coño! ¡coño!” To me it was disturbing that this was a 3-yr-old’s favorite word but nobody said anything to the mother.
Yes, Spain is different.
eleena’s last blog post..Chatting with Mercedes León
Ramses 11.17.08 at 4:54 pm
Hm, you guys gave me an idea for a future Spanish Word of the Day. Nowadays, everyone uses the word coño in the Netherlands. The reason? Joran van der Sloot (known from the Holloway case in the Antilles) used it when he was caught on camara confessing he knew more… But no one knows what it means, hehe ;-).
Anto 11.18.08 at 6:06 am
“coño” is an interesting idea for a new featured word, go for it!
Anto’s last blog post..Reading Oral Health in Easter Island
SpanishOmelette 11.18.08 at 3:40 pm
@eleena: I was in London and I heard a boy saying “fuck fuck fuck fuck” and nobody said nothing.
For my poor english you will note that I’m from Spain, but I never heard a 3 years old boy screaming “coño”…
Is true that “coño” is a very common word, usually to express admiration for something… “¡Coño!, qué bueno está”, the importance of the words in Spain are mostly how do you say than what do you say, “puta madre” can be very good or very bad…
Spain is different, but not so much…
¡Joder!, cómo me mola tu blog.
P.D.: If you like to investigate the words, you can study the verb “fotre” in Catalan, that means the same as “Joder” but is more commonly used than “joder”, for exemple: “On t’has fotut?” is the same as “On t’has ficat?” that, in spanish, means “¿Dónde te has metido?”, is something like “where the fuck you are?” note that “fotre” is like a “wildcard”? verb, you can use it as many forms:
Fot el camp -> Vete de aquí -> Go away from here.
No n’has de fotre res -> “No te importa” or “A ti qué te importa” -> This is not your ¿”fucking”? problem…
M’han fotut en l’aire els calés -> Me han robado el dinero -> they stole me the money… sorry, I’m not translator…
I think I need english classes…
Ramses 11.18.08 at 5:20 pm
Not English classes, input will do mostly the same :-).
To be honest: some weeks a go I heard a 3-4 year old screaming in Dutch: “g*dd*mmit, fuck off c*cksucker!” (roughly translated). So it’s possible, but mostly has to do with the parents I think.
Anto 11.18.08 at 5:46 pm
Maybe it’s a social or cultural thing, not a language thing.
Graham 11.18.08 at 9:05 pm
@eleena & to add to SpanishOmelette’s comments, I don’t think you can equate the extreme taboo offensiveness of its literal English translation with that of coño.
Here’s what “Pardon my Spanish!” says:
“Coño is one of the most offensive words in the Spanish language and is always considered to be vulgar. Nevertheless, it is widely used for emphasis and as an interjection, and it is not unusual for it to be said by politicians or businessmen or in front of members of one’s own family in these senses. Whilst for sense 1(a), the translation c*nt might seem to be the obvious choice, in fact coño lacks the taboo and sexist connotations often still associated with this English term, and it is much more commonly used by both men and women to refer to the vagina.”
Graham’s last blog post..Una cigarra por la noche
RAYDave (Daniel Gabrielli) 11.19.08 at 4:54 pm
Usos y explicación de la palabra Joder para los yankies: http://tinyurl.com/6a6bdt
MissLila (Zonia Q) 11.19.08 at 5:16 pm
http://tinyurl.com/6a6bdt Me ha encantaado. En serio..XD
Aponcho 11.20.08 at 12:29 am
Si vas a España, te van a joder hasta los cojones… coño!
crow 11.20.08 at 12:38 am
menudas cosas que se llegan a encontrar por internet joder! coño!, cojones!, dios mio….
Reivajss 11.20.08 at 12:45 am
jajajajajaja.. nice! i think its the spanish from peru (im from peru).
Nice post xD.
Reivajss’s last blog post..Choclotón AudioVisual
yiiiiija 11.20.08 at 1:00 am
yiiiiija tiiiiiiija toi en tu forzan, ya llego el troll xoloscuintles chiclosos, viva la ñ
yiiiiija’s last blog post..Choclotón AudioVisual
karlhiramoto (karlhiramoto) 11.20.08 at 2:02 am
Spanish word of the day “Joder” http://tinyurl.com/6a6bdt
Atomusku 11.20.08 at 3:32 am
In Argentina, the word “joder” has even more meanings than in Spain. I think that is the same with the word “chingar” in Mexico. Both are uses in differentet circumstances and contexts, even with opposite meanings.
Some examples:
“¡Te jodieron!” = They have cheated on / lied to / mocked on you!
“Estás jodido” = You are screwed up ( has a meaning like that in the first example “Se ha jodido el motor”)
“¡Esto es una joda bárbara!” = This is an awesome/big party!
“¡Es un tipo jodón!” = He is an annoying guy!
“¡Es un tipo jodido!” = He is a wicked/twisted guy! (be careful with the difference in the suffix!)
There are many more examples. This is one of the more complex word because of its variety of meanings. The only way to learn to use it is with phrases like the previous ones.
Sparky 11.20.08 at 9:01 am
Great entry. You were quite accurate at explaining the meaning of “joder”, but not as much explaining the nature of the word itself. The word is indeed very frequently used, but it is still considered -far from ‘perfectly acceptable’- very rude in most situations, unless there’s much familiarity between the speakers.
[I assume you can read this, so I'll go on in Spanish]
Respecto a tu uso de la televisón española como referente para saber cómo se habla el español fuera de cículos académicos… No haces mal, pero creo que debes tener cuidado de todas formas. El uso tan frecuente de palabras malsonantes en algunas series de televisión se debe en parte también a algunas peculiaridades de la (mierda de) ficción que se produce en este país, y que, de alguna forma, intenta acercarse al espectador e intenta que éste se familiarice y se idintifique con sus personajes haciendo que los actores digan barbaridades “con toda naturalidad”, en lugar de con guiones mínimamente interesantes. El resultado es que a menudo (no siempre, pero a menudo), éstos diálogos resultan algo forzados.
Sparky’s last blog post..La Clase de Matemáticas Perfecta de Cirno - Lógica aplastante
Alan 11.20.08 at 11:45 am
Hi, here comes another Spanish speaker willing to correct this post.
The fact that “joder” is “commonly used in Spain”, as you say, doesn´t mean that it isn´t a curse. “¡Joder, macho!” could be translated as “holy shit!”, but not “for heaven´s sake”. Just as Sparky said before, characters in Spanish TV shows sometimes curse because the screenplayers can´t figure out another way to make them sound closer to common people.
Another mistake that you make is thinking that in Latin-America everyone speaks the same way. That´s not true. Spanish sounds very different in México than it does in Argentina. Atomusku allready explained the different meanings of “joder” in Argentina. I lived in both Argentina and Spain, and I tell you that this word´s meaning is closer to a curse in Spain.
Greeting from Spain.
Alan’s last blog post..Diario del internauta neófito: 6. El Blog
Ramses 11.20.08 at 11:54 am
Thanks for your comments.
I know that in some ocassions it’s considered mal educado, and that you normally use it among friends. But where do I refer to joder as for ‘heaven’s sake’?
And no, I’m not thinking that everyone is speaking the same in Latin-America because that’s not the case. It’s just too much work and too confusing to point out where it’s more accepted than in other places. Therefore it’s safer to say you shouldn’t use in in general in Latin-America (just see the post about chévere, where I point out what it means in different parts in Latin-America).
Alan 11.20.08 at 2:38 pm
In the second paragraph you wrote: “you’ll hear the phrase ¡joder macho! quite often. This is a common exclamation which means ‘for heaven’s sake!’”.
Alan’s last blog post..Diario del internauta neófito: 6. El Blog
Ramses 11.20.08 at 3:00 pm
Ah, missed it. Well, I asked some natives and checked some dictionaries and they confirm it can mean ‘for heaven’s sake!’, although often it’s understood as something harsher.
M. Cervantes 11.20.08 at 6:30 pm
¡Jodidamente admirable!
Miguel_Ct 11.20.08 at 8:43 pm
Hi, i’m spanish and I think your explanation about “joder” is good enough.
Spanish is funny, isn’t it??
I just use ‘joder’ or ‘joder macho’ when i’m annoyed or worried about something…but sometimes we use ‘me cago en la puta’ too. (not a polite expression as you can imagine)
Greetings from Cartagena.
Un saludo para todos!
Menke 11.21.08 at 1:29 am
When I lived in Spain, I heard “coño” and “joder” everywhere, but I have to agree with what was said by someone here before, that it’s still considered vulgar. I guess you’re from the Netherlands, like me (referring to Ramses now), and so you know that words like ‘k*t’, ’sh*t’, ‘g*dv*r’, etc. are often used by most people as well, but still considered vulgar and inappropiate. My advice: if you don’t want to offend anyone, just don’t use it, not in Latin America, nor in Spain. Funny story: a friend of mine once ordered a ‘coño’ in a bar, when he wanted to order a ‘caña’. He was still learning the language
Ramses 11.21.08 at 7:47 am
Jup, I’m from the Netherlands. And you’re right, k*t, etc. Are at the same level of rudeness. Still, I think you should learn words like this. Often YOU won’t use it, but others will. You need be able to understand others, right?j
Juan 11.21.08 at 10:31 am
Hello!
I have nothing to add… Others have commented about the usage of ‘joder’ in Spain… But, if you look for interesting spanish words, I have one for you: “follar”. It’s very interesting because its actual meaning is ‘pump a bellows’, but no one uses it in that sense. Now, ‘follar’ means ‘make love’, but it’d be completely correct to say: “follé la hoguera toda la noche” (I pumped the bellows on the fire all night), but that phrase would make spanish people laugh.
About differences between spanish from several countries, I have examples like ‘coger’. In Spain, ‘coger’ means, only, ‘take’ or ‘pick’, but in various contries of South America, means ‘fuck’, and they surprise when hear a phrase like: ‘Voy a coger el periódico’ (I’m going to take the newspaper) which they interpret like make love to the newspaper. But in Spain ‘coger’ never means ‘fuck’.
I’ll come back
Juan.
Juan’s last blog post..Leído: El Mago de la Serpiente (XIV)
gamboi 11.21.08 at 3:02 pm
“Jodido crack” :D, se ve que sabes sobre el tema, sigue como hasta ahora!
Nat 11.22.08 at 10:29 am
I haven’t heard “¡joder macho!” since the 90s’, hahahaha!
Javi 11.24.08 at 11:56 pm
Anothe spanish on board, xD
“Joder” could mean whatever you want. For instance,
Someone told you he won the lottery, and you say “Joder” (it´s express hapiness)
Someone is anoying you and you say “Joder” (translated as “be quiet!”)
You see something weird, and you say “Joder!” (what the fuck!)
Something bad is going to happend and you say “Joooooder”
It´s more important the emphasys than the word itself and this is something that you never will learn in a book. Hope you can enjoy your next holidays at Spain and could feel this by yourself.
King regards!
Español 11.28.08 at 3:26 pm
Vaya tela!
Extra Lap: You can use this one for another day.
hbautista (hbautista) 11.29.08 at 5:50 pm
joder –> http://tinyurl.com/6a6bdt