TIL that in English, swear words tend to have Germanic origins (fuck, shit, etc.) while euphemisms tend to have Latin origins (copulate, defecate, etc.)

submitted by aThievingStableboy from grin.com

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[–]Newmug 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (3 children)

Gaelic seems to have added words of positivity! eg Smashing comes from "Is maith é sin', which means 'thats good'. Galore comes from 'Go leor', which means 'altogether'. 'Craic' means fun / excitement. Smithereens is a direct loan word which means exactly the same thing in both languages. And best of all - Whiskey, 'Uisce beatha', literally translates as 'the water of life'

[–]aThievingStableboy[S] 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (2 children)

asdfasd

[–]Newmug 3 insightful - 1 fun3 insightful - 0 fun4 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Another one is 'Gorgeous' - from the Gaelic word 'gairdeas', which means someone bright, vibrant, funny.

[–]Newmug 1 insightful - 1 fun1 insightful - 0 fun2 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

Thought of another one - Quid. There is no literal translation, the nearest would be 'unit'. Do chuid eadaí means 'your (units of) clothes, do chuid gruaig is 'your (units of) hair', do chuid airgead is 'your (units of) money'.

Airgead for money is an interesting one. It really means silver, not money. The chemical symbol for silver is Ag, the Latin word is Argentum. I wonder which came first?