Trips of the tongue menace multi-lingual Europeans
Riga - One of the lesser-known effects of globalisation has been the enormous increase in the number of European tourists risking life and limb by unwittingly swearing at their hosts. paniards travelling in Russian-speaking areas are particularly at risk: the sound of a Spanish sigh - a breathy 'hui' - is one of the most vulgar words for 'penis' in Russian. Russia can also be a dangerous place for speakers of Slovenian when pointing to the scenery. In Ljubljana, the word for 'seagull' is 'sraka.' In Moscow however, this means 'arse.'
Dutch speakers, meanwhile, should exercise caution in Poland. The Dutch for 'peanut' is 'pinda' - a particularly offensive Polish term for female genitalia. And Poles themselves have to be careful in the Czech Republic, where the Polish for 'to seek' - 'szukac' - becomes the Czech for 'to have sex with.'
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