他媽的雜種

English translation: son of a bitch

GLOSSARY ENTRY (DERIVED FROM QUESTION BELOW)

Chinese term or phrase:	他媽的雜種
English translation:	son of a bitch
Entered by:	Ozethai

16:53 Jun 27, 2004

Chinese to English translations [PRO]
Art/Literary - Poetry & Literature / novel

Chinese term or phrase: 他媽的雜種

Hello, please can you rate this on a scale of 1-10 (1= inoffensive; 10= obscene/highly offensive)? As native speakers of Chinese, is it also amusing? Thank you! (Jin Yong again).

Input from non-native Chinese speakers also appreciated, of course.

kgriff (X) KudoZ activity Questions: 51 (1 open) (1 without valid answers) Answers: 0
Local time: 07:19

son of a bitch

Explanation:
On a scale of 1 to 10, probably 7.5 to me. Personally I wouldn't call anyone that.

Selected response from:

Ozethai
Australia
Local time: 16:19

Grading comment

Thank you. Xie Xie.
4 KudoZ points were awarded for this answer

Summary of answers provided

4 +3

son of a bitch

Ozethai

4 +2

To me...

Denyce Seow

4 +1

Fucking mongrel

Peter Smith

4 +1

Xiaoping Fu

Answers

5 mins confidence:

peer agreement (net): +3

他媽的雜種

son of a bitch

Explanation:
On a scale of 1 to 10, probably 7.5 to me. Personally I wouldn't call anyone that.

Ozethai
Australia
Local time: 16:19
Native speaker of:

Thai,

Chinese
PRO pts in category: 17

Grading comment

Thank you. Xie Xie.

5 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

他媽的雜種 Fucking mongrel

Explanation:
This question has always interested me, as the father of mixed-race children who have, on one occasion, been called 雜種 by an unusually unpleasant person. Obviously, it means 'mongrel' but I am curious to know how offensive it is to Chinese speakers. Personally, it makes my blood boil, as egregiously racist, but does it have a more neutral, dismissive tone in Chinese ears? This is, by the way, very difficult to handle in translation - I give the above as equivalent register in casual, low-life English; it would be hard to use such language in a translation of Louis Cha.

Peter Smith
Taiwan
Local time: 14:19
Native speaker of:

English

14 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +1

他媽的雜種 9

Explanation:

我认为，“杂种”一词的侮辱性要高于“王八蛋”。因为传统的中国社会是宗法制的社会，极为重视血缘的纯正性。“杂种”一词意味着性关系混乱带来的血统不纯，是十分严重的侮辱。

Xiaoping Fu
Canada
Local time: 23:19
Native speaker of:

Chinese
PRO pts in category: 16

18 hrs confidence:

peer agreement (net): +2

他媽的雜種 To me...

Explanation:
It's 5 + 8 = 13! 5 for 他妈的, and 8 for 杂种. When I was a kid, I heard "他妈的" everywhere in my PRIMARY school.... not the Primary 1-3 kids but those Primary 4-6 kids! I think it is the equivalent of "F*ck" in English.

Actually if this 你妈的, that would have been worse. DIRECT attack! :p Two weeks ago, on a bus back from Nanjing, me and my German friend stopped a guy from smoking on the bus. He threw the ciggy butt at us and scolded, "你妈的，中国的事要你他妈的外国人管!" My German friend, who happens to study Chinese too, didn't react much, but I was PISSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSED!!!!! I cursed him back in English, with all that I know, all that I was taught with. You see, if this is not a language you are familiar with, you won't know how vulgar or offensive it is. Furthermore, reading it in a book and actually hearing someone curse you with it are totally two different things!!!!

You know what a 雜種 is..... but personally, I think it is more "son of a bitch". You often hear 狗杂种 too.

Geez, what a topic............. :p

Denyce Seow
Singapore
Local time: 14:19
Native speaker of:

English
PRO pts in category: 52

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