Swearing Like a Chinese Sailor

outhouse vintage postcard

The boys have had the worst POTTY mouths lately! Where did my angel sons go? The more I reprimanded the worse it got...until.... I ran across a 'Learn to Swear in Chinese' CD! I sat the little sailors down and brainwashed them with Chinese expletives. It worked! The house rule is that they are only allowed to no-no in Chinese. (I probably should have picked a more obscure language) Da-shiong bao-jah-shr duh la-doo-tze!

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44 cool cats commented:

Pat said...

Oh, the wonders of the Internet. I Googled your phrase, and I know what it means...!

Clever tactic you took!

Design It Chic said...

this is fun and so inventive! But it would be bad if they meet one that knows Chinese:) so better train them to be still quiet about it:)
Happy Monday!

RA said...

LOL! Bibi's advice to Google the phrase was a blast. Now, I know what it is too ;). Have a wonderful week, Marie :)

Catherine said...

They swear in english and in french ? Cool, that means they're bilingual...With your very creative idea, Marie, they'll know one more important language for the future.

Luna ( from Brazil ) said...

Bonjour dear Marie! You are so clever! I'm very impressed! Cool!

Hot news now: I gave you an award!This award is only for "girls"! :-))
The meaning of this award is "The girl who owns this blog is so cute!".

You can check about it and if you liked ...pick up your award in my blog!

Have a wonderful weekend!
purrs and love
Luna

EG CameraGirl said...

Very creative solution. GREAT idea! And I'm glad it works. ;-)

Maggi said...

LOL That is the funniest thing ever! You're so creative!

This Is My Blog - fishing guy said...

Marie: What a cute card, the
W(hole family) eh!

DeniseinVA said...

Hi there, followed the link from Luna's blog today. Yes I remember those potty mouth days well. Good tactic on the Chinese phrase. I had a Chinese friend who taught me some very rude phrases way back. When I met her years later she said, "I bet you can't remember what I taught you." I rattled them off without hesitation. Those rude words have a way of staying in your head - lol.

Penney said...

Very good idea! Wish I had thought of that years ago..Once they had friends in the car and the language got a bit colorful, so I pulled the car over to the side of the road. The looks on their faces was worth it..
Penney

Lowell said...

That is so funny.

The three-holer, by the by, looks just like the one on Grandma's farm in northern Minnesota...

Aimee said...

I love that card & what a creative mom you are! Very clever idea! I'm going to have to google that phrase now!

My son likes to complain about school (we homeschool) so I told him he could only complain in Latin! I figured if he's going to complain anyway, he might as well be learning something!

Kathy McCreedy said...

YOu have SUCH a wonderful sense of humor, Marie! Too funny... hope you're having a wonderful day, Kathy

Carol said...

OMG..you are too funny....and so creative...I'm off to google that phrase....

Veronica Lee said...

LOL, I'm Chinese and didn't know what it means until I googled the phrase!!
You are creative!!

srp said...

Thanks for your comment....
I had to laugh though... I think the person who commented before you might be pregnant.
I WAS pregnant about 24 years ago... whew.... no.. no more for me... way past that...
:-)

Daryl said...

Oh I am SO laughing ... soon they will have mastered Chinese and then what will you do? Yiddish!

Deb said...

I was listening to a group of 13 year old boys rattle off swear words like they were talking about groceries. It amazes me what is acceptable these days...I guess I had my own language going on when I was 13, but I don't think I ever said that in front of anyone's mom!

I like you tactic. Maybe I can suggest this to my own soon to be 13 year old :)

Sparky said...

That was a good idea about the swearing. Wong foo oogie boogie. ha ha ha Really cute postcard. Loved the double entendre "drop all your cares here". :)

lorhen82 said...

Well that's a first for me! You certainly come up with some creative child-rearing ideas!!! LOL You're too funny! Have a great week! ~Lori

chocolatecovereddaydreams.blogspot.com said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog! I love the idea...Chinese. I never would've thought of that! Hope that they get bored with trying to find all the swear words and leaned towards clean words instead....like, "Mom, can I help sweep the floor, please???" LOL

Janie said...

Funny! And probably safe, because, unless they're very good with accents, even a Chinaman probably won't recognize the swear words. Ingenious mothering, I must say.

Pietro Brosio said...

Good evening, Marie! Very funny post indeed!
About your question, my improvisations are works I create at the computer.

WhisperWood Cottage said...

Thanks for stopping by my blog and leaving a comment! Love this idea with the Chinese! Think it would work with adults as well? :)

Amy

Kristin - The Goat said...

My husband has a "two holer" up at his rustic camp in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. I don't think I could share an outhouse!

That's hysterical about the Chinese.

Clueless in Boston said...

I've heard that phrase as "swearing like a drunken sailor" but in this case, your title is better. And if you're anything like my older sister, you'll say, "of course it is." :)

They used the same tactic of swearing in Chinese on the tv series Firefly, but it never quite came across as naturally as a real, honest-to-goodness swearing.

Witchcrafted Life said...

What a clever idea! I distinctly remember when I was around 7 and learned the "worst swear". I had no clue what it meant, but I knew it was extremely taboo to say. Yet I told it to my little brother and before long we were parading around the house chanting it as if it were the most innocent of words. My mother took the neat approach of letting us say it as much as we wanted to that day and then explaining that we were not to use it again because it wasn't an appropriate word for children. This approach worked like a charm because I don't think I uttered it again until I was a teen.

Hopefully the novelty of naughty words will wear off on your little guys soon, too ;)


Happy Monday wishes,
♥ Jessica

Monica said...

Okay the translation was funny! If I tried this with my children they would've said I was

Fong luh.

Very creative way to curb the potty language. Thanks for sharing.

Mommy Scart said...

that card is so awesome for MYM.

Happy Monday!

Happily Retired Gal said...

Creativity wins every time! Love this for sure ;--)
Hugs and blessings,

Starman said...

Tsai boo shr!

twinkle teaches said...

Funny and clever idea! Now I need to google your phrase. LOL
tina :)

Lynn said...

Don't go visit China Town!

Ann said...

love the postcard..where do you get them to go along with your post?you really are amazing!! wish i'd thought of that...my beautiful 25 yo daughter has a potty mouth that would make a sailor blush..thank goodness ,not around her children!!

Loni Edwards said...

Oh this is hilarious! Thanks for the laugh! :)

yyam said...

Interesting way of coping with a problem. Definitely with you on selecting a more obscure language though...you chose the 2nd most used language in the world (the first is English)..:)

Mozi Esme said...

Great postcard - and great strategy on getting them to learn a language!

JamaGenie said...

One of my daughters *is* a sailor and swears like one, but swearing in Chinese wouldn't work. Her ship has stopped in several ports where Chinese is spoken. Better she doesn't know if they're swearing at her, and better for international relations if she can't mispronounce those phrases on the CD back at them!

Cute postcard, btw! Any idea what state it came from?

Liza said...

Lol, that's cute and funny! I loved how you solved the swearing problem, hehe.

Happy MYM!

A Lady's Life said...

Thats very funny . lol
I couldn't get my kids to do that though.
lol

Ragamuffin Gal said...

What a clever mom you are! What a funny twist! Have a great week!

dizzymslizzy said...

Marie, you could teach those little rascals this one - bao bay -and just tell them that it's naughty

Kris said...

I think this is hilarious. I wish I would of thought of it when my kids were younger, but then again I could learn it for myself. :)

Kris

Robin said...

Oh my goodness....
Love the card....great idea.