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Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Natalie Portman's Favorite Curse Word



After my excitingly successful post about Israeli slang, I started tossing around the idea of doing a post on my top ten favorite Israeli curse words. That is, until I saw this tweet from my friend Benji Lovitt this week:


Of course I had to click on the link in his tweet to a short clip from her appearance on "Inside the Actor's Studio"...and, low and behold, Natalie Portman's favorite curse word is in Hebrew!

Well, not exactly Hebrew, she explains timidly in the clip. It's Arabic that's used in Hebrew.

Then she goes and articulates this curse word to the crowd as if she's talking about rainbows an butterflies:
(The video embedding code has been disabled, so checkout the video on youtube for a closer look)
"Koos Emek" she says batting her eyes.
"It means your mother's vagina" she continues with a smile.
She then remarks:  "A curse word that is also humorous...", she pauses, pointing her finger knowingly at the crowd, "That is priceless."

Now, don't get me wrong. I love this curse word too.  But, not because it's humorous. The thing I like most about Koos Emek is that it can really sound like you're slicing someone in two with words if you really emphasize the consonants and drag out emek, hitting the final "k" really hard in your throat when you shout it at someone. A dismissant and curt hand motion to go with is also a nice touch.

The thing is, Natalie, you go around saying "Koos Emek" in Israel or in any Arab speaking country, and no one is gonna think it's funny.
No one.

You want a funny curse word, and you can shout out "Koos Soda" (Soda's vagina) or "Ya Kaki" (You turd), but the only thing funny about "Koos Emek" in Hebrew or Arabic is how it sounds when you translate it to English.

Sorry, Natalie.  You're cute and all, and you look super hot when you make out with Mila Kunis in that ballerina movie about psycho dancers, but when it comes to Hebrew curse words, you've got lots to learn.

What do you guys think?



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7 comments:

  1. Lety me also say that vagina, in English, happens to be a uniquely humorous term. I don't quite understand why...but saying vagina is WAY more funny than saying penis.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I just mention that this cure word has almost the same meaning in Farsi (Persian)and presumed humorous . "Koose Ammat" means your aunt's vagina.

    ReplyDelete
  3. That's a mistake. There is no such word in Arabic or Hebrew.
    Seems that Natalie Portman's favorite curse word should be "Kose nanat" means "Your mom's vagina"
    It's so vulgar in Persian but quite common in many cases.

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi Mehran, I am 100% certain that this phrase is real and exists- at least in Hebrew. It may be a modified bastard of the Arabic original. This I'll have to check for you. If you are interested, here are some articles about that specific phrase:

    http://www.oasisjournals.com/2009/03/coos-emek

    http://www.facebook.com/pages/Cusemekcoil-%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%90%D7%9E%D7%A7/136021789784513

    http://he.wikipedia.org/wiki/%D7%9B%D7%95%D7%A1%D7%99%D7%AA

    http://www.thmrsite.com/?p=331

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Let me know what you think!