Uglier Than a Monkey's Armpit: Untranslatable Insults, Put-Downs and Curses from Around the World - Softcover

'Insults and curses', writes Dr Vanderplank, 'are the 'dark' side of manners and customs and all the more interesting for that'. Having scoured the world for the most intriguing and expressive invective, he presents his findings in chapters on languages from Ancient Greek to modern Chinese, introducing the culture of insult in each region before giving a selection of put-downs, with pronunciation guides, and explanations where the terms elude translation. Beware some x-rated vocabulary.