During a family gathering with my siblings on my recent trip to Singapore, our reminiscing unearthed the story of my father’s swearing, which I’d forgotten about.
In the three southern Chinese dialects that I can (sort of) speak (the Teochew/Cháozhōu 潮州 dialect, the Hokkien/Fújiàn 福建 dialect, and the Cantonese/Guǎngdōng 广东 dialect), one way of swearing at the other party is to say, “F..k your mother!” which is very insulting.
When my father got angry with us (the children) one day, he used this phrase. We laughed at him, “But our mother is your own wife!” So, he abandoned that phrase.
The next time he swore, he chose an alternative, which is the Teochew equivalent of the English “son of a bitch”. The Teochew version is: 狗種仔／狗种仔 “dog breed child/children” (i.e., not human breed). We laughed at him, “But we are your children, so you’re calling yourself a dog!”
He gave up swearing altogether after that.
(Singapore, 1960–70s)
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