I’ve noticed for a long time that when Maltese people curse, they don’t just say vulgar words like right, in loveor goosebut they often say utterly blasphemous phrases like:
- "H*qq for the Madonna" (f*** the Virgin Lady)
- "H*qq the host" (f*** the [consecrated] host)
- "God damn it" (f*** God)
Once I even heard one of my clients casually say, "Holy Paul!" so they aren’t just mindlessly repeating but seemingly saying these with full intention.
I read in a book on Maltese history that blasphemy has been prevalent in the mouths of common people ever since the Knights and Inquisition came into Malta, as blasphemy was a criminal offence then and many people were charged with it (to the point that the courts were overwhelmed with cases.)
But I still don’t understand, why do Maltese people, who are some of the most religious Catholics in not just Europe but the whole worldblaspheme so brazenly and unapologetically, without even a second thought? The same people blaspheming the Virgin in their daily vocabulary also go to Mass every Sunday. Even in traditionally Christian countries, the worst religious curse words and phrases usually involve saying the Lord’s Name in vain (e.g. "oh my God", "Jesus H. Christ"etc.) I’ve only heard of this level of common blasphemy in Italy, with their own unique phrases (e.g. "P\rco Dio*")
P.S. I am a former Orthodox Christian and current agnostic, so please don’t take this as me clutching pearls or being a prude. It’s a mere curiosity of mine which I’ve had since I was a child who couldn’t understand Maltese very well (as I’m a foreigner).
Why do Maltese people curse and blaspheme a lot?
byu/Jealous-Vegetable-91 inmalta
Posted by Jealous-Vegetable-91
10 Comments
Because life on that island isn’t easy, nor is being judged by religious weirdos.
The Maltese are some of the most religious people in the world? Really? Maybe 15 years ago but definitely not now. We lost our soul the day the people elected Joseph Muscat to government in 2013. Now money is our god.
As to why people blaspheme a lot – it’s a psychological thing. The more you’re told you’re not supposed to do something the more likely a person is to do it.
I’m not sure there is a straightforward answer for this, but I’d be interested to see a study about it.
It’s been like this for many years, not a recent phenomenon as you point out.
It’s more common than in Italy, although blasphemy there is “common” (and perhaps just as religious in some demographics).
It is not exclusive to people expressing anger, shock, sadness or other negative emotions either, it is really casually inserted in any sentence.
It could be a kind of cry for attention, but I’m no psychoanalyst
Well IMO in maltese we say il- l- etc before we say smth so ile when youare trying to swear you say sometjing bad and an other thing or person and with malta being mosly chatolic the first things that come to mind are holy things etc
That’s literally why- swearing is supposed to be vulgar and shocking- and in a religious country, blasphemy is the most shocking thing.
At least it was, whenever people started using these phrases, they of course lose their intensity after a while and kind of become just another word or phrase
because of traffic🤣🤣
We have a special kind of social, cultural ignorance here. Sadly this is an accepted, shameful fact of life that that’s how you show that you’re an adult and are to be respected/listened to.
There hasn’t been a systematic attempt to resolve this as far as I’m aware and something needs to be done to make us more presentable in public places because too many of us are just not fit to be allowed around others.
My favourite linguistic fact is that the more religious a society is, the more cursing is blaspemic. If the society is not religious, it becomes anal.
A very good example for that is the difference between High German and Bavarian.
In High German, curswords go into the anal direction, while in Bavarian it’s mostly blaspemic like in Malta.
There’s a song from book of Mormon that explains this phenomenon very well.
Maltese language is colourful like that. Ironically this type of language isn’t really prevalent in media. Also when someone curses in this colourful way a lot of local people get offended/shellshocked. So it has a good effect. If this language didn’t have this effect we’d probably hear less of it.