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For example, in English it is usually scatological diminutives, e.g. poopy. In French, "caca bouda", in both cases adults just don't use this set of cuss words — they use real cuss words that children wouldn't be allowed to use.

What is the situation in Russian? Google and rambler are telling me that toddlers using adult cuss words in Russian is a concern, but I'm not finding what cuss words Russian toddlers can get away with.

I've heard блин горелый a lot, but I don't know if it's a toddler word or an adult stand-in for a cuss word.

Feel free to answer in English or Russian — I read it okay, but my writing is pretty ужасно.

Please form your answer in a format that is not a list.

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  • Hi and welcome to Russian.SE! Generally, we discourage list questions. Could you please reformulate your question to be more specific so that it would be answerable with a limited and concise answer? Thanks!
    – Quassnoi
    Feb 26, 2013 at 16:36

1 Answer 1

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That's mainly defined by milieu, e.g. toddles from poor/socially deprived families can curse in quite an adult Russian.

Блин горелый is a euphemism unrelated to any specific age; a fact that proves the point that children often imitate adult behaviour.

Normally, like most child languages, Russian 'toddler cursing' has a tendency for shorter words, so the word кака is used more often, e.g.

Кака! Это кака! Брось каку! (mother to a child)

Unlike in Romance languages, this word does not necessary mean 'faeces'. It may mean any bad/rotten/unpleasant thing (another point proving ISFP (Introverted, Sensing, Feeling, Perceiving) being a generalised MBTI (Myers Briggs Type Indicator) sociotype for Russian culture, and another example of the similarities between the Russian and French cultures).

The difference is that the Russian culture encourages stricter views on children's negative self-expression, and actions like verbal/actional aggression are often tabooed, even when committed in self-defense or out of assertiveness.

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