Sacapuntas and Mock Obscenity

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hello, this is Jerry from San Diego.

Hey, Jerry, welcome.

Hi, Jerry, welcome to the show.

Thank you very much.

Yeah, sure, what’s up?

Well, I have this quick question for you.

So a friend of mine and I, we work as food servers at a restaurant here in San Diego, and I witnessed something the other day that just really was profound and encouraged me to contact you guys.

So as food servers, the only refuge you have if the customers frustrate you is somewhere in the parking lot or somewhere back in the kitchen where you can just kind of mumble things under your breath or just kind of release any sort of tension.

So the other day, my coworker was in the back, and she just yelled out really loud, Sacca Punta.

And I thought, oh, my God, because it sounds like a really bad word.

And I told her, I said, what are you doing? The customers might hear you.

She’s like, I don’t care. You know, I don’t care if they hear me. It’s not a bad word anyway.

And I said, well, what do you mean? That sounds terrible.

And she said, oh, well, sacapunta means pencil sharpener in Spanish.

So I was just wondering if you guys ever experienced anything like that, where someone would need a real release to let out some tension, where the word may sound really bad or naughty, but it really isn’t.

Yeah.

Well, I’ve never heard anybody yell, pencil sharpener.

Me neither.

Although that’s an idea.

But it sounds naughty.

Yeah, it does.

It’s a good one.

Yeah.

Saca puntas.

I’m not one of those people who shies away from four-letter words off the air.

No.

But I know plenty of people who do, and they need that release, and they’ll say things like, puppies.

Yeah.

Oh, really?

Yeah.

Or, my elbow. Things like that.

Fiddlesticks.

Fiddlesticks.

Yeah.

That’s what I’ve said.

Fairly common, innocuous stuff where you still have the force and energy.

Yeah.

You can’t have a curse word without the actual cursing.

Yes.

Jerry, is your coworker a native Spanish speaker?

No, but one of the cooks had told her who was Spanish-speaking. I had told her that years ago. She’s been in the business for a while.

So she kind of saves that one for when she really needs a release.

It’s great.

Yeah.

I don’t know that it’s used that widely in Spanish, but in parts of Mexico, yeah, you do hear.

Sacapuntas.

Oh, that’s an interjection?

Yeah.

Oh, interesting.

Yeah, in Baja and Sinaloa, for sure.

Oh, I love it.

Yeah.

Nice.

Yeah, and the phrase sacarpunta means, you know, literally to sharpen a pencil, but it also means to, if somebody says something to you, you find whatever is bad about it.

Like they’re saying something to you and you take it bad when it’s not really.

I see.

Take it as criticism.

Take it the wrong.

Oh, interesting.

That’s really cool.

But we have a ton of words in English that are either euphemisms of more straight up, kind of obscene or taboo words.

Yeah.

And there’s a culture of inventing new pseudo curse words just because you want something safe to say.

You kind of train yourself to say the safe thing so that the wrong thing doesn’t come out at the wrong time.

And that’s a great example of it.

Yeah.

Jerry, there’s a great book that I recommend on this. This is called The Craptastic Guide to Pseudo-Swearing by Michelle Witte. I believe W-I-T-T-E.

Oh, okay.

Yeah, The Craptastic Guide to Pseudo-Swearing.

And it’s just filled with this kind of thing, all kinds of euphemistic terms and expressions that people have come up with so they don’t actually have to say the real word.

Well, that’s great. I’ll pass it along to my friend. I’ll probably have to get it to her for Christmas or her birthday or something.

Yeah, all kinds of options in there, the kinds of things. And I understand the refuge in the kitchen. I totally get that.

Yeah, I was going to say.

I think my wife, when she needs escape, she just goes to the bathroom and locks the door.

Well, now she has something to say in there, too, right? Sacrebringles.

Thanks, Jerry.

All right. Thank you, guys.

Take care. Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

All right. Bye.

She also has in her book, Michelle Witte, in her book, The Craptastic Guide to Pseudo-Swearing, the top 10 pseudo-swears.

Oh, let’s hear them, or some of them.

I think we can say these all on the air.

Yeah.

So starting at 10 on down is darn, flip, dang, shoot, gosh, fudge, heck, crap, freak, and sugar.

That sounds like almost my entire vocabulary of swearing.

Oh, sugar.

Wow. 877-929-9673.