Мат

And no, I don't mean "мать", the lovely maternal word we all know and love. "Мат" (apparently also known as матерщина or матерный язык) is the term for the wide array of Russian profanity and foul language. I won't post any directly here, nor will I post links directly to a website; we all know that if you wanted to learn such things, it's only a short Google-search away. While I do not encourage swearing in any way, shape, or form, it is my personal philosophy to be generally aware of what is (and what is not!) socially acceptable to say or to have said to you.

According to certain Internet encyclopedia sources, мат is "censored in the media and ... in public constitutes a form of disorderly conduct, punishable under article 20.1.1 of the Offences Code of Russia, although it is only enforced episodically, in particular due to the vagueness of the legal definition." Even so, it seems to find use with Russians of all ages and social groups. And as we learned in 202 recently, these colorful words apparently find their way into Russian humor just as they do in our own English.

-Эзра