Talk:turd

Spelling

feces is spelt faeces

it is spelled feces in the U.S.

But if the word turn originated in the UK, then the UK ver. of faeces should also be used according to Wiki-rules.

Relation to "shit"

Is "shit" vaguely synonymous to "turd"? If so, is "turd" less vulgar than "shit", and to what degree? I have seen "turd" appear in news articles, suggesting it is significantly less vulgar than "shit". --Daniel Polansky 22:22, 31 January 2008 (UTC)

A turd is a discrete, fairly solid to solid piece of excrement. As such, I don't believe "govno" or "mierda" are appropriate translations, as they simply mean "shit," which can be of any size, shape, or consistency. 24.29.228.33 06:44, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

You could say говешка or куча perhaps, but they doesn’t seem quite the same to me. Russian and Spanish don’t seem to place much emphasis on units of excrement, but like to refer to the material en masse. There is also кусок дерьма, but that’s a recent development and still sounds foreign. There are many words that don’t have a precise equivalent in another language, but where I say turd in English, I’d probably say говно or mierda. —Stephen 08:24, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

For me, a native speaker of English, turd is much milder than shit.  In fact, turd is the kind of word small children often use and is a word that you can get away calling kids, e.g., "My son Billy can be such a turd sometimes."

As for Russian, although it varies according to personal sensibilities, I have found that, in general, дерьмо is considered to be a milder term (closer to the English crap) than говно (closer to the English shit). — V-ball 04:46, 8 October 2010 (UTC)

Keep in mind that in English we'd precede "turd" with an article, as in "a turd," where for shit it can be referred to simply as "shit" (the term "piece of shit" is usually reserved for referring to substandard items rather than actual pieces of shit). That's a difference that I'm not sure would have equivalents in the Slavic languages. 24.29.228.33 08:49, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

Translations are seldom precise. That English nouns can be contable or mass may be a factor here as elsewhere. Interestingly, I was able to find two terms from Central American Spanish, bojote and cerote, which do mean a discrete solid piece of the the topical substance. They surely carry other nuances which differ from those of English turd of course. — hippietrail 08:53, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

To me at least, "turd" is significantly less vulgar than "shit" simply because the latter is so often used as a stand-alone expletive, spoken with emphasis. Whatever,it's all just cachu in the end. -- Pinkfud 09:03, 6 December 2008 (UTC)

For Spanish, I added first mojon and zurullo, which are the two most common translations and actually mean a "countable unit of solid excrement." I moved at the end cagada and mierda, although I think they should actually be removed since, as has been argued above, are generic equivalents of shit.

Pepys quotation

Can we have an illustrative quote by Samuel Pepys to demonstrate usage, instead of the invented quote used here? I propose this one:

"Going down my cellar to look, I put my foot into a heap of turds, by which I find that Mr Turner’s house of office is full and comes into my cellar, which doth trouble me; but I will have it helped."