--- title: Friendly name-calling and real insults (meanings only) — a lesson of Mova's school · trees and pragmatics description: «Friendly name-calling and real insults (meanings only)», a lesson of the ukrainian street course of Mova's primary school, sentence by sentence with dependency trees and pragmatics. It begins: Kids everywhere call each other names, and the same word can be a joke or a punch: "durnyk", dummy, said l --- [Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) · [this page in HTML](https://mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/) [home](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/) / [corpora](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/) / [school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/) / [Ukrainian street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/) / Friendly name-calling and real insults… # Friendly name-calling and real insults (meanings only) Lesson 26 of the ukrainian street course of Mova's primary school: 16 sentences, each with its syntax tree and pragmatics. The lessons are written for Mova, and their agreed trees are part of Mova corpus 0.4 (CC BY-SA 4.0). How Mova does on its tests: [the lesson at school](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/school-run/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/). - [0](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/0/) — Kids everywhere call each other names, and the same word can be a joke or a punch: "durnyk", dummy, said laughing between friends is fine; said angrily it hurts, and to an adult it is never okay. - [1](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/1/) — Every Ukrainian kid knows the comeback: "sam takYi!" — you're one yourself! (a girl says "sama taka!"). - [2](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/2/) — Some names are gentle (bAlakun, chatterbox), some sting (zhadIba, greedy guts; yabeda, snitch; plaksa, crybaby), and some are real insults: duren (fool), and animal names like kozel (goat, meaning jerk). - [3](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/3/) — Older kids use street slang like "lokh" or "loshara", sucker, loser — learn what it means so you understand, but don't use it, especially at Sashko's house. - [4](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/4/) — The rule is tone: a grin and a mate's shoulder bump make a tease; an angry face makes an insult. - [5](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/5/) — "durnyk" means "silly, dummy"; among friends it is said laughing, but said angrily it hurts, and it is never said to adults. - [6](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/6/) — "sam takYi!" means "takes one to know one!", the standard comeback; a girl says "sama taka!". - [7](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/7/) — "duren" means fool or idiot; between close friends it can be a joke, but in anger it is a real insult and never said to an adult. - [8](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/8/) — "tormoz", literally "brake", means a slowcoach, someone slow to get a joke; it is mildly mean but fine between pals. - [9](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/9/) — "bAlakun" means chatterbox and is a gentle tease. - [10](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/10/) — "zhadIba" means greedy guts, someone who won't share; it stings a bit and kids use it a lot. - [11](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/11/) — "yabeda" means telltale or snitch, someone who tells the teacher; kids hate being called it. - [12](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/12/) — "plaksa" means crybaby; it is unkind, especially to someone really upset. - [13](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/13/) — "boyahuz" means scaredy-cat, used in daring games, and the usual answer is "ya ne boiusya!", I'm not scared! - [15](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/15/) — "kozel" means goat, and as an insult it means a jerk; using animal names (korOva, svynya, kozel) for people is rude. - [16](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/26-friendly-name-calling-and-real-insults/16/) — "ty shcho, durnyi?" means "are you crazy? are you stupid?"; depending on the tone it can be playful or offensive. - ← previous: [What time is it? Days, weeks, seasons](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/25-what-time-days-weeks-seasons/) - next →: [Only joking! Swearing — and Christmas Eve](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/27-only-joking-swearing-and-christmas-eve/) - ↑ back to [Ukrainian street](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/ukrainian-street/)