# Croatian/Serbian: what does "puj" mean?



## vrubble

Hello, I'm writing my senior thesis about the language of the Croats and the Serbs on the internet. There is of course much slang and normally I don't have any problems with understanding. But today I saw this sentence: "puj pederu pas ti jebo mater" (I know it's not nice, sorry but I really need it for my thesis) and I understand everything but "puj". I've never saw it. What does it mean? Is it something like "mrš"? Thank you in advance!


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## Panceltic

It is onomatopoeia for spitting, as far as I know


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## Милан

That's right. But I really don't know how would you translate that in English.


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## vrubble

Thank you very much! Fortunately I don't have to translate it


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## kloie

Isn't it something like f your mother?


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## modric

Puj can mean "beži" (in Serbian), which means "run!" or "get lost!."


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## dobrinja2011

vrubble said:


> Hello, I'm writing my senior thesis about the language of the Croats and the Serbs on the internet. There is of course much slang and normally I don't have any problems with understanding. But today I saw this sentence: "puj pederu pas ti jebo mater" (I know it's not nice, sorry but I really need it for my thesis) and I understand everything but "puj". I've never saw it. What does it mean? Is it something like "mrš"? Thank you in advance!


You can translate 'puj!' as 'Phew!' - actually the pronunciation is pretty similar as well.


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## Mishe

It's more like "I spit on you" in this context.


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## Jeki

I have never heard or said PUJ, but only PU. It is used to express a disgust. Maybe it's some typing error??


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## Gavran

Not an error. It's used widely.


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## Jeki

Ok. I know for PU and FUJ. So you do say PUJ, Gavran? It's the same as PU?


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## Gavran

I don't remember if I personally ever used it  And I'd say there are subtle differences mostly dictated by context and slightly changed with time. This is how the situation is today:

"Pu" or "Puuu" can also refer to a surprise, not so much as spitting. But I've seen it more used by Serbs than by Croats.

"Fuj" is directly translated "Yuck", but "fuj" also has strong negative connotation. Actually, thinking about it, English "yuck" usually refers to something physically repulsive, while "fuj" in a lot of cases expresses moral disgust.

"Puj" is not so widely used. Like someone already said, it is a direct onomatopoeia of spitting. However, I have a feeling it's getting slightly archaic and actually I feel that it's mostly used with humourous context ("puj puj puj" if you're joking about something bad that you want to jinx away). Recently I've often seen "pljuc" used on the internet in the sense of moral disgust which is also shortened from verb "pljuvati" ("to spit") or "pljuckati" (also "to spit" but in smaller quantities)


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