# BCS: vukojebina



## Santanawinds

While reading this article, I came across the translation of "vukojebina", which I'm not sure is right!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/apr/08/bosnia-camps-ed-vulliamy

in this article, the author claims this word means "wild", as in where the wolves fuck. To me, this is some deep, dark wilderness, and "bear country" would be the American equivalent.

Yet I was convinced the word means something more in the lines of godforsaken middle-of-nowhere, not necessarily a wilderness. It could be a village with no electricity, no paved roads leading to it, and far from any contact with other civilizations.


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## DenisBiH

Your understanding (godforsaken middle-of-nowhere) is closer to my understanding.


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## Santanawinds

War and rape are two awful words that evoke strong negative (sad, angry, frustrated) feelings in me when I hear them. Vukoje*ina is vulgur, and is apparantly translated wrongly in this article.


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## Brainiac

Right, this is not the place where they should advance their point of view of history.
That's why you should not post such articles in the future.


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## TriglavNationalPark

MOD NOTE: Linking to articles for context is allowed here. (Usually, a short quote with a citation should suffice, but in cases like this one, the additional context of the entire article may prove useful.) 

Having said that, the discussion should deal *solely with linguistic issues*. Any discussion of a news article's content is off-topic. Just because someone posts an article here doesn't mean that he/she agrees with it.


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## Sobakus

As a Russian I'd say you shouldn't understand the "jebina" part literally as "a place of fucking". To me it simply means "a godforsaken place (with no one but wolves in it)". I'm probably wrong, but that's just my understanding.


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## Brainiac

(Sorry TNP, this is sensitive topic, the person who posts such things should be aware of that)

One can easily google the meaning of the word - but I understood you know the meaning very well, even before posting.
Here's one nice explanation:


> An online article about the hunt for Radovan Karadzic described how the  young Karadzic was brought up in the village of Petnjica and took an  interest in poetry. "But it was not poetry that took the diligent young  Karadzic *from the Vukojebina to Sarajevo*," the writer said.  "'*Vukojebina*' is a very, very rude word in the Serbian/Croatian language  and, as such, highly inappropriate for use in any formal context," a  reader advised. "*The literal translation* of this word would be something  to the effect of 'a place where wolves f***'." It wasn't necessary to  use the vernacular of the original language, she said; the "*back of  beyond*" would have done just fine.



("back of beyond - a very remote and inaccessible place")

Synonim: Pickovac
_"Došao sam iz Pickovca koga nema na mapi"_ (Beogradski Sindikat)


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## DenisBiH

Sobakus said:


> As a Russian I'd say you shouldn't understand the "jebina" part literally as "a place of fucking". To me it simply means "a godforsaken place (with no one but wolves in it)". I'm probably wrong, but that's just my understanding.



Actually, I would agree with you. I never understood _vukojebina _as a place where wolves f*ck. Actually, it might also suggest the place where humans f*ck wolves (bestiality is sometimes associated (in derogatory comments) with village people in remote places, although it usually involves sheep being f*cked, not wolves), but I don't really think of it that way either; it's just an expression for a godforsaken place. 

MOD EDIT: A part of the post and some of the subsequent replies have been moved HERE.


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## Brainiac

Hello Santanawinds, just to add something.

Vukojebina is not where the wolves f***, even literally. This even doesn't make sense, not to mention how ugly it sounds. Wolves don't f***, only humans do. There are no wolves in the noun, only one wolf. "Jebina" here is a swearword, to curse the place the person comes from. (Like you curse, for example, a mother who gave birth to the person.) "Jebina" maybe replaces "jazbina"; "vučja jazbina" is used sometimes too. It refers to a wolf's nest, where wolves breed, so it again says it's a remote place inhabited only by wild animals = not many people there, or community cut from civilization. ("Live with wolves", or "live like a wolf"). 
The word was used for a remote places in the mountains, hard to get to, but in recent times the word has become widely used for any remote, unpleasant place.

And I wouldn't agree that in American English there are less or "softer" curses - just listen to the rap music (or language in some American movies), very very popular in the US - and elsewhere. Or at least that is my impression.


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## Anicetus

I agree, Brainiac, there's no appropriate way to "etymologically" translate _vukojebina_ to English -- it's simply our word for a very remote village, _the middle of nowhere_. _Vuk_ is often featured in phrases and names (check out this entry, for example) and it refers to wilderness and savagery here. _Jebati_ has an especially wide plethora of meanings. For instance, _jebi ga_ is roughly our version of _c'est la vie_, _nemoj jebat'_ means _are you kidding?_ and so on... However, _vuk_ in _vukojebina_ is in neither singular nor plural; you can't connect definite noun forms like this, only roots and affixes. It could, theoretically, refer to more wolves. Furthermore, I wouldn't say that _jeb-_ is as malicious as a curse in this example, it's just rude and makes fun of the place.

Other synonyms for _vukojebina_ are _pripizdina_ and _prdečevo selo_.


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## Brainiac

Yes, you're right. There's _postojebina_, wordplay of the word _postojbina_ (homeland). Maybe _vukojebina _might be "vukojevina" = "where the wolves live/rule". But wolves and f***ing in the word are unacceptable to me.


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## el_tigre

Santanawinds said:


> Yet I was convinced the word means something more in the lines of godforsaken middle-of-nowhere, not necessarily a wilderness. It could be a village with no electricity, no paved roads leading to it, and far from any contact with other civilizations.



Yes, that would be the meaning. Alternative expressions would be zabit, selendra


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## Santanawinds

Brainiac said:


> Yes, you're right. There's _postojebina_, wordplay of the word _postojbina_ (homeland). Maybe _vukojebina _might be "vukojevina" = "where the wolves live/rule". But wolves and f***ing in the word are unacceptable to me.



This sounds more logical than what the author of the article had written. 

And this might not be related, but I just remembered another word with "jeb" that is more creatively funny than anything else. Jebivjetar. Wind fucker? Lazy bum?


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## Brainiac

Yes! Hahaaha... Oh, you are really fluent in Serbo-croatian.   
I had the word in my head, but I didn't want to mention it, maybe it was for another thread.
 Yes, it means something like that. 


> *Jebivetar*
> 
> - Onaj koji provodi vreme radeći nešto što se ne vidi, kao na primer  jebanje vetra. Obično se odnosi na nezaposlene koji i ne traže posao,  ali se često upotrebljava i za nestručne ili lakomislene.
> 
> - Ne piša uz vetar niti u vetar. On ga prosto jebe. Isto tako radi i sa svojim životom.
> 
> - Upucuje na osobu koja umešno rukuje sa vetrom i označava veći broj zanimanja:
> 1)    Onog koji po ceo dan ne radi ništa. Krade bogu dane
> 2)    Savetnik ili stručni saradnik u državnim preduzećima
> 3)    Jedriličar
> 4)    Letač na paraglajderu (paraglajderdžija?)



You can find in Vukajlija dictionaty.


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## itreius

Brainiac said:


> Synonim: Pickovac
> _"Došao sam iz Pickovca koga nema na mapi"_ (Beogradski Sindikat)



There's a place called _Špičkovina_ here in northern Croatia which is the butt of jokes, many natives of the region use the word _špičkovina_ with the meaning of _vukojebina_.


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## Duya

_Pržogrnci_ is often used in Serbia as a prototypical name of a vukojebina. There is no such village, though.

In an early Audicija, a candidate comes from _Čekrčići_, which is an actual village in a wider Sarajevo area. I'm not sure if it is actually joked about in Sarajevo, or if it was just taken once in the show. Denis?


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## DenisBiH

Duya said:


> _Pržogrnci_ is often used in Serbia as a prototypical name of a vukojebina. There is no such village, though.
> 
> In an early Audicija, a candidate comes from _Čekrčići_, which is an actual village in a wider Sarajevo area. I'm not sure if it is actually joked about in Sarajevo, or if it was just taken once in the show. Denis?



I at least use _Čekrčići _very often, and Google shows some hits too. I often add _Donji _or _Gornji _to the name, though.  When someone is being annoying on an Internet board, I might say: _Momak, pogriješio si skretanje. Kod Čekrčića Gornjih si trebao skrenuti *lijevo*._ Or some such.


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## Anicetus

That reminds me _Tunguzija_ is an another synonym for a remote, backwards or non-existent area. I'm afraid (maybe unjustifiably) that many people who use the expression don't know it actually is a part of Siberia.


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## Brainiac

But you forgot maybe the most common "exression" - _Došao je iz p*zde materine._ (veeeery remote place!)


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## Santanawinds

Lately I've heard a version of it, maybe alluding to the far away countries of Kirgizstan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan - Pimistan (short for Pizdumateristan)


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## Tassos

Maybe it won't come as a surprise to some but two of the words mentioned in this topic, were used in lyrics in the 80's by a particular Serbian band. First we have

dežurni pandur i ja smo jedini
na alaudži i *vukojebini*

and then

Gledaš osmeh na mom licu, nemaš pojma šta on krije,
poslaću ti razglednicu, 'Pozdrav iz *Tunguzije*.

I always thought that Tunguzija was something Bora Đorđević made up to fit the lyric, never crossed my mind that it's an actual word used by others ...

*MOD EDIT: Please don't forget to start a new thread for each new, unrelated word you wish to discuss. I moved your question HERE.*


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## Allienella

Interesting that our logic with far away places is similar. In Russian we say jebenja (the stress falls on the first E) for this. Both Serbs,Croars and Russians keep in mind the verb jebati (ours is jebat,to be more precise) when it comes to a distant place...

Just for fun:a less rude expression for a dump is Muhosransk (from muha,"a fly"+srat (=Serb./Croat srati),to shit, another one is Zazhopinsk (za - a preposition that means behind,zhopa=Serb./Croat.dupa=ass).


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