Hush, little baby, don’t say that word: toys and swearing

The Internet has been a-twitter this week with news that McDonald’s, that venerable fast-food chain, has been ruining children’s lives. No, this is not about nutrition–what do you think this is, a food blog? No, this is about Minions.

Minions, for those unaware, are the little yellow figures that resemble walking, babbling Advil capsules and which debuted in the movie Despicable Me. They currently have their own movie and consequently their own requisite appearance as the toy of the season in the McDonald’s Happy Meal(TM). The McDonald’s toys babble when you tap them on a hard surface, and here is where the proverbial shit hits the fan: parents are complaining that one of the toys barks “what the fuck.”

Fuck yourself up the ass with a Lego brick!

It’s not hard to find guides to multilingual swearing. I own several myself, from Merde! Et Merde Encore! to Mexican Slang: A ¡*#@&%+! Guide. But only one book on my shelf includes brand-name swears: curses from around the world that derive their force from registered trademarks.