MovieChat Forums > Hard Target (1993) Discussion > Not a very fortunate pick of a character...

Not a very fortunate pick of a character name

posted 16 years ago by danucky
13 replies | jump to latest

Pik van Cleef (homage to Lee van Cleef?) is supposed to be South African, right? Well in Dutch - and probably in Afrikaans too - the word "Pik" is vulgar for "penis". Was the name intentional or what?

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[–] vocklabruck 16 years ago

I think it was intentional. He definitely was a prick.

[–] danucky 16 years ago

True, but in this case it would mean his parents already thought of him as a prick from birth.

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[–] herzeleid-2 15 years ago

I'm Afrikaans. I never heard anyone in my life referring to a penis as "pik". Def a dutch thing then.

We swear much differently to the Dutch. "Poes" which is probably one of if not the most vulgar curse word for us, in Dutch it just means cat!

[–] Vaggeli 15 years ago

Pik might've been a nickname?

[–] Delzante 15 years ago

In Norwegian or Scandinavian... "Pik" if you add another "k" to it = "Pikk" - it'd means PENIS!!! HAHAHA!! What kind of character would go with a name like that?! O_o

Van Cleef is fine but..... "Prick van Cleef" = .....What??

[–] BrainGremlin 15 years ago

We never use two ks in Swedish. We use ck.

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[–] NobodysFool 12 years ago

In Danish it is spelled p-i-k ;-).

[–] El_Guapo_Caballo 10 years ago

I'm from chile, if you add an O to Pik, it would be Piko, which means...yes, you guessed it, Penis! Wonder in how many languages Pik or a variation of it, means dick.

[–] KingSleaze 10 years ago

Actually in Danish "pik" with only one "k", means penis!

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[–] Strazdamonas 13 years ago

well wan dames name was "chance", so its possible.

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[–] Cleulow 15 years ago

I admit I don’t know any Afrikaans, but I doubt if it’s an insult in that language, since the South African politician ‘Pik’ Botha was happy enough to use it as a nickname, and that’s how he was always referred to in the media.

There’s not much point in finding out that certain names are insults in other languages though, since it must occur quite often. Besides, plenty of people in English-speaking countries are called ‘Dick’ – which is also slang for penis in their own language.

[–] 15 years ago

[deleted]

[–] ThingyBlahBlah3 12 years ago

There’s not much point in finding out that certain names are insults in other languages though, since it must occur quite often. Besides, plenty of people in English-speaking countries are called ‘Dick’ – which is also slang for penis in their own language.

This. Just ask Akbar Zeb what he thinks about it:

http://blog.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/02/03/ambassador_at_very_larg e

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