I actually might be able to provide some insight to this. My wife is Balkan and the first time I called her a "Silly Goose" she became madly upset. It turns out in her language the phrase "Glupova Gusko" (Stupid Goose) is a common insult. It is considered incredibly harsh in her culture. My guess is that the phrase "Silly Goose" is borrowed from a Slavic Language and lost its harshness when it moved into English.

[–] Oisteink@feddit.nl 24 points 4 months ago (1 children)

It’s a common insult in many languages - with a lot of theories about origins. You can track medival usage of this all over Europe, but I have no knowledge about other continents.

Insults in general hold more power in honor-cultures. Your grandparents might have reacted the same way she did, while you might not feel the same.

[–] HeathenPope@lemmy.world 9 points 4 months ago (1 children)

I knew about the honor-culture bit, but I'm now curious about what other languages use it as an insult.

[–] Oisteink@feddit.nl 8 points 4 months ago

I know of at lest Nordic languages, german languages, slavic languages, Urdu, Yiddish

Some are not literal translations, but have the same meening. Like silly as a goose - not stupid. Or just beeing refered to as a goose implying simplicity, stupidity or sillyness.

The word goose by itself has extensive use un english https://www.reginacoeli.com/blog/goose-idioms.html https://www.merriam-webster.com/thesaurus/goose

They do look kinda akward

[–] dukatos@lemm.ee 3 points 4 months ago

You can just say "gusko!”