Is calling someone a Lettuce an insult in either Italy or Germany as far as you know?

Asked by janbb (63218

) December 17th, 2019

This question sounds really strange but we are reading a short story in French which was translated from Italian. In it, an ugly little boy, who turns out to be a young Adolph Hitler, is called “laitue” or lettuce by his schoolmates because of his pallor and sickliness. Does anyone have a clue as to whether this is a standard insult?

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11 Answers

Salad means slow in several languages.

RedDeerGuy1 (24945

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In Germany, no. “Du Lauch” (“you leek”) is a mild insult, but lettuce…no.

I did, however, read about “salad” being Bulgarian slang for someone ugly while I was researching this.

longgone (19764

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It might be because they don’t like the French calling their sweeties a cabbage.

zenvelo (39546

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Wet lettuce is an insult.
Cabbage is also another.

raum (13402

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Not lettuce, but cabbage. It’s what is used to make sour kraut, a German dish. The word “kraut, usually capitalized”, when used as a name to call a German, or anyone else, is “usually disparaging.”
-thanks to Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary, 11th. ed.

kritiper (25757

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