Hi CathyLP!

This is a fun and funny post! Thank you -- swearing is always interesting to study and especially when the explanation is so funny :)

I don't always know what you mean, so I will offer a few possibile sentences.

When Chinese say "shenme-shenme-dàn!" it means that they are insulting you. (or you can say "something-something-dàn")

My students, especially the young children, often ask me, "How do I insult someone in Chinese?"

Although this is not a polite topic, I will explain.

In Chinese, phrases ending with "dàn" are bad things to say. For example, 王八蛋 (wángbādàn). In this case, 王八 means turtle, and 蛋 means egg! What is the relationship between the turtle and the egg?

In ancient times, people didn't understand natural science. They thought that the turtle couldn't mate because it had a hard shell! And they thought all turtle were females. So, if a turtle wanted to reproduce, it needed to find a husband without a hard shell! The Chinese people concluded that it must be the snake, because snakes have the same shaped head as the turtle and they are soft too! Hence, turtles mate with snakes in order to reproduce!

So, this bad word (wángbādàn) not only insults you but also insults your family!

__

I hope this is what you want to tell us. :)

It almost sounds like gangsters shit-talking each other in a movie: "Your dad fucked a snake and made all you little baby snakes."

Woops... In this sentence, turtle must be plural!

  And they thought all turtles were females.