Three Versions of Shit (Merde / Mierda / Kuso)

Lyrics

[Intro]
Kiki: In the dim lab on Rue de Rivoli, Paris, 1873, Émile Littré, born 1801, died 1881, scratches merde into his dictionary.
Bouba: The screen flickers, amygdala lights up the same.

[Verse 1]
Kiki: Merde, from Latin merda, excrement since the Middle Ages.
A chipped porcelain coffee cup, cool at 15 degrees Celsius, spills in the café.
The word escapes, frustration in the clatter of cups.
Littré notes it, interjection of disgust, casual as a sigh.

[Chorus]
Kiki and Bouba: Three words, one response.
Amygdala flares, basal ganglia stir.
Merde, mierda, kuso—shit in the brain's wiring.
Identical sparks, across tongues and times.

[Verse 2]
Bouba: Mierda, same Latin root, in Madrid's Plaza Mayor, mid-morning 10 AM.
A crate of oranges tumbles, rough wood splinters hands.
Sharp citrus zest hangs, vendor's trill on the r.
Real Academia Española, 2014 edition, catalogs the disdain.

[Chorus]
Kiki and Bouba: Three words, one response.
Amygdala flares, basal ganglia stir.
Merde, mierda, kuso—shit in the brain's wiring.
Identical sparks, across tongues and times.

[Verse 3]
Kiki: Kuso, Old Japanese, excrement in Tokyo's Shibuya arcade, 8 PM evening.
Sticky joystick warm at 30 degrees, game over screen flashes.
Kyosuke Kindaichi, 1882 to 1971, logs it in Nihon Kokugo Daijiten.
Prefix to intensify, kuso-yarou, shit-bastard, crude in neon glow.

[Bridge]
Bouba: Stephens' study, 2009, University of Keele.
Swearing lights the pain response, fight or flight in any script.
French murmur, Spanish trill, Japanese grunt—
The brain doesn't care, the taboo triggers the same.
Kiki: A quiet joke: in the scanner, all shits are equal.

[Outro]
Kiki and Bouba: Merde in damp ink, mierda in market air, kuso in electronic beeps.
The screen confirms: identical, unsparing.