Try this test:
any(substring in string for substring in substring_list)
It will return True if any of the substrings in substring_list is contained in string.
Note that there is a Python analogue of Marc Gravell's answer in the linked question:
from itertools import imap
any(imap(string.__contains__, substring_list))
In Python 3, you can use map directly instead:
any(map(string.__contains__, substring_list))
Probably the above version using a generator expression is more clear though.