Swearing
 

I can't help but be amused right now, I apologize. I just found out about a word that is considered offensive in Britain that most Americans would be, well, puzzled to find out anyone can find offensive. Since I'm not sure how offensive it actually is, I'll refrain from using it directly. But I will say that in Britain it's apparently a very derogatory word for someone who's disabled. In America it just means someone who has a bit too much energy (and is totally not offensive.)

This set my mind to whirling (as things often do), which of the words that I find innocuous would a british gentleman take offense at?

Is there any way to proceed in this discussion civilly? I know several of you are British and I just want to know some British words that are considered rude that I, as an American, probably am not offended by (and vice versa might be nice as well...)

This reminds me of things like: In Japan it's regarded good manners to slurp food etc ... I personally have been caught out with a phrase that is fairly tame here, but was deemed highly offensive in another country ... but it is a forum incident and one I'd rather forget.

I remember growing up with words like "bloomin' heck" being considered as swearing ... I know that's not what you are trying to achieve here but it is a rather tricky territory

Fanny. In the US it's a term that the really innocuous people use to describe their butt. It is non-gender-specific. In the UK, it is a term for female genitalia.

Trevor

Speaking for my people, most Brits take context into consideration, and if someone is not intending offence, then rarely is offence taken.
This is why we have a strong tradition of 'banter', in which best friends will say deeply insulting things to each other, but all is meant in jest. I guess the equivalent of "Yo mamma...." jokes.

There is of course the "politically correct" notion of avoiding terms of abuse at social groups - disabled, race, etc. And those with an axe to grind will always take the bait.
I'm curious what the word you came across is. Didn't Tiger Woods get in trouble for saying "he played like a Spaz" a while back? It's a commonly used term here, though perhaps not in polite society, and advocacy groups would have a go. It is a derivative of "spastic". The UK Spastics Association changed its name to "Scope" in the 1990s. But now you get kids shouting "Uh-uh, Scopey!"

The cultural differences works both ways. In America, Brits can get away with saying "the W word" or local terms for balls, where a better understood word might not be thought appropriate.

Whilst some UK swearing is often thought of as "quaint" by Americans, I would say that we generally use swearing a lot more. It's more accepted on TV, certainly, and we are more liberal with the really high-end stuff. The C word, for instance, is in some quarters used very often. Sometimes every other word.

When they made "Four Weddings and a Funeral", they were'nt sure about distribution, so in parallel they filmed a US "Made for TV" version, so instead of the first several sentences in the film being "F....!", they were replaced by "Bugger!", which was thought less offensive. Only one of the changes was kept in the cinema film -- that of Charles's sometime girlfriend being called "duckface", instead of....

Regarding context, when I was at school, to say someone was "gay" was quite controversial ... but nowadays my teenage son often calls me that ... I don't take a belt to him like my dad would've done to me for much less a crime ...

IMHO the "gay" word has lost it's charge ... like the "F" word has .... the ABC has programs shown late-ish that has actors "F-ing" this and "F-ing" that ... with the odd "C" word chucked in for luck.

A lot of the best English slang/swearing can be vulgar or base, without being profane. Fanny is not really used as a swear word. It's almost polite slang. You might tell a bloke to "stop fannying about" or to stop fooling around, stop dithering. Using fanny is not like using the c-word.

Profanity, even on television (especially comedy) is so common now as to render swear words almost meaningless. I asked a pair of otherwise intelligent Irish brothers, who used the f-word liberally in every sentence, "what word do you use when you're really angry?" They looked surprised, and said, "F**k!"

I guess it's how you tell 'em.

The best English swear words can be used in normal conversation, if you're a commoner.

Don't be so bloody stupid. Stop being such a wanker. Bollocks to that! He's such a tosser. Bugger off!

We in Estonia live next to Russians. In that context all this talk above seems like posch childs bable. You should hear russian swearing. It is beautiful linguistic exercise - rich and juicy, often humorous and creative.
Usually men do it among themselves and swearing may take 40-60% what is beeing said. I have experienced amazing situation however - two men are talking where every other word is swearing, then a woman walks by and without a pause their talk drops all swearing for duration and resumes as fluently after this woman has passed hearing distance.

benwiggy's use of "quaint" and "the C word" in the same paragraph calls to mind a similar, much older collocation--one of the funniest, richest of rime riche ever penned in Britain.

Now, sire, and eft, sire, so bifel the cas
That on a day this hende Nicholas
Fil with this yonge wyf to rage and pleye,
Whil that hir housbonde was at Oseneye,
As clerke ben ful subtile and ful queynte;
And prively he caughte hire by the queynte,
And seyde, "Ywis, but if ich have my wille,
For deerne love of thee, lemman, I spille." (Chaucer, Miller's Tale, 3271-78)

Well interesting, swearing almost seems to be a point of pride in a lot of ways ;).

I remember growing up with "crap" being considered a swear word (I was in a very conservative family as far as language is concerned), so... Yeah, not sure what that means, but there you go.

I do remember that first time I saw Eddie Izzard, that was a bit of a shock. I think mostly because the heavy use of F*** (or the F-bomb, as most of my friends call it) was associated with sexual comedy in my experience. Eddie clearly stays away from that, so the experience was a bit jarring, but I got used to it.

You folks keep saying the c-word, and I'm not even sure what you're talking about. Is this in reference to the same thing "fanny" apparently means in Britain? If so, then I know what word you mean.

As far as swearing amongst friends. I think it's mostly the same thing in America is it is just about anywhere. There are segments of society where swearing is considered an art form, and others where swearing is just insulting. And it's strange how context affects things. For example, when I listen to Hip Hop, say from Common or Skillz (lots of F-bombs), I don't find it offensive, it's just part of the flavor of the music. But if a customer walked into my work place and started talking like that... That would be offensive.

I lived in London some years ago--a lot of years, really--and while I was there I ran across several words and phrases which had their meaning altered somewhere over the Atlantic.

Following are three I remember. Actually, I'll never forget these particular three. Please don't ask why.

At the time, upper-class residents of Cornwall referred to table napkins as serviettes. An American who asked his hostess for a napkin was taken to mean he would like to have a sanitary napkin.

When a woman told a man to "knock her up in the morning," she meant for him to come by the next day and knock on her door.

An American writer who received a compliment on the recent publication of a brief article he had written, and who responded by saying, "Oh, that was something I just tossed off," will not learn until much later that in British slang, to toss off is to masturbate.

whats the word?

I am puzzled... and not easily offended :)


ps.. it always makes me laugh that my American cousins refer to their trousers as pants (hehehe!)

Sometimes I hear bad words used in context (someone steps in manure…) but for me that doesn't change much.

I'm also interested to know which word it is...please don't be afraid to use it directly - I think I speak for most English people - we are not easily shocked! In fact it is very common in England to hear all manner of swearing as you walk down the street including what is regarded as the worst swear word which starts with C and ends in t.

oroberts

Canada is about the same as the US. Often, a lot of people use the F'er, which I consider as the "ultimate" swear word, vulgarly (when someone could use fudge). That devalues it, like using platinum when you could use tin. However I don't believe in swearing.

Yes, that would be the one. Four letters, one syllable--same as many of the most popular swear words. In Chaucer's time, it could be spelled "queynte."

I don't know that I could even if I wanted to. This board has a profanity filter:

http://hintsforums.macworld.com/showthread.php?t=28164

Ha ha. Give us an external link, and the profane among us may click.

Fanny pack = US
Bum bag = UK

Ass / Arse - out of interest when you want to refer to a donkey in the US do you say ass or do you say donkey?


Or you could use asterisks. :)

Just thought of another two - 'minge' = slang for female genitalia. There's also 'twat' which means the same thing.

My father was raised in the U.S., but returned to Birmingham, his birthplace, when I was teenager. During a visit years ago, I was helping my youngest brother, about four at the time, get dressed. I asked him where his pants were. "Right here." I looked around, but couldn't see them.
"Right where?"
"Here."
"Where."
"Here!"
"Where?"
He threw his hands up in frustration, pointed to what he was already wearing and yelled "They're right here!"
"Um, where are your trousers?"

My mother swore frequently, which is perhaps why tend to find it distasteful. But I do say "crap" on a regular basis.

My nephew once said, "What the bunny rabbit?" instead of "What the heck?" His mother told him saying "heck" was a swearing. (She, ironically, is quite foul-mouthed.) I then explained that some words that weren't swears were still "grownup" words that he should avoid using, but saying "bunny rabbit" instead of "heck" would get him teased at best. My wife persuaded her sister her to allow "heck", "darn", "rats", etc.

And I vaguely remember being told that "spaz" was offensive when I was in elementary school in the seventies, but perhaps that's from the English side of the family. Here it was used to mean airhead, possibly an overstimulated one.

Heh heh. Just makes me laugh to hear that kind of stuff :)

Here, (those who are old enough to remember this stuff), have a chuckle at the US interpretation of the word 'fanny' ... yes, we know that word as a tame somewhat affectionate name for a vagina ... the kids today would have a different word to use ... having said that, there are dozens of alternative words and always have been and I could be wrong but they may have come here from the US (?)

Another use for 'fanny' is that is has popped up as someones name (only in the UK AFAIK) ... as in "aunt Fanny" from Enid Blyton's much loved Famous Five series ...

Over here we also have another use for the "f-word" and that is to insert it into certain words such as:

fantastic!
incredible!
outrageous!
hooray!

there are no doubt other words that have escaped me but here are the new version of the above words, once the "f-word" has been added:

fan / f-ing / tastic!
in / f-ing / credible!
out / f-ing / rageous!
hoo / f-lng / ray!

I'm not aware of this usage of the 'f-word' in the US or the UK and I'm sure I would have come across it in the various films and such that reach our shore ... ;)

Oh yes, the grammatical construction of "Tmesis" or an "infix" is well known. My favourite being:
Un--f--ing--believable!

Here's a link to "Roger's Profanisaurus", originally from the pages of Viz comic in the UK. It's an encyclopaedia of swearing, euphemisms and colloquial expressions relating to toilet and bedroom activities. Enjoy:
http://www.milkinfirst.com/dictionary/profanisaurus.htm

It's very difficult not to laugh out loud when reading through it!

You know it's suddenly occurred to me, over here in the US we have a huge mortgage broker called Fannie Mae (pronounced Fanny Mae) I suppose that title doesn't sound terribly official in Britain, eh?

Also, thanks for the warning on saying c**t which is a fairly innocuous term in the US (most people wouldn't recognize it.) I've developed a maddening habit of using it to swear under my breath (I really need to stop swearing, it can't possibly be good for my health.) Anyway, I'll try and cut that out now...

I have noticed the that F-Bomb is much worse in the US than in England. Over here in the US it is far and away the worst of all the swear words. It's stands on a plinth unto itself ;). For example, you are allowed one F-bomb per PG-13 movie. If you use it again, it's an automatic R rating. And the F-bomb is never allowed on public television...

As for the original word I was referring to, someone already said it. It's "spastic" or "spaz". In America it simply means to have too much energy, usually in the sense that it causes you to make an error. Where as in Britain (I'm told) it's a derogatory term for someone who is handicapped.

What's interesting to me is that England even has a derogatory word for a handicapped individual. In America all of the words that are considered rude that are derived from handicaps are no longer associated with said handicapped. Take "dumb" for example. If I call someone dumb I'm saying they're stupid, not that they are unable to speak. Retarded is fairly similar, with only a loose connection to it's original meaning. And both those words are quite mild on the offensive scale.

Somehow all this talk has reminded me of one time when I was talking to a friend from South Africa. I mentioned I'd heard a word in an Eddie Izzard skit and wasn't sure what it meant or if it was rude or what. I should point out, he was a fairly conservative individual, so perhaps even brining this up was a mistake, but... Anyway I ended up asking him what a "w*nk*r" was, and he turned a couple shades paler, then suddenly started laughing when he realized I had no idea what I had just said... And no, he didn't explain, I ended up having to google it.

I did find out that apparently the word is much more offensive in South Africa than it is in England. Anyone from South Africa, Australia or New Zealand? Want to tell us some good swears from there?

(PS -- I'm just glad I didn't ask him what a "pu**er" is, might have ended up even worse.)

When I think of the word puffer I just think of a puffer fish!

http://animals.nationalgeographic.co...ish-puffed.jpg

In England a 'poofter' or 'poof' is used by some people to refer to a homosexual person

Another term which people sometimes use is 'bender' (which means the same as poof / poofter) - is that term used in the US?

We have 'shirt lifter' here as well as a stream of other tags ....

I think Poof is a long forgotten word here ... it's actually a piece of furniture:

http://img.skitch.com/20101116-efykw...ieddyyfhm9.jpg

I thought that I'd never hear the word c**t on TV but I finally did hear it and I was shocked ... that's the last bastion of decorum smashed to bits ... sometimes being called a c**t isn't meant as an insult ... it can be used affectionately between folk but the people I'm talking about are what we here refer to as 'bogans' ...

It was on an ABC program so that sort of explains things ... although Chef Gordon Ramsay was broadcasted on a commercial channel ... now there's someone who needs a swear jar ;)

Our teen son regularly calls me a retard but I just let it slide as I know he is only referring to the generation/technical gap he perceives between us.

We also use 'spaz' in pretty much the same context as the US and we no longer house them in large complex/hospitals as they are now integrated into society.

Something I found really weird was that in the US the showing of the belly button on women was forbidden ... for example: 'I dream of Jeannie' .... Jeannie's belly button or navel was always covered up:

I thought this was some weird censorship from the 60's until I was watching an episode of "Burn Notice" and Fiona was wearing a bikini and I suddenly noticed that her belly button was blanked out! The woman extra/bit part, who was also in a bikini, was showing her belly button off to the world but poor Fi had to have hers smudged ...


she still looked extremely hot!


.

That would be the opposite of my experience. Everybody I know considers it the most offensive word of all, and avoid even oblique references. Recently, a friend of mine accidentally referred to it, to her deep chagrin. A group of stay-at-home parents (all moms, I'm the only dad) were getting together weekly to hang out while the kids played. At the end of one visit, one mom was walking down the street to her car, and another mom called out "See you next… " paused in embarrassment and mumbled "Tuesday."

Huh, and suddenly I wonder what sort of differences there are in swear words between different areas of the same nation!

I don't think c**t is considered a clean word over here in Utah, it's just never really used. Even by people who indulge in a lot of swearing. Maybe I just haven't heard it enough to see how people might react to it around me. I'll just start yelling it when I walk down the street and see what happens :D.

And poofer? Instead of puffer? That doesn't make much sense to me, I have to admit. I wonder if maybe poof means the same thing as puff? Oh well. Though this does remind me that I was once castigated by my grandfather for saying "that sucks". While the phrase was innocuous to me, in his mind it was an explicate reference to gay sex. I'd never really thought about it before, but I did remove the phrase from my vocabulary...

Yell that word on the street and I'll bet you'll quickly learn why even those who indulge in a lot of swearing don't use it. ;)

While living in US I did a decorations for a party for designers. They wanted to use Leonardo da Vinci's well known Vitruvian Man as stage background. To my baffelment they insisted the genitals to be wiped out. It looked pretty profane that way.

Readers interested in this thread may want to spend some time perusing the research reported in Maledicta: The International Journal of Verbal Aggression. Before clicking the link below for information, take note:

"W A R N I N G !

Caveat Lector!


This Website specializes in uncensored language research protected by the First Amendment. If you are under 21 years of age, immature, a legal scumbag, a shallow journalist, a p.c. creep, or offended by words, just go away."

http://aman.members.sonic.net/

I guess that offence, like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. If you don't take offence at it, it isn't offensive.
One of the the best pieces of advice my dad gave me at school was: "if someone is insulting you, they are probably just trying to get a reaction. The best way to get back at them is by not giving the satisfaction."

And yes, I always thought that the C word was generally far too offensive in the US. I've only heard it in three US films: Saturday Night Fever, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, and The Departed.

However, it's used on telly, late night, in the UK. If it's artistically justified!

Hey benwiggy, you're almost at 3000. Congrats. :)

I consider insults mean, whether you can take it or not. One of my quotes is: "A sense of humour is more than making a joke - it's also taking a joke."

That's one word that I tend to avoid because it can still offend many people. Other than that I tend to let fly quite liberally, especially under stress.



My first stint of factory work I found hanging with bogans to be a little on the threatening side. Once I realised that they talk to everyone like that I was less worried about getting my head kicked in and realised that that was just how they make friends. What can I say, I guess I had a sheltered upbringing.

Yeah I've had friendships where good-natured ribbing was commonplace but the trouble is you don't know people's boundaries until you've crossed them and then it can be tricky back-pedaling.

I've had that happen to me too. One of my friends keeps playing annoying jokes on me. I told him to stop, it's passed pleasantry, but he won't listen. Stepping to the next level…

Bogans are likely to be heard saying; "you silly c**t!" but it's mere playfulness on their part, nothing nasty at all. I personally would rather not hang around bogans as they just freak me out a lil'.

Speaking of bogans a friend was once saved by some AC/DC trivia. He was crossing through a park when he was confronted by a group of drunk bogans looking for a fight. When he noticed one of them wearing an acca-dacca t-shirt he quickly spouted off what he could remember about Bon Scott which got them on-side. Crisis averted they let him go.

That is funny. Here it's just another tame word for a butt. Actually the polite term for "ass".

Say what? Just so we're clear, are talking about c u n t? If so, that word is not innocuous in the US *at all*. In fact, it's pretty much a worse word to say than the F-word, anywhere I have ever lived.
Utah must really be a sheltered place.

It was the same for me in Arizona, California, Washington and Missouri. More likely the sheltered person is me. I've only heard it used once or twice, maybe. Maybe that's just because it's so offensive? The odd thing is, I wonder if the fact that it's never being used makes it become less offensive as time goes by, just because nobody has heard it to know it's offensive. To me the worst word to say has always been the F-bomb, which I've been exposed to, well, quite a bit considering the music I listen to.

Is this word ever pronounced as 'arse' in the US? That's how we use the word and the only time we'd be heard saying the 'ass' word if we were saying:

"Don't behave like an ass!"

As conflicting as it seems, I'm fairly sure we don't even use this word to describe a donkey ... ;)

Because of my family background, I hear "arse" used fairly regularly as a less vulgar (almost as mild as "heck") anatomical reference. I rarely hear it used outside of my family (or BBC America), but I've never known anybody to be unaware of the variant.In my experience, that is a donkey reference (I use "jackass" because my vocabulary is quite tame), but I don't know if that's a universal association.

Some people threaten to kick my donkey. I answer that it's as stubborn as a mule :p

Q: What do you get if your donkey eats both of my chicken's legs?


A: You get two feet of my ______ in your _____

.
Octavio Paz, the great Mexican philosopher, essayist and poet, wrote an excellent essay on this topic: What is the worst thing you can call a man (or woman) in various cultures? And what does it say about the culture? Fascinating topic!
.