Proliferation of Profanity in the UK

 

proliferation - noun- rapid increase in numbers (Oxford Language)

I am a britophile, meaning someone who admires the Brits: their culture, people, and traditions. Although the term is fairly new, my appreciation for the U.K. dates back to when I was five, listening to The Beatles on AM radio, dragging my poor father to the movie theater only to lose part of his hearing while hundreds of screaming young fans obfuscated the soundtrack of "A Hard Day's Night." When I could hear the boys' voices over the din, I fell in love with the fab four's British accents and use of foreign slang terms that I couldn't understand at all, and neither could my dad. 

Yet it wasn't until fairly recently that I discovered that the Brits have a proliferation of terms, so many slang expressions and around fifty swearwords, a much more generous selection than we do here in the U.S., we who tend to use "fuck" and "shit" way too frequently that they have lost their verve. The following list includes some of the terms that you may find memorable enough to want to use in place of the aforementioned and other American derogatory ditties if only just to irritate your friends who have never been out of the country. Use only when you want a laugh or some kind of attention. Most of these are considered more or less mild slang in the UK.

1. arse -n. - a variation of ass.

2. bell - n. - the head of the penis, used to mean fool.

3. blighter - n. - a contemptible person.

4. bollocks - n. - testicles, used to mean nonsense as in "Oh, bollocks!"

5. cack - n. - shit.

6. cock-up - n. - a screw up

7. cunt - n. - vagina, unpleasant or stupid person. Here it is verboten; over there, it is used as commonly as "fuck" is here. In short, it is a synonym for the American "fuck-up." 

8.  git - n. - basic Brit slang for the person who has just shown you up in some way.

9. knobhead - n. - a milder variation of bell, used in place of dick.

10. minging - adj. - foul, disgusting.

11. pillock - n. - nutcase

12. rotter - n. - person to be thought as as disgusting.

13. shite - n. - variation of shit (that's two words for shit already).

14. shag - v. - to fornicate, fuck, forbidden term among those with class, especially in England (but profane Hollywood included it in a movie title years ago as in "The Spy Who Shagged Me.")

14. taking the piss - making fun of.

15. twat - n. - mild synonym for vagina; idiot 

16. wanker - n. - someone who masturbates. (This one comes up a lot in British films.)

The above represents a small sample of British negative terms that can be useful in certain situations although I personally tend to prefer kindness to insults, but if you are angry and want to insult your antagonist (an American) without that person retaliating, try on one or two for size just to see what happens. Don't use cunt, though. Try "See you next Tuesday," the classy, near acronym. We all know what it means. Most likely the person might ask, "What did you say?" and your response might be "Nothing," but you'll walk away feeling like you just won a battle. 

(Thanks to Buzzfeed.com for the terms and their meanings).

#British profanity, #britophile, #personal essay, #blog, #blogger 

"Love Is Blind" and International Millennials

 

blind - adj. - having little or no usable vision; done without being able to see or without being in possession of certain information (Oxford Languages)

For the past two weeks, I have been recovering from minor surgery, which has left me bedridden and therefore vulnerable to binge watching TV series. Although I am not one to go for reality television and don't have an addictive personality, I have been finding Netflix's "Love Is Blind" (U.S., U.K. and France) to be a consuming, guilty pleasure (or displeasure depending on the circumstances). It may be because I am a sucker for a solid sociological experiment that involves romance. In case you have been avoiding this popular series, the premise involves matching up couples, sight unseen, not entirely unlike "The Dating Game" of the 1970s. The participants (most between the ages of 29-39) meet in pods connected via a wall, so the only way they can get to know each other is via conversation for ten days initially. As the pool of eligible singles diminishes, the time allotted increases to nineteen to twenty hours. The total time amounts to about ten days, comparable to months of dating in the real world. If the couples fall in love blindly, there is a proposal at which point they are released from the pods to meet in reality. Because the majority of the contestants are easy on the eye, no one that I have witnessed has balked at the point of revelation. To make a somewhat long summary a bit shorter, the now engaged couples are then whisked off to a romantic, tropical destination where they can get to know each other more intimately (meaning physically). If they survive this, they return to civilization to live together for about month before they actually marry formally. The clincher is that each has the ability to decline the offer at the alter, and many do. Perhaps an equal amount of the women and men have refused the prospect of a life-long commitment right at the very last minute, providing a significant amount of suspense, hence, the draw for most viewers. Bets are placed as to who will take the initial plunge, and if they do, who will survive the first year of marriage. The final episode shot a year later is a reunion of the couples. At this point, the viewers can collect on their bets as all reveal whether or not they are still together. 

The takeaway for me has been educational in terms of who Millennials are and how they love. I have studied all three versions of the series filmed respectively in the US, UK, and France. I was surprised at what may be considered to be "cultural differences." The American singles (Season 9: Denver) were rather stereotypically unpolished: bawdy (blatantly profane), bold (the women were not shy about reveling their breasts and jumping into bed with their men), big (some of the women were generously curvy) and maudlin. Most were tattooed. On the other hand, the Brits and French were somewhat more reserved in terms of their dress and physical appearance overall, word choice, sense of humor, and willingness to share sexual experiences. In all three series, the occupations varied tremendously across the board, but the American women placed the most emphasis on socio-economic status. The polite Brits and analytical French were blind to racial differences, probably because both countries have always had ties to other countries via the colonialism of the past. The crew from Colorado was mainly white. 

After watching all three, I found that very few of the couples that married remained together after a year or more. For example at present, after two seasons of the UK version, only three out of twelve potential marriages remain in tact (25%). The percentage is lower for the Americans. Out of nine seasons and a potential of 54 marriages, only nine couples are still together or roughly 16%. Love is definitely not blind. What kept the couples in all three nations from concentrating on what they found lovable as blind seekers in the pods was for the men, a hesitance to compromise and commit thoroughly, and for the women, unrealistically high expectations and lack of empathy. Out of the three, the Americans were the most immature (a few were Gen Z), which is mainly why none in Season 9 were able to say yes at the alter. All of the reunion shows enabled the couples to reflect back on their strengths and weaknesses. All walked away carrying valuable baggage: experience navigating romantic relationships.

What I learned as a viewer is that human beings need more than the ability to have lively conversations in order to cohabitate. True love has to be blind to an extent. Couples need not be afraid to accept each other at face value and be a bit more selfless so that compromise is possible. 

#Love Is Blind, #society, #love relationships, #reality series, #blog, #personal essay

 

An Abbreviated Age

 

abbreviation - noun - shortened form of a word or phrase (Oxford Languages)

"BTW, LMK if you'd like to catch lunch ASAP. LOL!" is a quote I might see in a text from a much younger friend. If you are finding yourself running to a laptop to look up the meanings of abbreviations, don't be embarrassed. At one time, I did as well. And I still do.

I realize the language is forever in flux, but are abbreviations replacing words because technology has brought out our inner indolence? Yup. It certainly seems that way to me. Seriously, when I was a kid, I don't recall hearing many abbreviations. Maybe a few acronyms like SCUBA, but I can't really say. It is as though we have created a code that only people who have smart phones can interpret. But doesn't everyone have a smart phone? No. According to Consumer Affairs, eight percent of Americans (28 million) don't own a smart phone. Which is hard to believe.

Maybe texting via smart phones doesn't have as much to do with the transition either. More and more abbreviations are showing up in everyday speech. The other day, I caught lunch with three friends of mine who happen to be involved in the Hollywood movie industry. Other than CGI (computer generated imagery) and SAG (Screen Actors Guild), I couldn't pick up on the meanings of any of the other abbreviations that came up during the conversation: PA (principal actor), BGP (background performer), and SI (stand-in). Rather than interrupt the flow to ask for clarification, my pride demanded that I remain ignorant so that I missed out on the gist of what they were saying the moment that they were saying it. Oh, well. 

Sometimes I feel as though the abbreviations are germinating as rapidly as weeds. Pretty soon, we will have invented a vocabulary composed primarily of them. Yikes! I'd better get cracking and learn the common ones, such as:

The two biggies in the news:

DEI - popular - diversity, equity and inclusion - featured in a Times op ed, how Trump has shuttered advances in civil rights

ICE - Immigration and Customs Enforcement

as well as these gems that have found themselves into oral verbiage:

BRB: Be right back (My daughter uses this one all of the time.)

IDK: I don't know.

TMI: Too much information (This is my personal favorite.)

ICYMI: In case you missed it

IMO: In my opinion

NVM: Never mind

TTYL: Talk to you later

OMG: Oh, my gosh 

OMW: On my way

K: okay

As for these and other abbreviations, OMG, if you have FOMO (fear of missing out), just remember YOLO (you only live once), but there are some individuals who might argue with you about that. Personally, I'd rather stick with words as I don't wish to be misinterpreted. And you?

#abbreviations, #personal essay, #society, #blog, #blogger