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
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