frogprince, the same has occurred in Oz. There are polite circles and there ones in which we feel comfortable about expressing ourselves freely.

In Britain, to say to someone "you bastard" is the grossest of insults and I believe it is a challenge in the British military to a formal fight. In Oz it often part of a freindly greeting. This confused hell out of Pommy migrants, who often received "You old Pommy bastard" as a freindly greeting but sometimes as a pejorative. It was always in the tone of voice and the level of presumed familiarity.

Cheers, Rowan