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BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Little Hawk Date: 30 Nov 09 - 10:23 PM 100!!!!!!!!!! Ah, that felt good... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: MGM·Lion Date: 30 Nov 09 - 09:06 PM Quite, Rowan. But my point was that 'twit' & 'twerp' HAD been current in 40s Britain, but had gone well out of style, as slang will, by the 60s, however much they had persisted in Oz. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Rowan Date: 30 Nov 09 - 08:23 PM 'Twerp' & 'twit' seemed slow migrating to Oz if they were current there in 60s, as stated above. I remember them here in England from 1940 Rich-joy commented on their currency, rather than their onset, in the OZ 60s; I recall them both being current in Melbourne in the 40s but perhaps the circles I moved in were more vulgar than hers. "Nong" was also current around me at that time and occasionally applied to me by my father, who wanted me to be less bookish and more "hands on" in the ways he was. I don't recall hearing "dickhead" before the 60s but when it appeared it was accompanied (in more polite conversation) by Richard Cranium. Cheers, Rowan |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Little Hawk Date: 30 Nov 09 - 05:31 PM How about "twaddler", "shuffler", and "fetcher"? I like those. They imply a great deal in a brief and effective fashion. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: michaelr Date: 30 Nov 09 - 04:17 PM For far-fetched insults, none can beat The Bard. I was given a pack of Shakespeare playing cards, each of which bears an elaborate insult from one of his works. Example: You are one that converses more with the buttock of the night than with the forehead of the morning. Cheers, Michael |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Doug Chadwick Date: 30 Nov 09 - 02:27 AM One that I always likes is "you silly great barmpot" for someone acting in a ridiculous, foolish manner. I don't use it myself, nor do I know anybody who does, so I don't when where I got it from. Perhaps I've been watching too much "Last of the Summer Wine". For me it sits up there alongside "Wazzock" DC |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: MGM·Lion Date: 30 Nov 09 - 12:55 AM 'Twerp' & 'twit' seemed slow migrating to Oz if they were current there in 60s, as stated above. I remember them here in England from 1940 — I have a vivid memory of having been denounced as both by team-mates for an inadvertent handball during a game of football when I was 8 years old in Worthing (also, simultaneously, 'flop'). I can date this so precisely because it was during my first couple of days at Goring Hall School. Funny the discrete & trivial experiences that one's memory randomly stores. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: rich-joy Date: 29 Nov 09 - 11:25 PM re Amos' comments on Nov 20th re "no problem " instead of "you're welcome" : It's taking over Down Under too : this "No probs / not a problem / no problem". We used to say "No Wurries"(Worries), or alternatively, "She's right, mate" .... "Dickhead" has long been a very common descriptor in Oz (er .... does that mean we have a lot of them?!). ... and to a lesser extent, "Knobhead". "Bloody Nong" used to be common in the 50s. Then "you little Twerp" and "Twit" were popular in the 60s. "Piehead" and "Pillock" also. "You bloody sod" I think goes back to at least WWII .... "Fishbrain" or "Fishwit" seem to have been taken over by "Dickbrain" and "Fuckwit" - or perhaps it's just the circles I move in?? :~) Slight thread creep here, but I hafta say how much my partner and I hate "Buddy" : it's OK for Nth Americans, and it's OK for Scuba Divers, but to be called Buddy in Oz reeeeeally grates!!! Cheers! R-J |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: scouse Date: 29 Nov 09 - 06:04 AM One I remember was "Your a Twollop" I'm a Scouser but I don't think it's scouse!! Any Helpers!! As Aye, Phil. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: VirginiaTam Date: 29 Nov 09 - 04:59 AM bugly - butt ugly fugly - fucking ugly fingugly - same as previous |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Bryn Pugh Date: 26 Nov 09 - 04:40 AM One from when I was about 17 : "Trouble wi' 'im, 'e thinks 'is arse'ole's a perfume factory". |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: VirginiaTam Date: 25 Nov 09 - 05:16 PM OMG - just looked up asshat Head so far up own ass you are wearing your ass as a hat. God I am exactly the Goober that my daughters called me. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: VirginiaTam Date: 25 Nov 09 - 04:31 PM dingleberry don't ask... it's disgusting asshat often used by my daughters about stupid guys |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Dave the Gnome Date: 25 Nov 09 - 02:43 PM Funny old thing, regional variations, aren't they? Anyone read Bill Brysons 'Mother Togue'? He makes the point, as an American living a lot of the time in England, that for all Britain is tiny compared to the US, the variations in dialects are vast. One very interesting (well, to us triva nerds) point was the use of 'twenty one' and 'one and twenty'. Aparently, up the east side of England from Suffolk to Yorkshire it changges every twenty miles. I have never come across it but I have no reason to disbelieve the esteemed Mr. B. The transfer of mard from being in a strop to being soft is an odd one indeed. Bearing in mind that a lot of people around my area (Salford, Lancs) cane from the midlands during a miners strike you would have thought that it would have carried the meaning. Maybe it was purposely corrupted. My Grandad, refered to anyone foppish (such as me in my teen years!) by saying 'Thi favvors a Staffurdshur mon'. So he saw anyone from Staffordshire as soft, even though his granparents came up in the same migration. Maybe the word was picked up by local Lancastrians and used to taunt the strike-breakers? Wonder if the same is true in Yorkshire? Isn't language wonderful and long may it be so varied:-) DeG |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Crow Sister (off with the fairies) Date: 25 Nov 09 - 12:51 PM "Twonk" "Banana" "Ninny" I use all of these quite frequently. "Mardy" is definitely grumpy. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: GUEST,Steamin' WIllie Date: 25 Nov 09 - 12:47 PM I was brought up knowing what Mardy meant, and it was in common use. I moved all of 8 miles and when my sons were at school, they were accustomed to hearing Manny instead, meaning the same. I did write a topical parody once many years ago with mardy in it, but be buggered if I remember what, where, why. I do recall performing it at the time at The Boundary, Worksop though. Ridiculous terms of abuse? I remember Tony Capstick having the BBC in a tizz when they wanted him to perform on Top of the Pops and they had issues with the word Wassock. My favourites have always been Breadhead, duckspunk, Tha's like a one legged bloke at an arse kicking content and that old favourite, Miss Great Britain 1924. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Ruth Archer Date: 25 Nov 09 - 10:59 AM DeG, I think the Arctic Monkeys' lyrics refer to being in a strop, not soft. That's certainly how it was used by my Brummie in-laws: my daughter was often said to be "in a mard". |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: GUEST,seth in Olympia Date: 25 Nov 09 - 10:06 AM From the same daughter that gave us " dickhead", " dillhole". No idea as to the exact meaning, except that it's not good. " Dillhole" can be used in a teasing/affectionate way with someone you are close to. "Dickhead" by contrast, is only used in a pejorative, dismissive way about a third party, not in the room, who has proven untrustworthy and/or stubborn and difficult to deal with. seth |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Dave the Gnome Date: 25 Nov 09 - 06:49 AM Similar in Lancashire, as I said before. Mard=soft. To be super mard is to be nesh:-) DeG |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Ruth Archer Date: 25 Nov 09 - 05:12 AM "'Mardy' in Yorkshire is used by children to children who cry easily, want things their own way, won't share or join in. "Mardy bum, Mardy bum, tell your mother to smack your bum" was our 1950s taunt." For a contextualisation of "mardy" and "mardy bum", I refer you to the following highly reliable source. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you Yorkshire's own Arctic Monkeys: Mardy Bum And for those who don't speak Sheffield (especially the Americans contributing to the thread, or southerners), here is a translation: Well now then Mardy Bum I've seen your frown And it's like looking down the barrel of a gun And it goes off And out come all these words Oh there's a very pleasant side to you A side I much prefer It's one that laughs and jokes around Remember cuddles in the kitchen Yeah, to get things off the ground And it was up, up and away Oh, but it's right hard to remember that On a day like today when you're all argumentative And you've got the face on Well now then Mardy Bum Oh I'm in trouble again, aren't I I thought as much Cause you turned over there Pulling that silent disappointment face The one that I can't bear Why can't we just laugh and joke around Remember cuddles in the kitchen Yeah, to get things off the ground And it was up, up and away Oh, but it's right hard to remember that On a day like today when you're all argumentative And you've got the face on And yeah I'm sorry I was late but I missed the train And then the traffic was a state And I can't be arsed to carry on in this debate That reoccurs, oh when you say I don't care but of course I do, yeah I clearly do! So laugh and joke around Remember cuddles in the kitchen Yeah, to get things off the ground And it was up, up and away Oh, but it's right hard to remember that On a day like today when you're all argumentative And you've got the face on |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: GUEST,Bob L Date: 25 Nov 09 - 03:24 AM To answer Gurney, "The Bee's Knees" = "The Business" in cod Italian. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: GUEST,Charmion's brother Andrew Date: 24 Nov 09 - 10:18 PM You must mean, "You're all hunched over like a bear-cub fucking a football."-- Ed Dobson, late of the Canadian Airborne Regiment, 1977 |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: GUEST,seth in Olympia Date: 24 Nov 09 - 09:38 PM To call someone a "dickhead" has been current in the Pacific Northwest since I first heard my daughter use it to describe an unpleasant person in about 1984. Wasn't used growing up in the 1950's midwest. Still very common, especially if you are under thirty seth |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Eric the Viking Date: 24 Nov 09 - 07:03 PM He's got eyes like battling dogs bollocks...was a favourite of a good friend. My mum used to say, "They think their shit don't stink". In the 70's calling someone, Mazda= thick. (Cos Mazda lamps stay brighter longer...so said the advert) In the 80's a "Slaphead"= thick, sort of chavish (they hadn't been invented then but...) You know when you slap yer head and go Doooh! He's got his thumb up his arse! (Slow) And (truthfully not by me) "Eh you, fishbox fanny". To certain girls. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: GUEST,Bert Date: 24 Nov 09 - 06:42 PM My Grandma from the East End of London would say. Daft as arseholes and twice as nasty. Wouldn't know his prick from his thumb if it didn't have a nail on it. Pozzy arsed bastard. Looks like a bundle of arseholes tied up ugly. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Midchuck Date: 23 Nov 09 - 07:12 PM One should always keep one's ear cocked in the presence of sergeants-major, one never knows what novel abuse they will coin. While in recruit traning, working on the manual of arms, I heard our drill instructor tell one of the troops that he was handling his rifle "like a monkey screwing a football." I've used that line many times since. (He was, of course, referring to an American football. A soccer ball would still be funny, but not as much, I think.) Peter |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Dave MacKenzie Date: 23 Nov 09 - 05:17 PM From my childhood In Edinburgh, the ultimate insult was to call someone English. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Amos Date: 23 Nov 09 - 04:50 PM I am partial to some of the Mexican insults we pick up here in the SW US, including calling someone a pendejo or conjo, or a cabron. (Respectively, a pubic hair, a female pudendum, and a goat). They are also liberal with smirches on one's immediate ancestry, as in hijo de puta (son of a bitch, or of a whore) or maricón - homosexual, a particularly strong insult in the land of macho. A few other choice expressions: Tu eres más feo que el culo de un mono - You are uglier than the butt of a monkey Tu hermano no tiene la ingle - Your brother has no groin Tu madre es muy gato y feo - Your mother is fat and ugly. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Doug Chadwick Date: 23 Nov 09 - 02:53 PM What is the background of 'If you can't fight, wear a big hat'? The way I've always taken it is :- try to look tough, even if you're not. You get insects that have the same sort of stripes as wasps but can't sting. It's a good defence so long as what is trying to eat you thinks that you can sting them. A big hat will make you look taller than you are. DC |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Martin Harwood Date: 23 Nov 09 - 12:20 PM From childhood in Edinburgh: "May yer next shite be a hedgehog" "bam-heid" and if some one's in a bad mood (or a "raj") "who shat in your cornflakes?" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Dave the Gnome Date: 23 Nov 09 - 10:29 AM Just had a rethink - Maybe from earler that the plain WW1 uniforms - Did the Generals wear big hats while sat commanding the troops from the rear? DeG |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Dave the Gnome Date: 23 Nov 09 - 10:13 AM What is the background of 'If you can't fight, wear a big hat'? I heard it years ago in the Mancheter area as well and never understood it. Something to do with one of the big wars? DeG |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Spleen Cringe Date: 23 Nov 09 - 08:08 AM I think this one is from North Staffordshire (at least the person I know who uses it is). For someone or something useless: neither feather nor arse nor hole-in-the-ground. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: GUEST,Charmion's brother Andrew Date: 23 Nov 09 - 07:59 AM One should always keep one's ear cocked in the presence of sergeants-major, one never knows what novel abuse they will coin. Our BSM was passing on instructions to the NCOs near the battery kitchen one day late in 1976. Wanting some coffee and realizing he was without cup, he turned to Hutchison, the battery clerk, and instructed him to retrieve it. Hutchison hiked off to the wagon lines, whence we heard the burping and farting of the BSM's ancient 3/4 ton truck "Sadie" firing up. Hutchison faithfully followed the track plan, eventually arriving in Sadie at the battery kitchen. When he halted, the BSM could be heard bellowing, even at the far end of the gun line, "You saucer-headed c*******er, I told you to bring me my cup and you brought me my truck. You ****ing saucer-head!" And so "saucer-head" passed into battery, then unit, then regimental parlance, and is still occasionally used on people with apparently vacant brain pans anywhere in the Canadian artillery. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Gurney Date: 22 Nov 09 - 11:01 PM Must have been a wild one in her day, Cuilionn. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Cuilionn Date: 22 Nov 09 - 08:32 PM Heard from an elderly (lady?) my partner was transporting to a doctor's appointment last week: "He's so full of himself, he thinks he's King Sh*t from Turd Harbour." The previous week, during a similar errand, the same client described herself as having been, "busier than a three-balled tom in a cathouse." I'm beginning to think my partner takes on these jobs just to hear what this wild old woman might say next... |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Gurney Date: 21 Nov 09 - 10:51 PM Steve, if you look at it from the point of view of the dog, washing them, it makes sense! Helps if you've owned a dog. Likewise, as Tanglewood says, the cat's whiskers. I've never worked out 'the bee's knees.' They just carry pollen there. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Tangledwood Date: 21 Nov 09 - 06:49 PM I assumed it followed the intent of "the cat's whiskers" or "the bee's knees", importing different parts of the anatomy. Tug the Cox - Thanks for the reassurance! :) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Steve Shaw Date: 21 Nov 09 - 06:28 PM Can anyone explain to me how the ostensibly insulting expression "he's the dog's bollocks" has come to mean entirely the opposite of what one might suspect? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Joe_F Date: 21 Nov 09 - 06:05 PM You're a wit and a half, you are. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Jim Carroll Date: 21 Nov 09 - 12:15 PM Another Liverpool saying comes to mind; "If you can't fight, wear a big hat". Thanks for the reminder Virginia. Or; "tuppence trying to look over threepence". Jim Carroll |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: VirginiaTam Date: 21 Nov 09 - 11:21 AM I use the term little man in a big hat for male managers evidencing Bonaparte syndrome. For women showing same, I just call 'em "bitch." Takes one to know one. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Jim Carroll Date: 21 Nov 09 - 11:00 AM Thanks for that David. In Ireland, the term 'hoore' is sexless and can be used as a term of admiration as well as abuse. The late Taoiseach (Prime Minister) Charles Haughey, is still referred to as 'a cute hoore' in recognition of his skill at dodging corruption charges, for which he would almost certainly have been found guilty. The term is often applied to localities, 'a cute Cork hoore' probably being the most common. Jim Carroll |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Amos Date: 21 Nov 09 - 10:14 AM "All hat, and no cattle" for pretentious self-aggrandizers. A |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Uncle_DaveO Date: 21 Nov 09 - 10:10 AM 'swine's melt' Hog melts are boar's testicles, sort of an equivalent of "Rocky Mountain Oysters". I used to see them in meat shops in what I like to call "neighborhoods no longer in fashion". Maybe to this day, I don't know. I don't know if hog melts are inspected meats any more. If not, they would seldom be available in commercial meat markets. No reference to whores necessary here, and they wouldn't have them anyway. Dave Oesterreich |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Jim Carroll Date: 21 Nov 09 - 09:05 AM Mystery solved; I had searched the English slang dictionaries, completely neglecting to take into account my Irish ancestry. This s from Bernard Share's 'Slanguage' Jim Carroll Hoor's/whore's/whoor's melt [n. phr., hoor implying female + melt 2. Complete mess, as in make a hoor's melt of [vb. phr.]. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: VirginiaTam Date: 21 Nov 09 - 07:39 AM Oh and that definition alone might make this thread eligible for above the line. ;~) |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: VirginiaTam Date: 21 Nov 09 - 07:38 AM 'Tosser', for your info, = 'wanker', which = masturbator Either I have been misinformed or that is the current common meaning. I have discovered that tosser might be drunkard and derivative of toss pot, which was the ceramic mug in which beer was served. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: Doug Chadwick Date: 21 Nov 09 - 05:46 AM One of the common terms of abuse in the Liverpool of my youth (including members of my family) was to call somebody a 'swine's melt I was born and brought up in Liverpool and it wasn't common enough for me to have heard it. In fact, I can safely say that I've never heard it anywhere before reading it here. DC |
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Subject: RE: BS: Ridiculous terms of abuse From: MGM·Lion Date: 21 Nov 09 - 03:02 AM ... tho it is my impression that 'jerk' has emerged more into mainstream than 'tosser'. Until recently, 'tosser' would not have been usable in society [probably still isn't, in fact]; whereas "what a jerk!" seems to me the sort of thing one might even have heard in 1930-40s movies — something William Bendix might have said in one of the McGehrins·From·Brooklyn films, e.g: presumably the Hays Office being too ingenuous & innocent to recognise its true origin? |
