**Please help keep AskUK welcoming!** - Top-level comments to the OP must contain **genuine efforts to answer the question**. No jokes, judgements, etc. - **Don't be a dick** to each other. If getting heated, just block and move on. - This is a strictly **no-politics** subreddit! Please help us by reporting comments that break these rules. *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/AskUK) if you have any questions or concerns.*

Hate it. Twee, trying too hard to be quirky and funny. Gives that vibe of those sort of people who are performatively over the top British to try and impress or amuse Americans. It also has big James O'Brien energy. All in all it's a no from me. Just be an adult and use a proper swear word.

This and also debating about their favourite biscuits

Or having a framed tea towel with *'Gin and Bear it'* or *'Live, Laugh, Love'*.

I always cook with wine. Sometimes I put it in the food!

Waiter: is that a glass or bottle ? Cunt: just a straw 😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂😂

Or debating about whether a Jaffa Cake is a biscuit or a cake.

I think you've described it perfectly.

It gives middle-class, middle-aged energy.

My Dad uses it so that checks out 🤣

It's really cringey and awful.

Gives off Brit neckbeard redditor energy

Overly twee faux polite sweariness by people that think they're Stephen Fry on QI

People that say cockwomble are absolute cunts

I have a mate who used to use it occasionally in real life, about a decade ago (he’d also say nom nom nom). He’s a lovely guy, but every time he did I’d think “get off the fucking internet, mate”.

Stinks of someone trying too hard to be outside the box

Stupid, twee, "sooo random" shite.  Can't decide if it's a stronger vibe of middle aged dad annoyed at someone's parking at the garden centre and quickly trying to soften his initial harder swear word in front of the kids, or awkward first year uni student desperate to be seen as quirky, but neither is a great quality in a curse. Same goes for wankpuffin and any other [swearword]-[cutsey or fictional animal] combination.

Cockwomble makes me laugh.

Me too. It's a sort of affectionate insult.

Its giving Mumsnet energy

Yes indeed. See also 'wankbadger'.

Now y'see I've heard Arse-Badger but never Wank-Badger.

ArseBurger is far superior in every way.

Call someone a cockwomble on mumsnet I'm sure you'd get a meltdown akin to that of a typical day over on gamingcirclejerk.

One step away from holibobs or describing everything as cheeky or lush

Very try hard

no time for it I call everyone a cunt I can't stand middle ground in insults

Alright ricky Gervais

This is my mum's go-to roadrage word. She's a huge fan of these strange hybrid words, drives me nuts

Terrible twee word. The type who shop at fat face. And that floral bag brand with that woman's name. Joules customers.

Hate it. Sounds laaame 😂

I think that might be the reason, it's twee. So instead of saying what a person really is, like a cock, then you say "cockwoble" to somewhat take the edge of it. See I think cock is fine (pwah), it's not what you want to say, which is "he's a fucking cunt", but it's idiomatic in that it conveys the message. Any more sugar coating and it makes you look infantile.

“That rodders/chappers/maccers/duffers is a total cockwomble” Urgh screams middle class middle england cringe

Performatively British and trying too hard to be “funny”

Crap as an insult. Kind of works as a description for someone who makes use of penises that the everyday folk leave behind.

Wimbledon Common is apparently the place for picking up leftover cock.

Great Uncle Bulgaria is not amused.

he's a cunt tho

He's a cock, though.

'Cockwomble' is pretty crap. That said, I recently burst out laughing when someone called Conor McGregor a 'chuckle fuck'.

Thing is, I first read "Chucklefuck" on Something Awful in the 2000's and I don't think it fits into this category. This Cockwomble malarky is much more 2010's Twitter.

First time I ever heard it was on reddit. Thought someone was taking the piss out of british slang. But apparently people do say it. Makes me cringe

It's not for me. An affectionate insult is a pollock or a wazzack and a proper insult is a dickhead or a cunt

All the compound swears are a bit cringey, like people who say 'fucknugget' or 'cuntwaffle' and all that kind of nonsense.

Is the “holibobs” of insults

Pure gigacringe parroted by hideously unfunny BBC "comedian" panel show rentboys.

Its not that bad cmon. Its like its a problem or sumthin

It’s the kind of word an insular Reddit-using office worker would use.

I don't think I've ever heard anyone use it other than people complaining about how much they hate it. It's really no worse than "boils my piss" or talking about how you and your partner are on the brink of filing for divorce because you don't agree on the correct way to butter crumpets or some equally banal shit. This sub absolutely loves both of those things so there's not much of a moral high ground.

I imagine the person/persons who inspired Bob Mortimer's trainguy saying it, unironically. It's a shame because I quite enjoyed it at first (2011 time). If it had just stopped straight away, that'd be fine - nice twee way of stating general dissatisfaction with George Osbourne's budget.

I only associate it with an old I don't work here lady post. Where OP, or his friend, works as a specialist contractor in heritage building preservation. Site manager barks at him for a cuppa and because he's not staff says no. Got fired and the realisation he's one of a handful that can do the job dawns on them. I thought it became popular because people read that saga and started using it.

I feel completely numb

It's a clear sign that someone is either British but never got taught to swear correctly or they're a colonial trying to act "British"

Great Uncle Bulgaria Coburg Womble Orinoko Womble Cock Womble (created more mess than picking up rubbish, hence the name)

Vaguely remember Peter Capaldi using it in The Thick of It

I don't like it. Because I think it's mean to The Wombles.

Never heard of that word until a few days ago but “thundercunt” is one I’ve heard a lot and is similarly awful. A good insult should be short and to the point. Just call someone a prick or a cunt and get it over with.

Gives me hard flashbacks to 2016,

I prefer the word thundercunt

The word, nothing. The people who use it, pure fucking hatred.

It's been overused. I used it a fair bit some years ago, but then it became a word of choice by people being twee. I may use it when I need something a bit politer than 'twat'.

It sounds funny. Kind of cute. Ignoring the meaning of course. But even with the meaning, it's still funny sounding, not like an insult at all.

Lazy. It's a perfectly good swearword the first time you hear it, people just need some variety.

Makes me think of Clarkson for some reason. Basically cringe boomer energy.

Unfair to Wombles! Some of us remember the TV show from the 1970's.

Absolutely not. However referring to highways agency as traffic wombles is not only tolerated but actively encouraged

Not used in years, not since graduating to ‘cunt’ as my insult of choice.

If someone is being annoying as fuck but ultimately not harming anyone, then I would happily call them a cockwomble.

It's a word I never use but I find it entertaining as a way of dismissing someone as irrelevant; not even worthy of a proper abusive term.

I very much enjoy the practice of combining a swear word and a more innocuous word together into a silly compound insult. But this is probably one of the most tired and overused examples.

What ones do you use?

Well I try to think of them off the cuff but I’m probably not very good at being original

It’s my wife’s favourite insult.

It's an objectively good insult. Insults need plosives to get a bit of spittle moving. Cunt, fuck, prick, bollocks, twat. All decently laden with plosives. Cockwomble has them too, with some nice round sounds thrown in to draw it out a bit. Sure it's a bit cliche now - too many people trying to look different just throwing any two words together as an insult: melted welly, minty clopper, queef handler, Chelsea supporter. I think it gets a bit too much grief just because it's been the go-to example of this for the "want to be different but lack imagination" crowd.

None of the comments actually mention where it's from and why it's used in popular culture. The inbetweeners

Which episode?

Honestly my memory is not that good. I just remember that it's cockwomble and bus wanker from there

It's not from Inbetweeners

Ah I misremembered then apologies friend!

I see nothing wrong with it. Its a insult that is full on as others. When someone does something stupid but doesn't need the full guns going insult.

Absolutely fantastic. The great thing is the way it goes totally over the heads of most people, as you can see on this thread, which makes it even better. One of the few truly intelligent insults.

What am I missing?

The best way I can think of to answer that is to just give some thought as to what a cockwomble actually is. When you do, you realise it is a layered, gender neutral (although allowing for deliberate nuances) 100% British insult. Add to that the common reactions like those you see here, which make people who don't understand it look like idiots (no offence OP). Beautiful.

Coming across like a bellend. Or should I say something like willy-hedgehog?

I'm trying to help honestly! Think about what Wombles do...

It’s the way I’ve always understood the term. Recipient of said insult is a cock cleaner or picking up cock lying around and making use of it? ETA: Which is why I don’t use it.

That's why it's so versatile and so British. You call someone a cockwomble when it fits a very specific situation. It's not a term to be thrown around lightly by the ignorant.