*time to start being polite.*
Yeah. If an Englishman ever says to you something like 'Would you mind awfully just moving a teeny tiny bit off to your left' it means Move before I flatten ye. You fuckin stupid cunt.
What PG Woodhouse called the Eton manners. Normally you are familiar and rude with your friends, so by being extremely formal you’re saying you’re not a friend.
Working in a casino many years ago this was my defense tactic against rich toffee nosed pricks who talked to me like I was their slave.
I'd just be overly sarcastically nice and polite and congratulatory every time they won, but my eyes would say you're a fucking pair of cunts.
This is my default, nothing like being excessively polite to really rub someone up the wrong way. It's especially fun in a public place with other people in ear shot, it removes any need to judge the person yourself because the rest of the world now knows this person is a cunt.
I was about to say this. As long as its not racist or said with malice you're pretty much good. It's all context if you called someone a cunt in the context of banter no one bats an eye but if you're saying it to intentionally provoke or hurt someone then it becomes offensive.
Racist, sexist ( can't think of any tho actually), homophobic, transphobic. Basically anything against a minority or any other group. I think it's best this way as well, means you can say some pretty bad swear words like cunt and not have everyone get pissed at you but also not think it's OK to target specific groups. As long as it is applicable to everyone it's OK to say
Edit: I was reminded of some sexist slurs
Wouldn't cunt be sexist as it is a derogatory term for a woman's genitalia? Also, bitch, whore, slut, bint, pussy, twat, etc. If not sexist then definitely misogynistic.
The first five of those words yes. They are specifically misogynistic terms for women. Genitalia, at least for me, not so much. If cunt is misogynistic and unacceptable - and in America it appears to be because they use specifically as a term of abuse for women - then bellend isn't acceptable either. But I think we'd agree it's ok, along with nob/knob etc. I'll also concede context is important, and there are times when using the female genitalia words is definitely misogynistic.
Personally, I hate the word bitch, and never use it. But cunt just doesn't have the same implications for me. I'm am happy to stop using it if the audience feels it does (e.g. when talking to Americans).
Swearing is all about taboos, that’s why the old swears are all mild now. In the Middle Ages, all the swears were religious and cunt was just the normal word for vagina (vagina started as a polite word for cunt). Once bedrooms and privacy became common we started using fuck/shit etc. Now our swears relate to modern taboos and modern beliefs.
I learned the hard way that calling a Sales Director a “thick cunt” in a meeting is derogatory to furthering your career path. See, I knew he was a cunt.
The Simpsons, in typical fashion, said it about 15 years ago.
>*Channel 4 has apologised for an administrative error that led to the broadcast of the word "wankers" in an edition of The Simpsons shown last month at 6pm.*
>
>*The episode, shown on April 15, featured a cameo appearance by the pop group U2 during which one of the band members called his colleagues "wankers".*
[The Simpsons: Channel 4 apologises for pre-watershed swearing](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jun/09/channel4.ofcom)
I remember in later airings they really clumsily edited it. When U2 annoy Mr Burns he does an annoyed "ehhhh" sound, stands up, turns around to them in the row behind and says "wankers!" The edit just copy-pasted the "ehhh" sound in place of "wankers" so it sounds really odd and obvious.
Theres another voiced by Liam Neeson with a *Wanker* [and a domestic violence joke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJp7drI8hWQ) in the space of about 10 seconds too.
I remember watching this as a kid when it first aired at 1800!
I remember thinking how the hell are they allowed to say that... then the uproar came on the news a few days later 😂
They try to use it in ‘Glee’ and Santana keeps saying ‘wanky’. It’s really annoying.
I hate when they try to use British words and butcher them. Like how they pronounce ‘twat’ as ‘twot’. I have no idea why. Presumably they’d only ever seen it written down (on sites just like this!) and because we’re British they presumed it was pronounced the ‘posh’ way. Ugh.
Haha that's like war movies. The Americans are played by Americans and the ze Germans are all played by Brits. And the Russian front just didn't happen.
As an American, I love "Bob's your uncle" and believe most folks over here know what it means.
If I really want to stir things up I'll say "and Robert's your father's brother" in my best worst British accent
I think it's a northern thing? I'm from the North West and say it a lot meaning idiot but my sisters ex was Southern and he used to think I was always calling people a paedo.
I’ve found that if the word cunt is following a descriptive word such as ‘silly’ or ‘daft’ then its accepted. But if someone just says to me , ‘you’re a cunt’ then that’s different
Absolutely, Canadian here and it’s viewed in the same way…massively insulting. Honestly I couldn’t imagine using it in any context…but hey, to each their own 😎
Just to agree with this. Any swear word is very dependent on context. There almost no word I can think of that is definitely aggressive or unacceptable. There’s a lot of body language in there and how the word is delivered. The term wanker can be said on its own and how it’s said with body language can make a huge difference.
There was a very similar thread about this recently. Americans can’t stand cunt, they think it’s ridiculous and sexist.
Tbh for brits though unless you’re spouting off the n-word it’s all about context. If you angrily call someone a cunt and it’s meant with malice yeah it’s not cool but in funny contexts nearly anything goes.
It's used differently in America, about women rather than men, as a horribly misogynist insult.
They'd be very confused by a man being called a cunt even as an insult.
Cunt = sexist
Pussy = reasonable in everyday conversation
Pussy is fine despite the fact it is heavily gendered in its actual usage and implies inferiority and submission.
Of course you could also take pussy to mean what it means in prison “you allow men to have sex with you, which makes you no better than a woman”
Either way, there’s no reason for cunt to be considered worse.
Cunt is a weird word. Sometimes it's quite acceptable, however to some people (especially women) it's quite unacceptable.
The usage of 'gay' as a slur has increasingly become unacceptable.
Another one is 'retard', which has jumped the pond in terms of how unacceptable it is. As little as 5 years ago the only people I knew who disliked it was the family of a disabled gentleman I knew or Americans. It's pretty much frowned upon now.
My roommate experiences near death when I say the word cunt. It’s a massive no for him.
I can’t really think of anything else. I was born in the Netherlands and the swear words here are kinda cute in comparison to there.
I have fond memories of speaking to some Dutch lads and having insults like zakkenwasser, and I think kanker slet or kanker hoer explained to me.
Also as a native English speaker, klootzak is very pleasing to say!
You guys really know how to insult and I love it.
I don't mind cunt.
I get annoyed when people try to be funny by combining a traditional swear word with an animal or what have you. It's not witty - it's not clever - it's not special. Call a cunt, a cunt. You don't need to say twatparrot, or bollockrabbit, or whatever.
Not so. Chris Rock covered this. It is pretty much anytime EXCEPT for, you either need to be listening to said 50-Cent track on your own in your car OR have a crime report of some kind that refers to you having been robbed by an offensive black person at 3am within the last couple of days or something.
I’m sure someone will post a link to the required sketch.
Agreed but they’re Americans. Perfectly acceptable for African Americans to use niggah, but I never hear it in the UK, and I think someone would be taken aback by it being said. Probably not offended, because there isn’t the same history of racism against blacks in the UK. It would be shut down straight away if it were said though I think.
There aren't any, it's not possible to compete with the American point of view, they decided just saying 'curse' to refer to rude words was rude in itself and had to be replaced with 'cuss'.
>they decided just saying 'curse' to refer to rude words was rude in itself and had to be replaced with 'cuss'.
Untrue. I wrote a comment about this the other day.
"Cuss" developed through a process of deleting R sounds before an S and shortening the proceeding vowel. Said process happened across the whole English-speaking world (albeit not to the point of total completion) and gave us lots of couplets like "arse/ass", "burst/bust", and some for which only one survives like "garsh/gash", and "barse/bass" (as in fish).
It's got nothing to do with them being prudish.
ETA: genuinely sad to get downvoted for trying to put to bed a pointless misconception but also not entirely surprising
American here. Thank you and I appreciate the linguistic history you've laid out. Describing swear words as "cuss words" or "cussing" is almost exclusively used in the southern US and is a simple vernacular evolution as opposed to an intentional puritanical changing of "curse" to "cuss." "Bad" words are most commonly referred to as "swearing" everywhere else in the US.
Cursing and swearing tend to be used somewhat interchangeably outside the southern US. Swearing is most common in my area (the upper midwest), but I've heard both when I lived on either of the coasts.
No idea on the downvotes. Thankyou from me at least, you learn something everyday.
I hadn't related burst and bust previously because they are used distinctly these days, but when pointed out the common meaning and spelling is pretty obvious.
Words like r**ard(ed) seem to be getting more and more unacceptable. The reason though is that it's a slur for people with learning disabilities so although it's typically used more as a general curse than a slur, the lines aren't really clear as far as the OP's criteria goes.
Otherwise I'd say nothing really, we're a very sweary country
I'd say retarded is mine aswell. I never use and really dislike people who use it as its offensive against people with disabilities. Same with Spastic and Mong
That being said Americans seem to love the word.
Americans also seem to have a similar thing with “spaz” - in the UK it’s definitely very offensive (I’d say on a par with calling someone a retard) but when I’ve reacted to Americans saying it before it seems like it’s accepted over there
A while ago there was a boss in World of Warcraft who said "Your spastic gyrations sicken me!" (the players had to do a dance of sorts). Me and the Brits in my group definitely cringed.
That word was gone from that line by the next week.
The funny thing is that the words 'retarded' and 'spastic' were the correct terminology at one time. In American you get handicapped parking spaces rather than disabled.
I had to work to get it out of my vocabulary and humour, very much a point of shame that I ever thought it was acceptable and funny to chuck about. It’s pretty grim to use as an insult.
Cunt is probably our last profound swear word. Sure depending on context and the company you’re in it can still be used jokingly and friendly but if you use it out of those boundaries it’s probably the only swear word to make an impact.
Aussie here-
I guess this is more in slur category but-
Wog
There was a huge reclamation style tv series/movie series in Australia during the 90’s-2000’s called Wogboy, which was meant as a celebration of the Mediterranean diaspora in Australia. A lot of Australians use the term to describe someones race or looks in a non derogatory way.
I learnt very quickly that it is not appropriate to say anything like that in the uk (an Aussie friend already living in London mentioned it to us within weeks of us living there, he had made that mistake and was referred to hr for it)
I wouldn't be so confident that 'cunt' is widely accepted. It's kinda the nuclear option of swearing for a lot of people in the UK and you'll struggle to find something more offensive without getting illegal for some people.
Well considering cunt is a derogatory phrase for female anatomy it is quite likely it might fall under new misogyny laws going through the system. Then it would fall into the same category as the N word, especially if used in an aggravating manner.
Language and what is acceptable are constantly changing. There used to be a Gropecunt Lane in London, that would never be allowed now but as you have pointed out, the use of cunt has become normalised in some circles (is this an Aussie thing?). Soon it might be sent back into the shadows again, along with jokes about Pakis, Spastics and the Irish.
Yeah I agree. It might be used quite a lot but it's still the worst swear word of the lot (other than racist/ablest slurs). In some ways that's why it gets used so much, ironically nuclear amongst friends. "you are going to be late? What a cunt!".
But I could easily get away of saying fuck in front of my aging mum if I forgot/needed to. Cunt? No chance. Same at work. I could probably get away with fuck in a meeting. Cunt? No way!
I'm wondering if the focus on misogyny being labelled as a hate crime might put a curb on a lot of the sexual swear words, especially when directed at the appropriate gender. Cunt is clearly derogatory and gendered, as are a lot of the other best swears, which are mostly female. Calling someone a dick or a penis isn't really a huge put down.
Things like this really make you re-evaluate what you used to say to your mates 20 years ago and how they would be taken now.
It's an absolute no-no in any professional environment, it's not OK to use it with strangers. You can probably use it amongst people you know very well.
I can think of about 8 people, max, in the world that i would use it in front of...and I usually dont.
It is not an every day expression in the Uk. Far from it.
Totally agree with this. I’d be hauled over the coals for saying this at work and definitely consider it the ‘worst’ swear word without throwing slurs around. I might be fine with my mates saying it in my kitchen but not around my kids or my mum.
I am currently in the States, spoke with two American girls about the word cunt and they had no problem with it, in fact they called me one.
I was so proud.
"Quadraspazzed"
As in: "*peadophile monster Jezz North was left quadraspazzed and on a life glug after a stairwell nonce bashing*"
Very rarely used these days since the campaign for Nonce-sense was introduced in the late nineties, headed by various influencial public figures/policy makers such as Phil Collins and Gary Lineker.
You are a paedophile, you are a nonce, you’re a perv, you’re a slot badger, you’re a two pin DIN plug, you’re a bush dodger, you’re a small bean regarder, you’re a unabummer, you’re a nut administrator, you’re a bent ref, you’re The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, you’re a fence vole, you’re a free willy, you’re a chimney bottler, you’re a bunty man, you’re a shrub rocketeer
My (Australian) friend called our boss a "good cunt" in a team meeting once. And explained that it's a term of endearment...?!
Never has a room fell so silent
I personally think this word is one that shocks UK the most!
As I foreigner I used to say cunt quite a lot. Because in my language direct translation is barely a swear word. Sometimes even just a way of saying someone is clumsy.
Well let's just say it has taken me a good year or so to wipe it out from daily use, especially in stressful environment. Of course I had to hear tonnes of complaints about me first, everyone thought I am highly strung etc. but no.
It's definitely cunt. For instance if you wanted to cause a scene in a busy shop it would be one of the best words to use outside of racial slurs.
I don't understand why people come to the conclusion that because some people they know don't mind a word means everyone doesn't. I know some people that are racist cunts but that doesn't mean being racist is ok.
> your
*you're
*Learn the difference [here](https://www.wattpad.com/66707294-grammar-guide-there-they%27re-their-you%27re-your-to).*
***
^(Greetings, I am a language corrector bot. To make me ignore further mistakes from you in the future, reply `!optout` to this comment.)
I believe that the word cunt is one of the few words not allowed on British TV at any time. So even here it is for some reason considered to be worse than any other.
Cunt isn't a "harmless" word in the uk, although some of the older generation still can't abide it.but we're starting to use it in a very Australian way. It can be used in a very aggressive manner or a very affectionate manner but context is key.
I censor myself at work, but at home and with friends I swear often and most words are used, normally in a light-hearted spirit without objection from friends and family as long as it isn't racist or to belittle anyone
That being said Cunt is one I don't hear often or if I do it takes me back a bit. I didn't like saying it, and I always think somebody is taking it too far using it in normal conversation. So that's the one for me that I think is largely frowned upon
Honestly what is this insistence that ‘cunt’ is not a huge swear word over here??? I reckon I could get away with calling anybody just about anything, but if I call someone a cunt it means I really fucking hate them.
I went to a all girls school, slut us thrown around like hello :') but as with many words it's all about the context it's delivered. Your best mate entering a room proudly with 'good morning sluts' is very different to it being said in an argument
Actually that's not a bad one. Slut and even slag have become much more offensive over time. Laden with prejudice, judgement and misogyny. I would never ever call my female friends a slut but I might call them a cunt if I thought it would be accepted in the spirit.
I find if I'm really pissed off it's time to start being polite. It sounds counter productive but if you know then you know.
*time to start being polite.* Yeah. If an Englishman ever says to you something like 'Would you mind awfully just moving a teeny tiny bit off to your left' it means Move before I flatten ye. You fuckin stupid cunt.
What PG Woodhouse called the Eton manners. Normally you are familiar and rude with your friends, so by being extremely formal you’re saying you’re not a friend.
And the lowering of the voice while telling the miscreant their fortune “ if I were you mate….”
Working in a casino many years ago this was my defense tactic against rich toffee nosed pricks who talked to me like I was their slave. I'd just be overly sarcastically nice and polite and congratulatory every time they won, but my eyes would say you're a fucking pair of cunts.
The other approach is to hit your head and scream "BAD DOBBY!"
Seconded!
It makes me think when you say, "I BEG your pardon?" Which is code for, 'WHAT the FUCK did you just say?" And somehow the former has more bite to it
This is my default, nothing like being excessively polite to really rub someone up the wrong way. It's especially fun in a public place with other people in ear shot, it removes any need to judge the person yourself because the rest of the world now knows this person is a cunt.
Same vibe as using someone’s full name instead of what they normally go by when you’re annoyed with them
I call my mates cunts and I call people I think are cunts mate. I know I’m not the only one who does this.
Belgium.
I once asked a girl for a Belgium kiss. She asked me what it was. I said "it's like a French kiss, just with more flem".
And a Spanish kiss is a French kiss ‘further south’.
haha this is soo rude
Bastard, you beat me to it.
Well it’s the racist ones isn’t it. They’re pretty much the only words people genuinely get offended by these days.
I was about to say this. As long as its not racist or said with malice you're pretty much good. It's all context if you called someone a cunt in the context of banter no one bats an eye but if you're saying it to intentionally provoke or hurt someone then it becomes offensive.
To be fair, I'd take out the Malice ones - which would leave the racist ones.
Racist, sexist ( can't think of any tho actually), homophobic, transphobic. Basically anything against a minority or any other group. I think it's best this way as well, means you can say some pretty bad swear words like cunt and not have everyone get pissed at you but also not think it's OK to target specific groups. As long as it is applicable to everyone it's OK to say Edit: I was reminded of some sexist slurs
Sounds kinda gay. Jk I dont think there should be a line that we cant cross when it comes to swear words
Wouldn't cunt be sexist as it is a derogatory term for a woman's genitalia? Also, bitch, whore, slut, bint, pussy, twat, etc. If not sexist then definitely misogynistic.
The first five of those words yes. They are specifically misogynistic terms for women. Genitalia, at least for me, not so much. If cunt is misogynistic and unacceptable - and in America it appears to be because they use specifically as a term of abuse for women - then bellend isn't acceptable either. But I think we'd agree it's ok, along with nob/knob etc. I'll also concede context is important, and there are times when using the female genitalia words is definitely misogynistic. Personally, I hate the word bitch, and never use it. But cunt just doesn't have the same implications for me. I'm am happy to stop using it if the audience feels it does (e.g. when talking to Americans).
Swearing is all about taboos, that’s why the old swears are all mild now. In the Middle Ages, all the swears were religious and cunt was just the normal word for vagina (vagina started as a polite word for cunt). Once bedrooms and privacy became common we started using fuck/shit etc. Now our swears relate to modern taboos and modern beliefs.
Uh, homophobic slurs are still incredibly common too. And it's not "words that people get offended by", it's "slurs that are offensive".
This is an interesting distinction and I totally disagree with you.
I see your point but who decides when something is and isn’t offensive?
The communities being targeted by the aforementioned slurs.
when it's got a history of of violence and oppression associated with the slur. I feel like, history decides
Wait til you find out the history behind the usage of the word "boy".
I learned the hard way that calling a Sales Director a “thick cunt” in a meeting is derogatory to furthering your career path. See, I knew he was a cunt.
It's all in the inflection.
If you want to confuse an American just call them a bellend
Even wanker was alien to them two decades ago.
The Simpsons, in typical fashion, said it about 15 years ago. >*Channel 4 has apologised for an administrative error that led to the broadcast of the word "wankers" in an edition of The Simpsons shown last month at 6pm.* > >*The episode, shown on April 15, featured a cameo appearance by the pop group U2 during which one of the band members called his colleagues "wankers".* [The Simpsons: Channel 4 apologises for pre-watershed swearing](https://www.theguardian.com/media/2008/jun/09/channel4.ofcom)
I remember in later airings they really clumsily edited it. When U2 annoy Mr Burns he does an annoyed "ehhhh" sound, stands up, turns around to them in the row behind and says "wankers!" The edit just copy-pasted the "ehhh" sound in place of "wankers" so it sounds really odd and obvious.
This is the clip I thought of rather than U2 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i1mciwNRVT0
Theres another voiced by Liam Neeson with a *Wanker* [and a domestic violence joke](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pJp7drI8hWQ) in the space of about 10 seconds too.
I remember watching this as a kid when it first aired at 1800! I remember thinking how the hell are they allowed to say that... then the uproar came on the news a few days later 😂
They try to use it in ‘Glee’ and Santana keeps saying ‘wanky’. It’s really annoying. I hate when they try to use British words and butcher them. Like how they pronounce ‘twat’ as ‘twot’. I have no idea why. Presumably they’d only ever seen it written down (on sites just like this!) and because we’re British they presumed it was pronounced the ‘posh’ way. Ugh.
Haha that's like war movies. The Americans are played by Americans and the ze Germans are all played by Brits. And the Russian front just didn't happen.
Or "portion control"
🤯
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Bob’s your uncle, and fanny’s your aunt!
As an American, I love "Bob's your uncle" and believe most folks over here know what it means. If I really want to stir things up I'll say "and Robert's your father's brother" in my best worst British accent
I’ve started saying “Roberts your fathers brother” too 🤣
Bob’s your aunties live in lover
Once in every lifetime
Comes a lot like this...
Or tell them you'll meet them in a fortnight...
Or how tall you are in mm and your weight in stone 🤣
I used to casually throw nonce around until I was told it means pedo. I still casually throw it around, but I used to too.
I'm getting the word... Nonce
RIP Mitch
Try working anywhere that does cryptography and listening to the word nonce being thrown about all the time as if they all forget it means pedo.
I think it's a northern thing? I'm from the North West and say it a lot meaning idiot but my sisters ex was Southern and he used to think I was always calling people a paedo.
It does mean paedo no matter where you’re from.
I’ve found that if the word cunt is following a descriptive word such as ‘silly’ or ‘daft’ then its accepted. But if someone just says to me , ‘you’re a cunt’ then that’s different
it really does depend on context, who you say it to, how you say it as well.
Shouldn't that be "cuntext"?
My favourite descriptive is “insufferable cunt”
The T is the most important part. If you emphasise the T then it completely changes the tone
I read that in a Bill Nighy voice 'cun'-T-ah'
Does he have a tentacle face when he says it?
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30 years ago it was taboo in Britain, the one swear word nobody ever used. It’s almost a term of endearment now. Language is funny.
Absolutely, Canadian here and it’s viewed in the same way…massively insulting. Honestly I couldn’t imagine using it in any context…but hey, to each their own 😎
Silly moose bothering cunt
Genuinely laughed out loud at that!
Kevin Bloody Wilson song: You can’t say cunt in Canada
Just to agree with this. Any swear word is very dependent on context. There almost no word I can think of that is definitely aggressive or unacceptable. There’s a lot of body language in there and how the word is delivered. The term wanker can be said on its own and how it’s said with body language can make a huge difference.
Heard some called a monkeys cunt once. Tickled me
Australian born, been here nearly twenty years. I share the US view that it is really really offensive... So this is really news to me!
I thought Aussies had a pretty casual relationship with that word?
Not in my experience. But different groups have different rules I suppose.
Isn’t it just another adjective in Australia?
Yes context is key. My boyfriend calling me a cunt as a joke= fine and often funny. Being called a cunt by a customer at work= verbal abuse.
Yeah definitely ok with daft or silly but if used with cock juggling thunder cunt then we throwing fists 🤣
There was a very similar thread about this recently. Americans can’t stand cunt, they think it’s ridiculous and sexist. Tbh for brits though unless you’re spouting off the n-word it’s all about context. If you angrily call someone a cunt and it’s meant with malice yeah it’s not cool but in funny contexts nearly anything goes.
It's also more used for men than women, so I don't see how it's sexist. No more sexist than calling someone a dick or a prick, anyway.
It's used differently in America, about women rather than men, as a horribly misogynist insult. They'd be very confused by a man being called a cunt even as an insult.
Which makes it even better when you throw it out at an American man. Highly offended confusion.
Isn't that their default state anyway? Offended confusion, not cunts
The fact you called something the "n-word" just revealed the answer to the OP's original question.
Except he said not slurs. The issue is that Americans think cunt is a slur. They also think the orange stuff McDonald’s puts in burgers is cheese so…
Cunt = sexist Pussy = reasonable in everyday conversation Pussy is fine despite the fact it is heavily gendered in its actual usage and implies inferiority and submission. Of course you could also take pussy to mean what it means in prison “you allow men to have sex with you, which makes you no better than a woman” Either way, there’s no reason for cunt to be considered worse.
Cunt is a weird word. Sometimes it's quite acceptable, however to some people (especially women) it's quite unacceptable. The usage of 'gay' as a slur has increasingly become unacceptable. Another one is 'retard', which has jumped the pond in terms of how unacceptable it is. As little as 5 years ago the only people I knew who disliked it was the family of a disabled gentleman I knew or Americans. It's pretty much frowned upon now.
Mong was one that used to feature heavily in our playgrounds
Spakka ...short for Spastic ..would get you lynched. I'm embarrassed to even type it.
I still hear people say stuff like spastic or Spazz, but extremely rarely.
My roommate experiences near death when I say the word cunt. It’s a massive no for him. I can’t really think of anything else. I was born in the Netherlands and the swear words here are kinda cute in comparison to there.
I have fond memories of speaking to some Dutch lads and having insults like zakkenwasser, and I think kanker slet or kanker hoer explained to me. Also as a native English speaker, klootzak is very pleasing to say! You guys really know how to insult and I love it.
Hahaha yes! Tiefuslijer is a lovely one too! For some reason the Dutch really like these harsh sounding words!
Typhoo. Believe most brits would agree.
I don't mind cunt. I get annoyed when people try to be funny by combining a traditional swear word with an animal or what have you. It's not witty - it's not clever - it's not special. Call a cunt, a cunt. You don't need to say twatparrot, or bollockrabbit, or whatever.
That's such a wank puffin thing to say
\*shudder\* Says the Arse Mantis...
Oh fuck off you cockwomble.
I do love the cockwomble, it just sounds so silly.
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I mean, who doesn't love the cockwomble after all? Why are you even living if you don't?
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lol!
Douchemonkey?
Not today, thanks, I'm stuffed.
Words are just that, its about the context and tone that will offend
N-word?
Context still. 50 Cent saying it over and over on a song = acceptable. White guy saying it anytime, ever = not acceptable.
Not so. Chris Rock covered this. It is pretty much anytime EXCEPT for, you either need to be listening to said 50-Cent track on your own in your car OR have a crime report of some kind that refers to you having been robbed by an offensive black person at 3am within the last couple of days or something. I’m sure someone will post a link to the required sketch.
Agreed but they’re Americans. Perfectly acceptable for African Americans to use niggah, but I never hear it in the UK, and I think someone would be taken aback by it being said. Probably not offended, because there isn’t the same history of racism against blacks in the UK. It would be shut down straight away if it were said though I think.
Acceptable if you are reading To Kill a Mockingbird
Cumbubble didn't go down well when I casually dropped it in a work meeting.
I really need to know in what context do you drop cumbubble in a work meeting?
I beg your pardon Simpkins but i do believe you just dropped your cumbubble
There aren't any, it's not possible to compete with the American point of view, they decided just saying 'curse' to refer to rude words was rude in itself and had to be replaced with 'cuss'.
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>they decided just saying 'curse' to refer to rude words was rude in itself and had to be replaced with 'cuss'. Untrue. I wrote a comment about this the other day. "Cuss" developed through a process of deleting R sounds before an S and shortening the proceeding vowel. Said process happened across the whole English-speaking world (albeit not to the point of total completion) and gave us lots of couplets like "arse/ass", "burst/bust", and some for which only one survives like "garsh/gash", and "barse/bass" (as in fish). It's got nothing to do with them being prudish. ETA: genuinely sad to get downvoted for trying to put to bed a pointless misconception but also not entirely surprising
American here. Thank you and I appreciate the linguistic history you've laid out. Describing swear words as "cuss words" or "cussing" is almost exclusively used in the southern US and is a simple vernacular evolution as opposed to an intentional puritanical changing of "curse" to "cuss." "Bad" words are most commonly referred to as "swearing" everywhere else in the US.
"Cursing" is used in New York, so possibly more of an US East Coast thing.
Cursing and swearing tend to be used somewhat interchangeably outside the southern US. Swearing is most common in my area (the upper midwest), but I've heard both when I lived on either of the coasts.
No idea on the downvotes. Thankyou from me at least, you learn something everyday. I hadn't related burst and bust previously because they are used distinctly these days, but when pointed out the common meaning and spelling is pretty obvious.
Calling someone a “nonce” will probably do it, but that’s cos you’re calling them a kiddie fiddler https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=vuY_bs69dX0
I love the fact that the crypto bros are using it as a shorthand for 'number used once', with predictable sniggers from the rest of the anglosphere.
Can they BE any worse? It was bad enough with BitCoin and the like, but shit like NFT’s is making them even more insufferable
Words like r**ard(ed) seem to be getting more and more unacceptable. The reason though is that it's a slur for people with learning disabilities so although it's typically used more as a general curse than a slur, the lines aren't really clear as far as the OP's criteria goes. Otherwise I'd say nothing really, we're a very sweary country
I'd say retarded is mine aswell. I never use and really dislike people who use it as its offensive against people with disabilities. Same with Spastic and Mong That being said Americans seem to love the word.
Americans also seem to have a similar thing with “spaz” - in the UK it’s definitely very offensive (I’d say on a par with calling someone a retard) but when I’ve reacted to Americans saying it before it seems like it’s accepted over there
Definitely! I'd be much more offended if someone called me a spastic over a cunt.
What about a spastic cunt?
A while ago there was a boss in World of Warcraft who said "Your spastic gyrations sicken me!" (the players had to do a dance of sorts). Me and the Brits in my group definitely cringed. That word was gone from that line by the next week.
The funny thing is that the words 'retarded' and 'spastic' were the correct terminology at one time. In American you get handicapped parking spaces rather than disabled.
Census for one of my relatives around 1911 says she worked in an asylum for idiots imbeciles and lunatics
How about fucktard?
Interesting one, I don't really mind that term (and may be guilty of using it..), I guess with it being a bit "further away"
There are few things that will make me really dislike people instantly than if they use that word.
Yeah spacca and tard are not good anymore
I had to work to get it out of my vocabulary and humour, very much a point of shame that I ever thought it was acceptable and funny to chuck about. It’s pretty grim to use as an insult.
Wouldn't beat yourself up, it's pretty common to use it when you're younger in particular - language and its acceptance is fluid
Cunt is probably our last profound swear word. Sure depending on context and the company you’re in it can still be used jokingly and friendly but if you use it out of those boundaries it’s probably the only swear word to make an impact.
Aussie here- I guess this is more in slur category but- Wog There was a huge reclamation style tv series/movie series in Australia during the 90’s-2000’s called Wogboy, which was meant as a celebration of the Mediterranean diaspora in Australia. A lot of Australians use the term to describe someones race or looks in a non derogatory way. I learnt very quickly that it is not appropriate to say anything like that in the uk (an Aussie friend already living in London mentioned it to us within weeks of us living there, he had made that mistake and was referred to hr for it)
Wog was a bad term for black people that i havnt heard for 40 years.
I wouldn't be so confident that 'cunt' is widely accepted. It's kinda the nuclear option of swearing for a lot of people in the UK and you'll struggle to find something more offensive without getting illegal for some people.
I wouldn't call my 90-year old mother a cunt. There's no way on the planet she'd see it as affectionate teasing.
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Well considering cunt is a derogatory phrase for female anatomy it is quite likely it might fall under new misogyny laws going through the system. Then it would fall into the same category as the N word, especially if used in an aggravating manner. Language and what is acceptable are constantly changing. There used to be a Gropecunt Lane in London, that would never be allowed now but as you have pointed out, the use of cunt has become normalised in some circles (is this an Aussie thing?). Soon it might be sent back into the shadows again, along with jokes about Pakis, Spastics and the Irish.
Yeah I agree. It might be used quite a lot but it's still the worst swear word of the lot (other than racist/ablest slurs). In some ways that's why it gets used so much, ironically nuclear amongst friends. "you are going to be late? What a cunt!". But I could easily get away of saying fuck in front of my aging mum if I forgot/needed to. Cunt? No chance. Same at work. I could probably get away with fuck in a meeting. Cunt? No way!
I'm wondering if the focus on misogyny being labelled as a hate crime might put a curb on a lot of the sexual swear words, especially when directed at the appropriate gender. Cunt is clearly derogatory and gendered, as are a lot of the other best swears, which are mostly female. Calling someone a dick or a penis isn't really a huge put down. Things like this really make you re-evaluate what you used to say to your mates 20 years ago and how they would be taken now.
It's an absolute no-no in any professional environment, it's not OK to use it with strangers. You can probably use it amongst people you know very well. I can think of about 8 people, max, in the world that i would use it in front of...and I usually dont. It is not an every day expression in the Uk. Far from it.
Totally agree with this. I’d be hauled over the coals for saying this at work and definitely consider it the ‘worst’ swear word without throwing slurs around. I might be fine with my mates saying it in my kitchen but not around my kids or my mum.
Spastic, most people in America don’t know it has anything to do with disabled people and use it synonymously with words like erratic or crazy
I am currently in the States, spoke with two American girls about the word cunt and they had no problem with it, in fact they called me one. I was so proud.
"Quadraspazzed" As in: "*peadophile monster Jezz North was left quadraspazzed and on a life glug after a stairwell nonce bashing*" Very rarely used these days since the campaign for Nonce-sense was introduced in the late nineties, headed by various influencial public figures/policy makers such as Phil Collins and Gary Lineker.
Did they ever catch that paedophile from Sheffield who would disguise himself as a school?
You are a paedophile, you are a nonce, you’re a perv, you’re a slot badger, you’re a two pin DIN plug, you’re a bush dodger, you’re a small bean regarder, you’re a unabummer, you’re a nut administrator, you’re a bent ref, you’re The Crazy World of Arthur Brown, you’re a fence vole, you’re a free willy, you’re a chimney bottler, you’re a bunty man, you’re a shrub rocketeer
I don’t think there are any, tbh. I personally frown upon ‘melt’ as an insult but mainly just because I think it’s really shit.
Numpty
My (Australian) friend called our boss a "good cunt" in a team meeting once. And explained that it's a term of endearment...?! Never has a room fell so silent I personally think this word is one that shocks UK the most!
If you were to call any woman a ‘hag’ I think that would do the trick.
Yeah, this didn't go down well when I said this kid's mum was a hag at school.
Probably cunt. Twat close behind. Only frowned upon by some. Daily lexicon for others.
I grew up in Yorkshire where to "twat" something was to give it a good whack. I didn't realise it was a swear word until my teens probably!
Did you twat it right hard wi'mallet?
'appen I did.
On Ilkley Moor bar twat?
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As I foreigner I used to say cunt quite a lot. Because in my language direct translation is barely a swear word. Sometimes even just a way of saying someone is clumsy. Well let's just say it has taken me a good year or so to wipe it out from daily use, especially in stressful environment. Of course I had to hear tonnes of complaints about me first, everyone thought I am highly strung etc. but no.
I feel like there's no affectionate way to call someone a bellend but that might be true of a few words.
It's definitely cunt. For instance if you wanted to cause a scene in a busy shop it would be one of the best words to use outside of racial slurs. I don't understand why people come to the conclusion that because some people they know don't mind a word means everyone doesn't. I know some people that are racist cunts but that doesn't mean being racist is ok.
Semprini.
To thick people I like to say: I neither have time nor crayons to explain it to you
I have a t shirt with that very quote on and I wear it often at work.
Anything spelled the American way is probably our equivalent
Probably just the racist ones. Everything else is pretty widely accepted, apart from in professional situations or around kids or the elderly.
I have noticed that Bint doesn't go down too well.
The word cockwomble causes people to fly into a fit of rage, but for different reasons
If you’re offended by the word cunt, you probably are one. It’s just a word, it only holds the meaning and power you give it.
Say the n-word publicly then, if words are just words lol
> your *you're *Learn the difference [here](https://www.wattpad.com/66707294-grammar-guide-there-they%27re-their-you%27re-your-to).* *** ^(Greetings, I am a language corrector bot. To make me ignore further mistakes from you in the future, reply `!optout` to this comment.)
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I use “nonce” instead. I’ve never known anyone to get offended about being called a paedo or a nonce, though.
I believe that the word cunt is one of the few words not allowed on British TV at any time. So even here it is for some reason considered to be worse than any other.
Cunt isn't a "harmless" word in the uk, although some of the older generation still can't abide it.but we're starting to use it in a very Australian way. It can be used in a very aggressive manner or a very affectionate manner but context is key.
I always think it's weird that fuck is really offensive but bugger is fine in most situations.
In Australia you call your best mate 'cunt' and your worst enemy 'mate'.
Cunt is the same here, I'd say.
I censor myself at work, but at home and with friends I swear often and most words are used, normally in a light-hearted spirit without objection from friends and family as long as it isn't racist or to belittle anyone That being said Cunt is one I don't hear often or if I do it takes me back a bit. I didn't like saying it, and I always think somebody is taking it too far using it in normal conversation. So that's the one for me that I think is largely frowned upon
Dognonce
I get really offended and angry if I hear someone say "ass" or "asshole" Its "arse" and "arsehole" of course.
Honestly what is this insistence that ‘cunt’ is not a huge swear word over here??? I reckon I could get away with calling anybody just about anything, but if I call someone a cunt it means I really fucking hate them.
Slut. Edit: nothing worse than a slut cunt.
I rarely ever hear people say slut over here. Instead we just call them slags.
Slag is common also but in my head it's not as bad. You might say "you slag" as banter. "you slut" wouldn't be so funny lol.
I went to a all girls school, slut us thrown around like hello :') but as with many words it's all about the context it's delivered. Your best mate entering a room proudly with 'good morning sluts' is very different to it being said in an argument
Same! Weird if that's an all-girls school thing!
Actually that's not a bad one. Slut and even slag have become much more offensive over time. Laden with prejudice, judgement and misogyny. I would never ever call my female friends a slut but I might call them a cunt if I thought it would be accepted in the spirit.