Scoffing down a Pizzer (and other silly ways we talk) Rebirth

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@“Shaneus”#p147920 . “What are we bringing for scoffs this arvo? I reckon some Fantales, Polly Waffles and some Jaffas to piff at the people down the front”

Only one I didn't get was piff. I'm guessing throw?

@“exodus”#p147925 Yeah, I think it's crept into my vernacular via my dad :confused:

@"Tom of the Fog"#p147927 Nailed it!

I've suddenly remembered that some people pronounce Picross in a maddening way.

@“LeFish”#p147932 I remember that episode but I‘m afraid not who said it. Their argument was it is a portmanteau of Picture and Crossword - which makes sense but it’s not pronounced “piec ture”, why would it be “pie cross”.

fromsoft is the only studio in the world that respects the diversity of accents across the british isles.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Om_ZoEplD8Y

Looking for some assistance from UK forum users:

Would you please rank the following from Mildest to Meanest insult. I am curious to know the hierarchy because they all seem the same to me:

knob
Wanker
Tosser
Wally
Bell end
Nonce
Prat
minger
arse
Berk
Daft
Dodgy
dick

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Yesterday I praised a young kid for his ability to holler for everyone to come get some cake. “That was some good hollering,” I said.

What do other people use? I wouldn’t use yell or cry. I might use call, but a good call has a slightly different feel from a good holler.

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Gladly, insulting people is something Brits are actually good at, if you know the meaning of the words and the context to use them in.

Daft
Dodgy
Berk/Prat/Wally
minger
arse
dick
Bell end
knob
Tosser
Wanker
Nonce

Dodgy really isn’t an insult - a deal can be dodgy and so can a shelf that’s not fitted right. Calling someone dodgy just means they can’t be trusted, “He’s a dodgy bloke”.

Minger is usually used for women only, but it could be for a man or an actual object but that’s rare.

Dick and knob are the same thing, but calling someone a knob can be how they’re acting about something as well as being a dick too. I’d say knob is worse than dick but could vary from region and person.

Wanker is a bit ruder than tosser but they mean the same thing. However you can get away with saying tosser more than wanker in polite company. Almost.

Nonce has a very VERY bad meaning

Link hidden to Cambridge Dictionary definition

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and in turn should be the top of the list by a long way. I’d never call anyone that but I’d use pretty much everything else on the list. If I was (and have been) called any of those except nonce I’d let it slide, but if that was called that, well it’s stepping outside for a quiet word.

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I didn’t know that’s what nonce meant. I thought it meant people who dresses in unfashionable clothes. So Mr Bean isn’t a nonce after all. Or is he

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Florida accents are weird. it’s the South but everyone moves there from everywhere else so it’s a terrible mix of stuff depending on where ya are. pronunciation is halfway between some New England FLAH-RI-DAA and drawl FLOOR-DUH, nearer the latter. Flarda. glottal stops chaining together entire sentences. slow and lazy.

one of my favs is boil. boll. bolled p-nuts.

p’cahns. soda.

took a while to stop pronouncing LLs as Ys when i moved up here

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I remember reading a book about the beatles and Ringo saying how when he was young he tried to look like a “Teddy Boy” but in the end he looked like a Wally. Never knew what to make of that

It’s usually prison slang to describe said people but made its way out into the lexicon. I wonder if you got it confused with ponce, which is someone who’sa bit pretentious but that’s their only crime. But ponce almost means to get something without doing any work or effort for it - you can ponce a ciggie from someone.

I’d say Mr Bean is most certainly not a nonce. He’s daft, a prat/berk/wally but the worst I’d say is he’s a bit of knob.

Now Edmund Blackadder… he’s a tosser!!!

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Teddy Boys were a style in the 60s in England that looked a lot like Rock and Roll stars from the US in the 50s. Usually meant slicked back hair and suits.

I can see him looking like (and calling himself for trying) a wally, not in a bad way but that wasn’t Ringo’s look at all.

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No, where I read the word was in a article from back when people were mad about jeremy corbyn, there was an anecdote about him going around the house of lords saying that his “nonce radar” was going off. I thought it was because of the stuffy old rich people I assume are in the house of lords

That’s not an inccorect assumption on your part - it’s that and many other things. A group of nonces I don’t know. But a group of wankers, tossers, Bell ends and knobs I think most people would agree.

One thing that occurs to me: it could be challenging as an american to insult an english back at the same calibration. Because I don’t think we have low-grade insults here. If an English guy called me a Wally, then I’ve got either nothing, or I come back with fuck you motherfucker. Not much in between to work with

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For whatever it is worth, “nonce” also has a meaning within computer science and mathematics (usually regarding cryptography) that has nothing to do with the implications from this list of British slurs.


As a non-Brit but a member of the Commonwealth I’d say I largely agree with Tom’s ranking, however I’d probably flip Tosser and Wanker. Yes, “wanker” is a little bit more rude, but I’d say it is also slightly more colloquially playful. “Ah, he’s a bit of a wanker” doesn’t quite have the same level of insult as “Ah, he’s a bit of a tosser”.

Perhaps this is a regional difference.

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Wally is really nothing bad - I call my sons wallys when they do something dumb!

A lot is in the tone - if I said you’re being a dick if you did something dumb it’d be said mildly and probably with a laugj. But if I looked you in the eyes and called you a dick then that’s a real insult. And would deserve an f bomb

One great thing about British English insults is you can be very rude but almost polite at the same time.

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is Australia like Scotland in that the C word is kind of friendly or it can be? That’s like a 10/10 bad word in the US, I don’t even want to type it

I’d take that as maybe regional but also tone. It’s easier to laugh calling someone a wanker than it is a tosser. I know in Australia it’s a very different delivery.