The footwear were always thongs when I was growing up in the 1960s and '70s, but you can't use that term for them anymore. Everyone will assume you mean the underwear and look at you funny. BTW-- I just noticed (UK = twigged) that this thread is from last year. How the heck did I miss it? Well, never mind. It's still fun. (The Google doc isn't accessible anymore, not that I can tell.)
Definitely a characteristic of Pittsburghese (mind the H, please), which is its own dialect. I've been living around here long enough that I have to be careful not to let it slip into my writing. Unless I'm actually setting something in Pittsburgh. So you lived for awhile in Sewickley (Swickly)? Nice borough, and it is its own jurisdiction, and not, strictly-speaking, a suburb of Picksburgh. And speaking of Swickly, I've got church down there tomorrow (in 5.5 hours), so I'd better leave the rest of this thread for later and get to bed.
[FOGHORN SPECIAL, yaddayaddayaddaa] Where the American politician says 'middle class' - the British politician would embrace the 'working class,' or more usually today the 'working pipple' or 'hard-working peeple' - which links to Milton Keynes which is verry working class hence one's piano played at the throat action. MK is one of several 'new towns' built after the war to house bombed-out cockneys. So, a very cockney white man, white van kind of a place - as maligned by educated Labour politicians and their high culture, [see Aus cunts]- I'm not so sure about the supposition that English or Stralian people call every fella/or sheila a cunt, it's a little more subtle than that, I feel; and wouldn't recommend it as a greeting through immigration control. .. And nobody knows how long a block is in the UK - same goes for sports presenters telling you a wrestler weighs 200 pounds. Is he bean-pole or a blob, no one image springs to mind instantly, you have to reach for your 14 x table unless you're a nerd and worked it out years before - see Aus rules. As for European English - mind your swearing/manners among the [Calvinist] Dutch. We have the family story where the hairy Scots trouble-shooters arrived at the Dutch bank/the legend of Rotterdam: 'And evey one were all the swearing..!' 'Even the vimen...'Aus Altho, anecdotally the sound of 'fuck this, fuck and fuck and fuck' is supposed to be/was associated with '44 paratroopers, the sound of liberation. And then whether the Euro spoker with a US or UK accent - I think depends on teacher or personal choice. In times passed [for some] it came down to VOA or BBC on the shortwave. The 'Russian' in '89 talked like a Chicago gangster. 'Hey wise guys, you wanna change money? I take you gypsy village, change money...'Aus
Not very often aimed at women. That would change the parameters entirely. Mainly 'casual familiar' - when I had that horrible job with the rough builder boys, if I recall - 'What's wrong with cant?' 'Cant can't dig.' 'I can chaps, I can, please, give me a second chance.'
I say! *drops monocle* Yeah, I can't really think of any 'p' words that would be seen as as offensive as the 'c' word.
You've clearly never visited mumsnet. Mumsnet poster 1: "I disagree with you." Mumsnet poster 2: "Fuck off, you cunt."
Yes. But that’s blue on blue - and pointed...as opposed to ‘the postman knocked...’ ‘Oh yeah, what did that cunt want?’
In fairness, though, I've had pretty much this same conversation from both sides when no one involved was a woman.
Yes, I think the thread's in agreement that (in some places) the word is used towards men. I was responding to the idea that it isn't usually aimed at women.
Suppose that’s some kind of point. It’s not something I ‘think’ I would ever do - save referencing divorce or murderers...but then probably the next generation subverts the one before..see ‘wastegash.’
I think I poorly communicated my point. Any time I've ever used it, it has never been aimed at a woman nor was it aimed at women the majority of the times I've heard it used. But that may be a perspective issue, too.
"Cunt" is definitely aimed at women in the u.s. for the most part. When it's used as a serious insult, at least. It's very rarely used in a joking manner. But if it is, I've heard it used jokingly to refer to either gender. For "pussy", while it's usually used against men, I've actually heard that used to describe women as well lately. But it's pretty rare to use that as a serious insult to a woman. But I've heard it.
I've heard it used descriptively of women (see also cunt, flange, and slit) by a certain kind of guy... as in "I'm going out to find some pussy" both in the Us and the UK used directly as an insult its usually meant to imply cowardice.. as in 'pussying out or 'being a pussy' - presumably implying that someone isn't macho - hence why its directed mostly at men. In terms of cunt in the UK its not used anywhere near as much as Hollywood would have you believe, but there's a thing in the UK where pretty much any term of abuse can also be used among friends as a backhanded sign of affection. However the important point is between friends ... it doesn't mean that calling a stranger 'cunt' won't get you a smack in the teeth Twat is one that in the Uk has almost lost its meaning, and now just means dickhead, stupid person, as in 'you drive like a twat' I can't remember the last time I heard it used to refer to the female genitals to confuse the issue further, in the UK Twat is also a slang term for punch - as in "he called me a cunt so I twatted him in the face" The two terms of US abuse you hardly ever here in the Uk are Douche/Douchebag and Fag or Faggot. Over here a fag is a cigarette - hence the 'fag break' or 'nipping out for a fag' while a faggot is either a sort of meatball or a bundle of wood used in revetments. Posh boys ar boarding school sometimes also have a younger boy as their 'fag' but that doesn't imply homosexuality... its more like someone who does their bidding, joeys around them. Hence you'll sometimes hear them say things like "Well I had to hire him really, he was my fag at Eton"
Also thinking about it "Fagged out" means exhausted ... but that's falling out of common usage in favour of "shagged out" (shag being a term for sex as in "I shagged him/her")... however shagged out doesn't just mean exhausted from sex, it can mean any kind of tired, including where applied to things like cars that they are old and broken... as in "I bought the car for 50 quid but it was pretty shagged out so I scrapped it" Se also knackered - which literally means to be castrated (hence why your knackers are your testicles), but takes its exhausted/ broken meaning from it being "the knacker man" who removes fallen stock
I hate the c word. And I swear far too much! But I do like the word twat! As well as calling someone a twat, it can also be a verb in the case of "I'm going to twat you round the head if you do that again." I'm in the UK and I hear men called the c word more than women. Up here, women tend to be called bitch, skank, dirty cow, slapper, and a list of other names rather than c***. It's not just countries who have these differences, do US States have differences like we do in certain British counties? For example, if you were to make sandwiches in the morning and take them to work for lunch, it would commonly be called a "packed lunch". Where I was born in Yorkshire, it's commonly referred to as "snap" but where I now live in the North East (which is only 123 miles north of Yorkshire,) it's called "bait".
