Sorry if the title sounds a bit uncouth, but I'm looking to know if there is a difference in intensity, use, vehemence, ugliness, jokiness, etc. between these two words as used in the U.K.
Like everything, it depends on the context. Said to a mate they could be terms of endearment. Slapper I would say is more likely to be used for its literal meaning than slag, although slag sounds harsher, particularly if delivered in the dulcet tones of East London. As an example, if my mate fakes that he owes me a tenner rather than twenty my response might be "you slag". I would be unlikely to use "you slapper" in this context. However, if my mate had been putting it about I would call him "a slapper", again as a joke. Now in terms of their use in a heated manner then they are probably equally harsh although you can put more venom into slag; particularly if you ramp it up a bit by preceding it with f*****g.
You give the impression that there is at least a degree of gender neutrality to the use of these terms. I've only ever heard them directed at women in Brit TV and film. If you had to give a percentage of gender weighting, what would you say is the percentage?
It is a LOT less likely to be used as an insult if directed at a bloke (or a serious insult anyway). Slapper is unlikely to be used insultingly against a bloke at all as the result would be laughter.
Not really. I'd also call a female mate a slag or slapper, as she would me, and as she would her female mates. (Although this might say more about where I come from than the common usage of these words)
I suppose you've already looked at the Urban dictionary: http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=slag http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=slapper
Oh, I know what they both mean, but that's not the same as understanding when and how they get used. Lot's of anglophones know the Spanish word pendejo, few know the appropriate times and tones with which to whip it out.
On one predominantly British writing forum, the women were firmly of the opinion men or women don't call their mates slags/sluts/slappers, not jokingly anyway. That's incredibly sexist and offensive and makes you look like a git. I take it they didn't really live in the real world... or have any friends.
It depends on context. It would have to be a fairly close mate. It would not be something I'd say where it might be misconstrued. The above sounds like that sort of artificial offence you get so often on the internet.
Yeah, I knew full well they were full of shit and deliberately misunderstood me. I've had enough real-life British friends (as opposed to random internet, um, acquaintances) that I've heard them use fairly coarse language, even insults, as jokes. Sure it depends on the context and the people, but I found it hilarious how utterly dismissive these ladies were of using such language. I'd imagine this is fairly common in plenty of cultures. Even in Finnish, you might call your female friend a slut in a non-insulting way. The context and the tone just have to be right, and you have to be good enough friends.
I think it depends what sort of circles you move in a bit. Most insults are used jovially between mates somewhere. I've personally heard things like bastard, bitch and bugger used jokingly between mates more often than slag and not really heard slapper used like that, but could see how it might. Slag and slapper are fairly close in feel when used to describe women who sleeps around. But slag is also often used as a synonym for bitch to mean "nasty woman". Slapper is often used to be disapproving of scantily clad women.
Don't get me wrong, I understand the issue with it. The words that tend to describe women sleeping around are overwhelmingly negative, whilst the words that describe the same behaviour in blokes are generally positive; and both slag and slapper are more likely to be used as an insult with teeth against women. But as with most things the intent and context is more important than the word. Slag in particular has moved on from its original definition in common parlance.
Yeah, slut-shaming blows, and I wouldn't pretend for a second such terms were free of negative connotations. I've kind of been of the (unpopular) opinion that women should just claim and redefine words such as 'slut.' Not sure if that's possible, though.
I'd prefer people didn't slut-shame, period. Omfg you had casual sex, big fucking whoop vs. Oh you had sex? (non-sarcastic) Big whoop! Congratulations! Tell me everything!
Slapper is slightly less insulting than slag. Slapper my denote a woman who wears a lot of markup ('slap-on') and goes out a lot, is loose with the men a bit while not being of 'slag' material.
No, these would be raising things up a notch. I can't really think of using these if the intention was anything other than to insult.
Well... In America those two words can have a strong delivery or they can have a milder, mitigated delivery depending on tone and who the A and B are in the repartee. It's not in my nature to use terms like slapper or slag since 1) goodness knows I've been both by most people's standards at one time or another, and 2) I don't live in a place where using those terms would evince anything but confusion (I live in a Spanish speaking realm). I was just interesting in knowing how they get used in the U.K. since my only real contact with such terms is Brit television and film. I've heard slag used with rather mild insouciance on telly and without asking it wasn't possible for me to know if this was an artifact of the word being plastic and malleable in use or if it was an artifact of the much more liberal censorship standards to be found in U.K. telly as compared to the rather sadly prudish attitude taken by U.S. broadcasters. I was actually watching an early episode of Being Human where slag was said on three occasions in one episode. This is what evoked the question from me.
Depends on context and also area/region! Where I come from, 'slapper' would be a term used for a woman who dressed younger than her years, wore too much make up and flaunted her very less than perfect body to the point of snogging the face off anything in trousers but not going as far as having sex. Slag, would be all of the above AND also having sex with every Tom, Dick and Harry she snogged.
If you are going to use those terms between your friends then the most likely time would be if you were pissed as a fart and your friend had just done something stupid like ... lifting up her top and squashing her breasts against the taxi drivers' car window! Then you might say "eee, Tracey, you big slapper!" before collapsing on the pavement in a fit of giggles ...
I don't know if it's an age/region thing but my mum uses 'slapper' quite vehemently, although could just be my mum. As insults they're both quite mild but would depend on context.
When I was in my late teens, (late 1980's) the term 'slapper' was used a lot more frequently than it's used today. I noticed a big difference when we moved from Yorkshire to the North East (UK) with some words. In Yorkshire, the name we would have for a velour, bright pink tracksuit wearing girl who spends the day shopping with her hair curlers in and then the night dancing away acting common as muck, would be 'chav' but in the North East, the same person would be labelled a 'charver'. Equally, the term 'fart' would set some off giggling whereas in some areas, it would be seen as a swear word. The same goes for slapper and slag, where some people would think them both mild terms, I would consider slag a lot stronger term. Indeed, I wouldn't bat an eyelid if my children (16 and 12) said slapper but they would be told off for saying slag.
