Perhaps too class is a thing. If a politician says it here in Australia it always feels like they are being disingenuous, trying too hard to come across as 'one of the people' where as we all know they are bloody toffs. Bloody wankers
I think that Americans see it as entertainingly British, with only the faintest notion, or no notion, that it could ever offend. In my experience, i's not part of the American vocabulary; an American using would always "feel British".
I feel like it's one of those tamer swear words. I never hear it around here (southern america). **LANGUAGE WARNING** This makes me think of "offensive" swear words. I used the term "cock sucking" (in a full sentence, something like, "Fucking cocking sucking piece of shit" in my novel. I didn't really think twice about it, until I sent the excerpt to my friend and she was like, "You said 'cock sucking.' People might take that as an insult to homosexuals" That kind of blew my mind. I know it's strong language, but I never really thought gay people would be offended by the term?
Bloody-ell, you should read a Stephen King book; they're always riddled with all kinds of filth. Write as if your mum (or mom for you Muricans) will never read it.
Speaking as an American who moved to Scotland nearly 30 years ago, I can confirm that 'bloody' is definitely a swear word here. Not a really really bad one, but older people are quite offended by it. There was a very recent case where somebody got 'contempt of court' slapped on them for saying it during a court proceding. It was never considered a swear word back in the USA. Although we didn't use it, we were familiar with it, via British movies, TV and books. We thought it was a mild thing, like saying 'dratted' or 'danged' or something like that. But no. It's apparently a much stronger word, or at least it used to be. I think it's a lot more acceptable now, as witnessed in Harry Potter. Just a tip to Americans. Do not EVER say 'fanny' here in the UK as a euphemism for ass, butt, avoirdupois or any other similar object. It's considered a very gross and unacceptable word ...as I discovered, the hard way. But as a nickname for Frances (female)? Perfectly okay. Go figure....
I heard the story of someone who was visiting the UK and was wearing a fanny pack, and when asked for something said "let me pull that out of my fanny."
geez... oh GEEZ.... By the way, the correct term for that piece of luggage here is 'waist pack.' Or ...bum bag!
Well I had a mate who went to the USA to study at a conservative Christian school Got in all sorts of trouble when he tried to buy rubbers at the bookshop. Apparently not a slang term for erasers over there...
Nope. It isn't. Hope he didn't also say, "I want to smoke a faggot" in front of anyone. If he said that in front of me, and I didn't know what he meant by it, I would've assumed he was homophobic. 'Faggot' in the US = Offensive term for LBGT+.
Do they measure the customer's feet first because I heard that was a myth. @Link the Writer Faggot/fag gets it's fair share of offensive use here sadly. As does poof (same meaning) so when Poufs went on sale at Ikea it confirmed the suspicion of a few homophobic Aussie males who just thought it was a fancy spelling and forevermore refused to enter an Ikea store. Language is tricky. This is also a faggot:
I just enjoy these rifts between US English and UK English. Not just the rude ones, mind, but there are some words in common, everyday use in the US which are considered rude here in the UK. That said, I once saw "faggots" in a restaurant menu. Something to do with meatballs made with large proportions of offal, apparently. Then there's "spotted dick", a sponge-cake based desert, "toad in the hole", which is sausages in Yorkshire pudding, and finally the "singing hinnie", also known as a shallow fried currant cake.
I shall assume it's between the legs? Jannert, we're adults here. You're not going to break our not-fragile brains.
