Recently had a book published, an anthology of contemporary poetry; the annotations to the poems are my work. Have had a few nitpickers weigh in on the notes; I’m hoping to introduce corrections into a 2nd printing, so want to assemble a list of errata. Some of this concerns British slang & idioms. Any opinions on the meaning, nuances & possible nutshell definitions of the following words & phrases? (These are drawn from Tony Harrison’s v.–notorious for the uproar caused when it was broadcast on TV, swear-words and all–& assorted Carol Ann Duffy poems.)
aggro
Paki git
dole
piss-artist
“My shout.” (said in a pub)
I can provide the poetic context, my own definitions (which typically drew on a few UK friends & the OED), & the objections raised to them if people are curious or think that’d help in narrowing down a definition, but I thought that that might not be necessary given the familiarity of the phrases.
aggro: short for “aggravation”; trouble or difficulties of any kind, but often refers to physical violence.
Paki git: Paki = Pakistani (in terms of its register, not dissimilar to “nigger” in US English). Git is a generalised term of abuse
dole: unemployment benefit, a basic living allowance paid to people who are unemployed but available for, and actively seeking work. Now formally known as “Jobseeker’s Allowance” (“to be on the dole” = to be unemployed)
“Dole” is interesting becuase it can carry negative connotations either about the recipients (e.g. “dole scrounger”, somebody who prefers claiming benefits to working), or about the unfairness of the claimant’s situation (e.g. “Mrs Thatcher put thousands of miners on the dole”)
piss-artist: heavy drinker
“My shout.” (said in a pub): My round, i.e. my turn to buy the drinks.
Does agro over their also have the meaning it has here of anger or frustration? “He was getting a bit agro” meaning he was getting angry? Definite implications of physical violence and trouble to follow, but not quite the same thing?
I’ve never heard the word used this way, although that doesn’t mean it can’t be. As I understand it, “aggro” was popularised among the British skinheads and other naughty chaps, in the late 70s and early 80s. It is a term for aggravation or generalised violent fun, used by those who LIKE such things. The sort of thing one might have tattooed, spelled wrongly, on one’s forehead. Thus, the following conversation, possibly apocryphal but most likely genuinely overheard a few years back:
“You’ve moved to the new estate, haven’t you?”
“Yeah, but I moved back up here.”
“How come?”
“More aggro.”
For further information on the culture from which aggro stems, check out Private Eye’s “YOBS” animations, here.
I’ve heard “I’m having a bit of aggro with this” as “This is aggrevating me” and “He’s getting a bit aggro” as “He’s getting aggressive”. I’ve also assumed piss-artist was like bullshit-artist, where piss-head was a heavy drinker, but then I’m just a transplanted septic and I’m still learning
Thanks for the glosses–just writing here at 3 a.m. so can’t get into too many details, but: yes, I was wondering about the exact connotations of “piss-artist”. Here’s the stanza:
You piss-artist skinhead cunt, you wouldn’t know
and it doesn’t fucking matter if you do,
the skin and poet united fucking Rimbaud
but the autre that je est is fucking you.
I had originally glossed the phrase simply as “drunkard”; a UK correspondent suggested the following gloss, which I used–“piss-artist: a general term of abuse; a person who when drunk (i.e., usually) has an exaggerated sense of their own value, wit, or importance”. This has prompted bewilderment from a couple of UK readers so I’m wondering if I goofed up. But the preceding poster’s “bullshit-artist” suggests I may have been close to the mark. (I think of the idiom “taking the piss” too.)
I think the first response “heavy drinker” is pretty well spot on for ‘piss-artist’. If you want to be pedantic, it might lean towards borderline ‘drunkard’.
Growing up in the South East of England, I’ve always used “piss-artist” as a generalised term of abuse. IMHO, it carries the connotations of “waster” - someone who pisses their life away, as it were.
I concur with all of TomH’s other definitions though.
“Pissing it up the wall” “On the piss” “Pissed up” – all booze related (‘Piss’ = alcohol). Why would ‘Piss artist’ be any different ? The person might be a wasteral as well but he / she’s foremost characteristic is as a heavy drinker nee drunkard. IMHO.
I think you were originally correct and your correspondent is wrong. Obviously, it could suggest those things in certain contexts but I think your correspondent is reading too much into it, especially in the context you’ve given.
“Artist” is used ironically in several phrases including, for example, “con-artist”, a confidence trickster.
“Piss” generally refers to urine or alcoholic drink but the phrase “taking the piss” means either joking or teasing or (by analogy) behaving in a manner that is so outrageous that it might be construed as a joke (e.g. “£85 to change the washer on a tap? That’s taking the piss!”)
I have always assumed that “piss-head” is just a modern synonym for “piss-artist” but I could well be wrong and there are probably regional differences in usage that I’m not aware of.
Just so I can just understand all the words I hear and have wondered about. What exactly is a tosspot, and can anyone give me some of the uses for the word cheers. I have heard it as a thank you, your welcome, goodbye. Any others?
A tosspot or tosser is a stupid, irritating person. I was speaking to one not so very long ago. It’s pretty insulting, synonymous with wanker, though no so bad IMHO.
As you said cheers = thanks, or the obvious toast when drinking. Or in the phrase “Three cheers for Cecil Adams”, for example.
piss-artist: waster, someone who spends all their time telling you what they would do…if only a bar stool wasn’t surgically attached to their ass. i.e. a gobshite.
in ireland this is NOT THE SAME AS A DRUNK…
we have lots of other names for them.
I wonder about people on the dole…why is losing one’s job refered to as being “made redundant”? Not that the US term “laid off” makes any sense, either, but…
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Piss-artist is not really anything to do with getting drunk. Here it means “Smart ass” or “Smart Alec”. I guess its kina like “Piss-farting around” which means wasting time.
“Made redundant” is pretty self explanatory. If you get fired because of a reshuffle then you are redundant. - not needed.
Umm. “Redundancy” is a specific process, in which a company reduces its workforce (by getting rid of the “redundant” staff), usually with some sort of final pay-off. Sometimes it’s voluntary on the part of the staff concerned (the pay-off may be a good deal, if you reckon you can find a new job quickly enough), sometimes it’s not. Of course, being “made redundant” doesn’t imply incompetence or misconduct on the part of the employee, whereas getting fired would… so, people might well prefer to say they were “made redundant”.
“Laid off”, at least in the UK, has connotations of being temporary; workers can be “laid off” during a slack period, only to be brought back in when business picks up.
