So, I finally have BBC America. I’m watching “What Not To Wear.”
Every other word is ‘tits.’
And if they’re not talking about tits, they’re grabbing them. Cupping them. Moving them around.
And so, my dear friends from the British Isles, let me give you a word of warning if you come to the U.S.: We call them breasts. And even with that most neutrally non-offending word, we rarely refer to them at all. And if we must refer to a woman’s breasts in person, we sometimes use cute euphemisms like ‘the girls’ or ‘your assets.’
Yeah, so maybe its a bit of our Puritan heritage, or, maybe it’s a reaction to the boorish history of sexual harrassment in the U.S.; but we don’t draw attention to a woman’s breasts in person unless there’s a very valid reason to do so. And even then, we don’t call them tits. For us, that’s like calling them boobies or honkers.
Oh, one more thing. If you think we’re too painfully reticent to talk about tits. You can imagine our taboo over reaching out and manually adjusting them. Don’t do that. Just pretend you’re in Germany.
Peace.
I’m sure this warning will have no effect except to send American males to the show so that they can watch women handling other women’s breasts.
You’re kinda right. When I first got BBC-A and starting TiVoing the WNTW episodes, the number of times Trinny and Susannah said “tits and arse” was jarring. Right there in the opening titles, there is boob grabbage and everything. But you get used to it; I actually like it a little better than the American WNTW.
You wanna know what shows will make you feel better about the way your house looks inside? The Life Laundry and House Doctor.
Bite your tongue! I suppose you’re more of a Charlie from Ground Force type?
Besides, it’s hard not to judge British TV on the basis of home- and self-improvement shows – those shows comprise the vast majority of BBC-A’s programming.
As it is here - I don’t know exactly the offensiveness of the various words, but I think that show’s using “tits” a lot in a “Look at us! Women can be vulgar too, aren’t we cute” way (For that matter I’m not sure ‘assets’ is better than ‘breasts’, but that’s just MHO and depends on context.)
He could mean that Brits think Americans do, but are wrong, and shouldn’t behave in USA based on that assumption.
Just tits! Just tits! My God, man, how can you say such a thing!?! They’re divine fleshy blobs of wonderment! They’re meatbags which make men weak, they’re the appetizer on your way to the main course! They are the source of nectar which nourishes us when we’re young, they’re the slight flash of flesh which fills us with adolescent throbbing, that little glimpse of skin which reminds us of why it’s so good to be alive!
Whole industries have sprouted up to care for their every want and need. Societies have worshipped them, and you, you refer to them as “just tits.” I command you to watch 30 hours of Girls Gone Wild, obviously there’s something wrong with you, and you need to get it corrected immediately, or the entire fabric of the space time continuum could be destroyed!
BTW, why is it that the bulk of British entertainment exports to the US seems to be of the variety that the British don’t like? (I’ve heard this stated in other threads as well.) It’s not like you can’t produce quality entertainment (Monty Python, Dave Allen at Large and Doctor Who spring to mind as examples of quality British TV that’s made it to the US) so I’m at a loss as to why you’re Bogarting all the good stuff. Considering the hordes of ugly American tourists which must have invaded your shores over the years, you’d think you guys would want to ship the good stuff over here to help shave some of the rough edges off of us before we show up in England demanding to know why you drive on the “wrong” side of the road.
Oh, no. We mustn’t do that. Just like US television that is shown in the UK is a 100% perfect reflection of US culture, so whatever UK television gets shown in the USA is a 100% perfect reflection of UK culture.
That depends. How typical of the UK do you think their hardcore nerds are? Remember, most people in most countries do not hang out on computer message boards.
Um, Otto, I didn’t think you were into that!
Personally, I don’t care if they say tits, but for god sakes, don’t grab me THERE unless we’re on VERY intimate terms. I HATE being poked and prodded.
