Berk can be used on TV probably because it doesn’t need to be explained to your six-year-old when he asks what it means - it can be passed off as meaning a silly person or fool.
I was in my late teens before learning the real meaning - Cockney rhyming slang isn’t that commonly used as such in the shires.
Never understood why it isn’t pronounced ‘bark’, the same way ‘berkley’ is pronounced ‘barkley’.
Because of the mildness of the insult, the pronunciation and the fact that plenty of other words made their way into English slang (minge, cosh, pal, chav, mush, etc) I spent years thinking that berk came from the Anglo-Romani word for tit.
Yeah; I’m reminded of the Kinks song Berkeley Mews, in which Ray Davis pronounces it “Barkley”…anyway, isn’t Cockney Slang already rendering NSFW terms SFW? Why should we add an additional layer?
I think either because the people who originally popularised the “Berkeley Hunt = cunt” slang were being deliberately disingenuous, or they genuinely didn’t realise that it was pronounced “Barkly”. I mean, I’m English myself and I think I was in my twenties before I realise that “Berkeley” (the English town, not the American one), was pronounced that way. Despite being familiar with the county of Berkshire (pronounced “Barkshire”, of course).
Originally the term “burke” with this spelling meant to stifle, suffocate or otherwise suppress. It was a reference to Burke and Hare who provided cadavers for dissection in Edinburgh by the convenient method of murdering them. The term is now archaic, of course.
Like others, I’ve not seen it spelled “burke” (seems some folks have found old references to that spelling).
To me, it’s always been on a level with “you silly billy” or “you wally” - very, very inoffensive. I learned the Cockney explanation later in life (Berkely Hunt = Cunt) but it doesn’t resonate on that level with me. It’s about as inoffensive an insult as you can get, and I haven’t heard it used since my grandmother used it back in the late 70s. I’ve certainly never used it.
“Rah rah rah! We’re going to smash the oiks!”
There tends to be a slightly affectionate component to “berk”, and it’s usually associated with a specific incident of stupidity
Berk = someone you like has just done something stupid
Twat = someone you don’t like, has done something stupid or otherwise objectionable at some point in the past
My Dad (a Yorkshireman) uses it quite a lot. Perhaps it is not only regional but for people of a certain age?