# Can Spike say this on TV? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 7, 2002, 10:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spike-say-this-on-tv/107800 "2002-05-07T22:44:12Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 1:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spike-say-this-on-tv/107800/21 "2002-05-08T13:39:10Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Otto \* > \*\* > [Nope.](http://www.snopes.com/language/apocryph/pluckyew.htm) \*\* Ditto from [Cecil.](http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a980904.html) ---
**Author:** ![toadspittle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c0e974/32.png) [@toadspittle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/toadspittle)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spike-say-this-on-tv/107800/22 "2002-05-08T14:01:21Z")
Oh, and just to consolidate what Spike can say (in the USA): - bollocks - wanker - bint - bloody/bloody hell - bugger this/bugger off/etc. - plus the two-finger salute These are all just quaint Britishisms to Yankee ears. The general impression we get here is: - bollocks (“B-S” or “bull” … though just like that, not “dirty”) - wanker (“loser”, “jerk”, “buffoon”) - bint (meaningless) - bloody/bloody hell (“freakin’” – just an emphatic, not dirty) - bugger this/bugger off/etc. (“to heck with this”/“get lost”) - plus the two-finger salute (we know it’s the equivalent of the single-finger salute, but it’s funny, rather than offensive, since it’s not something we use) ---
**Author:** ![LateComer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b5ac83/32.png) [@LateComer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LateComer)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spike-say-this-on-tv/107800/23 "2002-05-08T14:23:46Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Mighty Maximino \* > \*\*I dunno, I heard Ozzy say the f-word on Leno the other night. They bleeped him for the rest of the show, though, so I’m thinking that someone was just a little slow on the time-delay censoring! \*\* Very slow since the show’s taped several hours before airing. ---
**Author:** ![everton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ecb155/32.png) [@everton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/everton)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 8:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spike-say-this-on-tv/107800/24 "2002-05-08T20:35:22Z")
The interpretations **toadspittle** ’s placed on this stuff (i.e. _mildly_ rude at worst) is pretty much how they’d be viewed by most people in this country as well. **funkynige** will have to tell us his motivation for starting this thread, but I think there’s a general impression here that there is a more conservative attitude to “profanity” on American television than in the UK - at least on non-subscription stations. It may help American posters to realise that there is a self-regulatory agreement among TV producers here that they avoid showing anything of an adult nature before 9:00pm and Buffy shows between 6:00 and 7:00 mostly. BtVS is often criticised by British parents for being unsuitable for its teenage target audience, but I don’t hear profanity being cited in that criticism. _After_ the “nine o’clock watershed” by the way, the adult content (especially the language and sex, but much less so the violence) might shock an American audience. It frequently raises comment from American guests on our TV shows. The only word that gets bleeped after nine is the c- word, and although there’s usually a prior warning, “fuck” is peppered around very freely. Even apart from TV I often hear Americans expressing surprise at how “foul-mouthed” we are. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Maximino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e95f7d/32.png) [@Mighty\_Maximino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Maximino)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2002, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spike-say-this-on-tv/107800/25 "2002-05-08T20:38:14Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by LateComer \* > \*\*Very slow since the show’s taped several hours before airing. \*\* You’re right. They must have just completely missed it. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/can-spike-say-this-on-tv/107800.md?page=1)