Definition of "Wazzick"? "Wozzuk"? (idk spelling) British term

General Questions
#1

What the definition and spelling of this likely colloquial term used in British Parliament during the debate over whether Donald Trump should be banned from entering the United Kingdom?

YouTube link of debate:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BMP-BrXhcR0

The quote occurs at 1:07:50 during the video.

“…and if he [Trump] met one or two of my constituents in one of the many excellent pubs in my constituency then they may well tell him that he is a “Wozzick” for dealing with this issue in this way.”

#2


http://definithing.com/wazzik/

It was new to me.

#3

The OED has the entry under wazzock, and notes the alternative spellings wassock and wazzuck. The definition is “a stupid or annoying person; and idiot” and the term is noted as “usu. mildly depreciative”.

#4

I’ve only heard it as “wazzuck” and indeed it is used for someone who is annoyingly stupid. Often when they have made a hash of a task by doing something utterly inept: filling your petrol car with diesel, hammering screws into something, invading Russia in the winter. “You utter wazzuck!”

#5

The excellent Lexicon Valley podcast recently did an episode on the word.

#6

All,

Thank you for the information. This definition is in line with my expectations given the context heard in the House of Commons.

#7

A wazzuck is someone who is stupid or messes things up - its not a swear word, but I’d be careful about calling the wrong person it to their face. I don’t know if it is more of a northern English thing, because growing up in London and the south-east, we didn’t use it that much, “'nana” or “plonker” seem more natural to me.

#8

The Russians have an even better idiom for it: “Their hands [or arms] grow from their asses”.

See earlier brief thread “Their hands grow from their asses” What language?

#9

Is it a milder form of “wanker”?

#10

No. A wanker can be annoying but smart, and is generally full of self-regard. A wazzock is not smart; he’s dim. And the term doesn’t imply excessive self-regard (though it also doesn’t exclude it, which is why it can be applied to Trump).

#11

Not really. Salesdroids are often wankers. There is a level of self importance that goes with the behavior. Spouting poorly reasoned, dubious or idiotic “facts”. Sometimes incompetence, sometimes willfully ignoring things for self benefit (hence salesdroids). Something they say can be “a pile of wank”. The obvious parallels with masturbation.

#12

How does a wazzock compare with a pillock? And which would best describe someone who’d just dropped a bollock?

#13

Pillock (literal meaning: a penis) is probably a bit stronger than wassock. A wassock might be just a bit dim; a pillock is really stupid. Plus, while a wassock is annoying, a pillock generally knows he’s annoying.

“Drop a bollock” is military slang. It’s pretty much the only phrase, I think, in which “bollock” occurs in the singular. It means to make a serious mistake, usually one that will have adverse repercussions (sometimes for someone else, in which case the offender is said to have dropped a bollock for that other person). You don’t have to be either a wassock or a pillock to drop ballock; you can be just unfortunate.

#14

Are they mispronouncing the word throughout the entire podcast? I only listened to bits here and there, but as I understand it, the word is supposed to be pronounced with “wazz” rhyming with “jazz”.

#15

I was going to suggest “Pillock” but as UDS notes, it’s got more of an edge to it.

“Prat” might work as an alternative?

#16

Yeah, they address their mispronunciation in a later episode.

#17

I’m a Midlander (Warwickshire) and it was in common usage in the playground in the 1980s. Maybe it didn’t travel much further south than there.

#18

The OED notes it as “regional (orig. north.)”.

#19

By coincidence I saw this word in a glossary of Yorkshire slang a few days ago. I was trying to decipher Kes, which was in the news because the author of the novel it was based on died recently. I don’t think wazzock was in the movie, but frankly how could I tell if it was? The Portuguese subtitles of the version I watched were more comprehensible than the allegedly English dialogue.

#20

I would like to incorporate a fun word like “plonker” into my everyday language. What are its exact connotations?