What is “nerrrrrrrr”?
In any case, if you are serious, Theom, it’s an urban legend. The same story is told about the French at the Battle of Agincourt. See Snopes.
Interesting that fanny is a fairly innocent descriptive word on both sides, but describing such very different body parts. I can’t think of a “cute” American equivalent to the British “fanny.” I could see using fanny in the American sense in front of my grandma, but not otherwise! 
Not long ago I ended up having a fifteen-minute argument with a British person about her diary. She’d forgotten it, I volunteered to go out and get her a blank notebook, she was MYSTIFIED…finally, we figured out what the other one meant! (She’d forgotten her daily planner. Oops indeed!)
I just looked up “scumbag” in the American Heritage Dictionary online and found it is a “NOUN: Slang A person regarded as despicable.” Merriam-Webster says the same.
I believe I have read its etymology comes from a used condom! The OED online wants a password; anyone got one handy? I’m always secretly amused when I hear “scumbag” used by little old ladies and other innocents … is that really what it refers to?
You left off the punchline. Most bows were carved from yew, a type of wood, so demonstrating that you still had your fingers was typically accompanied by shouting at the enemy: “See! We can stil pluck yew! PLUCK YEW!”
How about “coochie?”
Uh, how is that pronounced, exactly?
Methinks thou dost give too much credit! I went to a magnet high school, filled with the best and brightest, and I’d say only 2/3, at best, read the assigned material.
Exapno Mapcase, that excerpt was positively shocking! :eek:
It’s not offensive, its about the mildest expletive there is. It might make an impact if the Queen said it (remember when Princess Anne said “Naff off”?) but otherwise its no big deal.
And “shag” isn’t in the least bit rude either, its a comedy term for a bonk. (note spelling), hence its use in a hit comedy. The only news it made over here was the over-reaction of the American media and its occasionally bowlderised title in the USA
And if Mr Burns called U2 wankers, he is now my favourite Simpson character of all time. If you wanted a dictionary definition of a wanker, simply cross Bono with Sting (who is more of a prick really).
Re: “bloody” – I (an American) have found the Brits to be rather divided in opinion about “bloody”. Many of them swear up and down (so to speak) that “bloody hell” is as strong an exclamation in British culture as “f***ing hell” is in American culture.
The funny thing is, that doesn’t seem to stop those same Brits from using the expression “bloody hell” quite often. One of the mysteries of language.
I don’t think times have changed that much since Blazing Saddles was first shown on TV.
And here I was, hoping for scintillating discourse on all things scumbag, and am disappointed. Well, it is off-topic, but I expected more of you people.
All this talk about the wanking Simpsons, and not one mention of Lenny calling Carl a “jerkoff”?
Having accessed the OED via my county library’s website, I can assert that, yes, “scumbag” does carry the meaning of condom, but said meaning is of relatively recent vintage - the first recorded usage of scum to mean “semen” dates from 1967, with scumbag meaning “condom” (not necessarily used) from 1968. “Scumbag” as term of abuse dates from 1971.
To hell with Shaggy – what do they think of Scooby? A half-talking dog with the last name of “Doo”? Good lord.
I used to avoid swearing in front of older people until I thought about it logically. Being several times my age, they’ve probably heard or said everything under the sun. Why, then, should I be embarrassed to use bad words in front of them?
So now I say “fuck” in front of the 68-year-old lady I work with. She doesn’t bat an eye.
Since “Fanny” apparently has some actual shock value in England still, what is it like for an English person to read something like Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, where the extremely virtuous heroine is named Fanny? Does the other meaning keep intruding? I think I’d find it very difficult to enjoy the book if the heroine was called Vagina Price.
Cuss words just don’t carry the weight if not in their native tongue. Chenga is the Mexican slang for fuck, my dad used to say “cheng’ered” (pronounced “chingered”) as a way to say “fucked up” when I was a kid, but he never really said “fuck” around me until I was grown. He also said it around my mom, who loathed the word “fuck”.
As for British Slang…bloody was the only one that really had me baffled. I didn’t realize it was as strong as it is. So on TV here we can call somebody a Bloody Wanker, but can’t say tits.
Olentzero, my hero!
And what about the suspense novel, Fanny by Gaslight, by English author Michael Sadleir (1888-1957)?
Censorship on Comedy Central is DEEPLY weird. They bleep everything, including ‘god’ (when used as a profanity), at certain hours. But yes, Chapelle says ‘nigger’ more than he says ‘the.’
People here got - if they didn’t know already - what ‘shag’ meant to Austin. But to Americans, it now means something more like ‘screw,’ whereas the British (and former colonies) take it to mean ‘fuck,’ - obviously more profane. If he’d been saying ‘fuck’ the whole movie, there’d have been a situation. But instead, he used what was seen as a dated, quaint euphemism.
That didn’t carry in places more familiar with the term. I’m told that in Singapore, ex-British colony, they changed the title because it was too vulgar (would you take the kids to “The Spy Who Fucked Me?”).
Best British slang experience I ever had was some time last year when a friend of mine misused the word bugger after quoting Dr. Evil. Another pal used it in proper context, and a lot of confusion resulted. Finally, someone had to explain to the poor sap what buggering is. His reply was “THAT’S what buggering means? I thought it just meant, you know, bugging people.” I was just glad he hadn’t gotten himself into real trouble.
Mike Myers seems to be just MANGLING British slang. Weird, since his parents are English (and he’s Canadian). I wonder if he doesn’t understand, or doesn’t care?
I think he knows what he’s saying, but that he’s taking advantage of the general ignorance among American audiences of these terms, just to see how far he can get before they catch on to what he’s saying. Does anyone remember his SNL character Simon–the British kid who sat in his bathtub doing “drawerings”? He’d constantly call the audience “bum monkeys.” It was hilarious.