# Rude English words the yanks don't get! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [October 25, 2003, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523 "2003-10-25T18:11:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/61 "2003-10-26T19:38:11Z")
I can tell the difference between English, Scottish and Irish, but the Australian just sounds like English to me… More about Mickey. In America it’s “slip [someone] a Mickey.” To sneak poison or a knock-out drug into someone’s drink. Maybe from Mickey Spillane but I don’t know that. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 7:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/62 "2003-10-26T19:52:21Z")
> [@](#): > > **everton** : I’ve never heard it being used by anyone here. Even “bonk” sounds peculiar to me – very 80s/tabloid. It has very strong USA/80’s associations for me, anyway. I’d never heard it used in the context of sexual congress until Bruce Willis’ character tormented Cybil Shepherd’s character in one episode by using it about 500 times in one episode. The part I remember best, they were driving around and he was ribbing her about being a prude-- something along the lines of "Come on! Millions of people are boinking right now-- Can’t you hear them? " (He cups his hand to his ear and leans out the passenger window.) “Boink boink boink boink boink boink boink.” Re: Accents– I will never comprehend how people can confuse English/Irish/Scottish/Australian accents, although it is sometimes difficult for me to distinguish between Australian and New Zealand accents. A couple of times, people have asked _me_, “I can’t quite place your accent – are you English or Irish?” (I was born here in B.C. to parents from New Brunswick. What the hell? Do I listen to too much BBC programming?) ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/63 "2003-10-26T19:58:35Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by everton \* > **I’m sure plenty of people realise what the proper ingredients are, but it still seems like an alien combination. I made my own once and won’t be doing it again. Having said that, it’s often been mentioned on the SDMB that our peanut butter doesn’t taste the same as yours, so maybe that’s the problem?** Nah, the peanut butter’s not _that_ different. You’re probably just one of those people who doesn’t like PB&J sandwiches. You’re in good company BTW 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 8:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/64 "2003-10-26T20:34:34Z")
> [@](#): > > **Everton:** … it’s often been mentioned on the SDMB that our peanut butter doesn’t taste the same as yours, so maybe that’s the problem? > > **ruadh:** Nah, the peanut butter’s not that different. You’re probably just one of those people who doesn’t like PB&J sandwiches. Sorry to deviate from the OP’s topic, but this cross-Atlantic rift over the appeal of peanut butter has often puzzled me (an American) as well. Like Everton, I suspect that we’re using the same term for two entirely different foodstuffs. For example, in the book _The Emperors of Chocolate: Inside the Secret World of Hershey and Mars_ — a recommended history of the US chocolate industry, if that subject interests you — it’s mentioned that European chocolate manufacturers are generally horrified in their awareness that Americans sometimes like their chocolate mixed with peanut butter. (Hershey’s Reese’s Cups come immediately to mind. Also, Baskin Robbins over here offers it as one of their flavors.) In fact the European executives quoted in _Emperors_ seemed to overreact to the notion beyond all rationality, as if mercury were being proposed for an ingredient. Now, I can understand that this choice of flavor combination is a matter of personal taste, and one that hasn’t caught on elsewhere. But I certainly can’t see it as any more blasphemous than wrapping chocolate around marzipan or hazelnut paste, as Lindt and their fellow European chocolate companies in fact do. Putting aside the Chocolate with Peanut Butter Scare, I have to assume that if Europeans, statistically speaking, don’t like peanut butter, then they must not like peanuts either, since the butter is little more than ground peanuts mixed with a little salt and sugar. Either that, or Europeans are doing something else to ground peanuts and calling the result _peanut butter_ even though it is no such thing. (And therein would lie the true blasphemy.) I’d be much obliged to anyone who can solve the mystery. Sorry again for the digression. It just blurted out. Now back to the discussion about rude English words. ---
**Author:** ![ruadh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d2c977/32.png) [@ruadh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ruadh)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/65 "2003-10-26T20:43:04Z")
I’ve eaten peanut butter in both countries, Bytegeist. It is _not that different_. The American kind is a bit sweeter, but it’s essentially the same food. I think the reason the Brits (and the Irish, FWIW) aren’t as fond of it is simply because they haven’t grown up with it the way we have. It’s an acquired taste that most Americans acquire at a very early age. Many in the isles never do. ---
**Author:** ![umop\_ap\_sdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/dbc845/32.png) [@umop\_ap\_sdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/umop_ap_sdn)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/66 "2003-10-26T23:48:52Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by spogga_ > **Rogering** > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by OpalCat \* > \*\*I think most Americans would know that one, too. \*\* Nope. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by ruadh_ > **It’s an acquired taste that most Americans acquire at a very early age.** I have been eating PB&J and Fluffernutter sammiches lately and am darn sick and tired of 'em by now. But never would have guessed they’re an acquired taste. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Bytegeist_ > **European chocolate manufacturers are generally horrified in their awareness that Americans sometimes like their chocolate mixed with peanut butter. (Hershey’s Reese’s Cups come immediately to mind.)** Horrified over something as delicious as a Reese’s cup?:eek: ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 11:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/67 "2003-10-26T23:54:48Z")
Ugh, yes. Peanut butter mixed with chocolate? Good grief no. Although, given that the nearest to manna we have in the UK is pickled-onion flavoured Monster Munch, I suspect I’m on shaky ground criticising other countries’ snack foods… ---
**Author:** ![Herge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a183cd/32.png) [@Herge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Herge)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 12:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/68 "2003-10-27T00:04:39Z")
Peanut butter and chocolate? Its similar to what we have in Snickers bars, which are tasty if you’re hungry and need a snack. Mixing peanut butter from the jar with chocolate doesn’t sound appetizing, though. Crusoe - Monster Munch is a British institution in crisp snacks! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Bytegeist](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9dc877/32.png) [@Bytegeist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bytegeist)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/69 "2003-10-27T01:38:45Z")
**Aryk29** , Horror ( :eek: ) might be too strong a word, but there’s apparently little room made for peanut butter on the European palate. From _The Emperors of Chocolate_, by Joël Brenner, p. 39: > [@](#): > > “You want to know why Mars doesn’t make any products with peanut butter?” asks Alfred Poe, former marketing director of the candy division. “It’s because the family doesn’t eat peanut butter. They don’t like it.” (John, Forrest Jr. and Jackie \ did not eat peanut butter and jelly sandwiches growing up; they were raised in England, where peanut butter is despised.) And ibid., p. 296: > [@](#): > > Lisbeth Echeandia, the publisher of _Confectioner_ magazine, tells of taking Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups to a seminar in Germany on American products. “The Germans couldn’t believe Americans would eat it. They were tasting the candy and spitting it out.” This, from the people who came up with _sauerkraut_ for Christ’s sake. Finally, I’m actually able to connect my digression back to the OP’s topic. From _Emperors_ again, p. 220: > [@](#): > > It used to be that a Snickers bar was known by many different names in different countries. For example, in Britain a Snickers was known as a Marathon … (Forrest \ Sr. originally changed the Snickers name because the word rhymed with _knickers_, and he didn’t want his consumers to make such an association. Growing up in America, I have to say I never heard the word _knickers_, and could never have guessed what it meant, until I started watching Monty Python sketches. ---
**Author:** ![OpalCat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/8edcca/32.png) [@OpalCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/OpalCat)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 5:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/70 "2003-10-27T05:46:37Z")
Really? Weird. For me, growing up in America, the word “knickers” meant knee-length pants. ---
**Author:** ![if6was9](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/e47c2d/32.png) [@if6was9](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/if6was9)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/71 "2003-10-27T06:00:36Z")
I didn’t know this. I am flabbergasted that Europeans (U.K. anyway) don’t like peanut butter and chocolate. Even the Italians have Nutella… Mmmmmm! Frozen Reese Cups… 😃 ---
**Author:** ![CadburyAngel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c2a13f/32.png) [@CadburyAngel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CadburyAngel)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/72 "2003-10-27T06:17:09Z")
“But I certainly can’t see it as any more blasphemous than wrapping chocolate around marzipan or hazelnut paste, as Lindt and their fellow European chocolate companies in fact do.” Man, I think that marzipan chocolate Lindt thing was the only piece of chocolate I have ever spit out. Disgusting. Bizarre and unpleasantly grainy. “Rogering” is unfamiliar enough that my 12th grade English teacher had to explain the double meaning in Lord of the Flies. (If I recall correctly, Roger is the boy leading the charge in shoving the spear up the pig’s nether orifice.) ---
**Author:** ![zoogirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b9bd4f/32.png) [@zoogirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoogirl)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 6:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/73 "2003-10-27T06:37:10Z")
Re: Wanker, I hear it also means roughly the same as “slacker”, at least around here. As far as "piss’ goes, we use "take a piss’ to mean urinate, but like I tell my kids, “You don’t take it, dammit, you _leave_ it!” ---
**Author:** ![Knowed\_Out](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/knowed_out/32/7380_2.png) [@Knowed\_Out](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knowed_Out)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 10:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/74 "2003-10-27T10:33:51Z")
UK dopers: what does _geezer_ mean to you? I thought it meant “old person”, but after hearing **The Streets** use it in their raps, it seems to mean punk or fool, not necessarily old. ---
**Author:** ![brainfizz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/da6949/32.png) [@brainfizz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/brainfizz)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 11:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/75 "2003-10-27T11:10:33Z")
Oh, there’s so many lovely rude/semi-rude english words out there! Blimmin’ 'eck! Codger Munter Arse (not ass!) Nincompoop Nonce ---
**Author:** ![JonTheHasher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/7bcc69/32.png) [@JonTheHasher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JonTheHasher)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 11:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/76 "2003-10-27T11:33:37Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Fern Forest \* > \*\*My how things change. There are actually quite a lot of Fannys in the 1901 UK census. How rude to take your poor dead great grandmother’s name and give it such a reference. \*\* Yeah, my grandfather Dick asked me not to use his mother’s name like that 😉 > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by masonite_ > **Americans, thinking they sound British, will use “bloody” quite casually and shock an upstanding Briton. Is this correct?** Now, I was under the impression that “bloody” was in reference to menstruation, used the same way as the Jamaican “blood cloth” (which sounds a helluva lot more like a swear word when it’s spoken in the correct accent which sounds more like “bludeclote”). Furthermore, I’ve enjoyed the look on the faces of my prim-and-proper coworkers who I’ve heard use it in place of a “swear word” when I tell 'em that. Ah, what the hell. Even if that’s not what it means, I think I’m gonna keep telling people that in that situation, just 'cause I like their reaction. ---
**Author:** ![Chimpy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a9adbd/32.png) [@Chimpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chimpy)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 11:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/77 "2003-10-27T11:37:01Z")
ive never used bloody as in menstruation i jsut use it to show emphasis “i mean there are only two bloody people online at the moment” ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 11:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/78 "2003-10-27T11:47:37Z")
I was down the rub a dub having a go with a doris (bit of a BOBFOC, but lovely thrups). I 'd banged back a few brittneys so I was feeling a bit lairy so I was prepared to poke a minger and she didn’t munt that bad - only a two bagger - not a bear trap. Any way I offer to schlep to the bar and get a couple of don revies. THings are going well so I call a sherbert and get her back to her drum. One thing leads to another and bonkage is achieved. In the morning I wipe my teddington on the curtains and leave happily shagged out. Or look at the 7th review here (the one dated 10/10) and see if you get it. [www.london-eating.co.uk/2252.htm](http://www.london-eating.co.uk/2252.htm) \<[http://www.london-eating.co.uk/2252.htm](http://www.london-eating.co.uk/2252.htm)\> ---
**Author:** ![paulberserker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/c4cdca/32.png) [@paulberserker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/paulberserker)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/79 "2003-10-27T11:48:05Z")
[the Viz Profanisaurus](http://www.viz.co.uk/profanisaurus/profanis.htm) sholud clear up all your concerns or questions. bungles fingers! ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [October 27, 2003, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/80 "2003-10-27T12:02:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Knowed Out \* > \*\*UK dopers: what does _geezer_ mean to you? I thought it meant “old person”, but after hearing **The Streets** use it in their raps, it seems to mean punk or fool, not necessarily old. \*\* A geezer jiust means the same as “bloke” or “chap” ie there’s a geezer in the pub who supports west ham… In London being a bit of a geezer implies a “dodgy” aspect to one’s character - ie slightly disreputable. Conversely “diamond geezer” is a mark of respect - ie a stand-up guy, who can be trusted. The equivelent for females is “birds”. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523.md?page=5)