# 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:** 7
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/121 "2003-10-29T17:34:05Z")
Embarrassingly, during WWII, Churchill occasionally used to give the V-for-victory sign in the “rude” fashion, with the knuckles outwards. Either he was a little out of touch with the common man, or he was sending a subtle message to the Nazis. ---
**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 29, 2003, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/122 "2003-10-29T19:27:29Z")
I’m told the “thumbs up” gesture is considered rude in the U.K.? ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 9:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/123 "2003-10-29T21:06:57Z")
Er, no. ---
**Author:** ![Wazza](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/35a633/32.png) [@Wazza](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wazza)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/124 "2003-10-29T21:16:09Z")
I am surprised that no-one has mentioned Root… (Sex) (She was a great root, hey, wanna root) Probably more Australian than British, but it never fails to make us laugh Root, Root, Root for the home team Oh the lengths you guys will go to… Mr Rooter advertises on the front of the yellow pages (they deliver)… ---
**Author:** ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/125 "2003-10-29T22:00:54Z")
Two words for ‘fool’ - prat (literal = arse) and pillock (similar to ‘git’). I used to use the word ‘prat’ fairly often, until someone in my university hall had the surname of ‘Pratt’. Oh boy, did I feel stupid using it in front of her.:smack: ---
**Author:** ![teela\_brown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/d9b06d/32.png) [@teela\_brown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teela_brown)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/126 "2003-10-29T22:10:14Z")
My two contributions are “bint” and “slash”. “Bint” means, I _think_, a bitch or a silly woman. Am I right, Brits? “Slash” I learned from Patsy Stone of AbFab. “I’ve got to have a slash, darling.” Ooh, and “wazz”, meaning the same thing as “slash”, I believe. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 10:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/127 "2003-10-29T22:16:51Z")
A cloth-eared bint is a derogatory term for a stupid woman. ---
**Author:** ![Wintermute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@Wintermute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wintermute)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2003, 10:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/128 "2003-10-29T22:17:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Apollyon \* > \*\*\ > And there you have captured a cultural divide… in a nutshell, if you will. 🙂 > Peanut butter does not have sugar in it. It is a savoury spread… which then explains why it doesn’t go so well with Jam / Jelly. > > Most major NZ brands = no sugar. (ETA and Sanitarium) Kraft = sugar. _bleech_🙂 > > And I can’t speak for the Brits, but the local here devour tons of the stuff – even more than Marmite. \*\* But you can buy peanut butter here with no sugar in it. Organic peanut butter is simply ground peanuts, no sugar, no salt, nothing. Even your average grocery store offers brands with low/no sugar in them. I personally don’t eat much peanut butter; I don’t really like it and can’t stand it with jam anymore, but I ate hundreds of PB & J sandwiches as a kid. I have eaten the orgainic kind, and it tasted just fine with jam/jelly, honey, etc. I tend to believe it’s the acquired taste thing. Kids are given peanut butter sandwiches as one of their first finger foods here and it’s often one of the few foods they will eat when they go through that finicky phase. As you get older, it becomes a comfort food. I have been told that English and European sweets are not as sugary as American sweets, and the “peanut butter” they mix with chocolate is very sweet, like peanut butter candy, so that may be why non-Americans think “yuck!”. Just my $0.02. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 8:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/129 "2003-10-30T08:59:06Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by pugluvr \* > \*\*Ooh, and “wazz”, meaning the same thing as “slash”, I believe. \*\* Strangely, where I grew up, “wazz” meant “wank”. Which caused me no end of confusion and embarrassement when I went to college, and heard things like “I’ll be there in a minute - I’m just going to have a wazz”, or walking back from the pub: “I’m desperate - I’ve got to go and have a wazz in the bushes over there”. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/130 "2003-10-30T09:06:11Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wintermute \* > \*\*I have been told that English and European sweets are not as sugary as American sweets, and the “peanut butter” they mix with chocolate is very sweet, like peanut butter candy, so that may be why non-Americans think “yuck!”. \*\* The candies here are definitely less sweet than in the US, and so is the peanut butter. I got some Skippy sent over from Boston (yeah, I’m a peanut butter freak) and found it utterly inedible, it was so loaded with corn syrup. I don’t know what European pb you mean when you say it’s mixed with chocolate - is that like Nutella, which is a German hazelnut and chocolate spread that is also horribly sweet? ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 10:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/131 "2003-10-30T10:52:22Z")
Names for women: Bint; doris; bird (or lemon - lemon curd); boiler; totty. ---
**Author:** ![Wintermute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@Wintermute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wintermute)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/132 "2003-10-30T16:12:20Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jjimm \* > \*\*I don’t know what European pb you mean when you say it’s mixed with chocolate - is that like Nutella, which is a German hazelnut and chocolate spread that is also horribly sweet? \*\* Sorry, I meant the peanut butter that Americans mix with our chocolate, such as the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups someone mentioned earlier. They are very sweet. As to the corn syrup in peanut butter, they put it in everything. Really. Everything. :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 4:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/133 "2003-10-30T16:49:04Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Wintermute \* > \*\*As to the corn syrup in peanut butter, they put it in everything. Really. Everything. :rolleyes: \*\* Yeah, I notice you get it in your ketchup too. Bleaugh. ---
**Author:** ![kmg365](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ec9cab/32.png) [@kmg365](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kmg365)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/134 "2003-10-30T19:00:34Z")
I was having a conversation with a Brit co-worker of mine who is English (I’m from the U.S.), and I happened to say, “Oh yeah, she has a lot of spunk.” He looked at me like I was kooky, and it turns out that he interpreted full of “spunk” or “spunky” to mean full of “sperm”. While I have heard “spunk” used in that way, I would say that such usage in the States is nonstandard slang, mostly relegated to the porn industry, and is not commonly understood that way by Americans, b/c there are so many other slang terms for that kind of thing like cum, jism, etc. “Spunk” and “spunky” in standard American English – which is derived from the Scottish Gaelic word “spong” for the ‘spongey’ tinder used to start a fire – has such a positive connotation and a totally nonsexual meaning to describe people (usually diminutive folks) who show a lot of spirit, energy or drive. Is that how it is also interpreted and used in the U.K., or have you guys relegated this wonderful word to a strictly reproductive-related sense? ---
**Author:** ![flapcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@flapcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flapcats)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/135 "2003-10-30T19:08:09Z")
Spunk was used in Austrailian soaps to mean a cute (guy normally) person. It amused us teenagers, since I don’t watch Austrailian soaps any more I don’t know if they still use the term. I think you can get away with spunk/spunky = cute in the UK ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/136 "2003-10-30T20:02:31Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by flapcats \* > \*\*I think you can get away with spunk/spunky = cute in the UK \*\* You so can’t. But use it anyway, just for the craic! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![flapcats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/7993a0/32.png) [@flapcats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flapcats)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2003, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/137 "2003-10-30T23:09:55Z")
Damn jjimm, damn damn. Worth a try… 🙂 Rather than just wasting space: Aslema. Bint is arabic - meaning ‘Daugher of’ (like ‘Bin’ is son of) and in English was used by servicemen as a derogatory term for women, typically non-caucasian. Not really used anymore, some sites list it as ‘Young Girl’ - I don’t know the straight dope on the real meaning. Possibly a racist slur, use not recommended. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 12:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/138 "2003-10-31T00:10:27Z")
I can’t believe that nobody has posted the origin of Fair Dinkum. If I recall the article correctly (in an old Mother Earth News), it is a corruption of “vere dignum,” a Latin phrase meaning “very proper.” Therefore if something is just as it should be, and all is right with the world, it is fair dinkum. ---
**Author:** ![owlstretchingtime](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/958977/32.png) [@owlstretchingtime](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/owlstretchingtime)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/139 "2003-10-31T09:27:35Z")
There’s no racial connotation to “bint” despite its origins. It just means a female - usually a dozy one. ---
**Author:** ![WotNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e19b73/32.png) [@WotNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WotNot)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523/140 "2003-10-31T11:14:45Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by silenus \* > \*\*I can’t believe that nobody has posted the origin of Fair Dinkum. \*\* No, I can’t believe it either :rolleyes: > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by WotNot (on page 2) \* > **I read recently that, while preparing an Australian/Chinese dictionary (?) it was found that Dinkum comes from the Chinese for “real gold”, and was introduced into Australia by Chinese gold miners during the gold-rush there. Which seems highly plausible.** [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rude-english-words-the-yanks-dont-get/209523.md?page=8)