# So I want to verbally offend some Brits **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [June 5, 2006, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539 "2006-06-05T22:00:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![saoirse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/5daacb/32.png) [@saoirse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saoirse)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 5:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/61 "2006-06-06T17:43:44Z")
> [@betenoir](#): > > Most Americans don’t know about it either. All the better. > > If it’s just meant to be an insult (then sing the Star Spangled Banner) > > And I know it was a draw but you don’t bring up that point when you’re going for “neener neener neener”. As **amarone** pointed out, though, most Brits are unaware that there even was such a war. All most Americans know about it is that we won and that Dolly Madison got all of the ice cream out of the White House just before the British arrived³. To them it was on par with the invasion of the Dominican Republic. Some pipsqueak declared war, and Great Britain bloodied the pipsqueak’s nose and everything went back to normal. A minor distraction to the Napoleonic Wars. ³ Neither of these facts is true. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/62 "2006-06-06T18:36:12Z")
> [@Malacandra](#): > > Heh. Y’know, **GM** , I once climbed over the wall at Portman Road. But a policeman saw me… > and made me go back in and watch the rest of the match. 😃 Hmmm, I’m sure I’ve heard this one before… [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5998527&postcount=22](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=5998527&postcount=22) 😛 😛 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/63 "2006-06-06T18:49:02Z")
What about “bugger” (as in “bugger off,” or “bugger that” or “buggery”?) Is that still considered obscene/vulgar these days? Is calling somebody a bugger as bad as using it as a verb? ---
**Author:** ![theunfounddoor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/b19c9b/32.png) [@theunfounddoor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/theunfounddoor)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/64 "2006-06-06T19:35:37Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Yes? 😃 Wasn’t expecting that one. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Burrido](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@Burrido](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Burrido)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/65 "2006-06-06T20:20:25Z")
I have some british players in my guild in WoW. Tonight I will insult them with: "QQ, Learn2Play Knobcheese! ~La. " ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 9:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/66 "2006-06-06T21:16:57Z")
> [@winterhawk11](#): > > What about “bugger” (as in “bugger off,” or “bugger that” or “buggery”?) Is that still considered obscene/vulgar these days? Is calling somebody a bugger as bad as using it as a verb? ‘Bugger off’ is on a similar level to ‘piss off’. The usage as a verb is verging on obsolescence. ---
**Author:** ![Sir\_Doris](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/b5ac83/32.png) [@Sir\_Doris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Doris)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 9:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/67 "2006-06-06T21:47:48Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > ‘Bugger off’ is on a similar level to ‘piss off’. The usage as a verb is verging on obsolescence. Oh I dunno. “You’ve buggered that up” is still common as far as I’m aware. However, that might be due to my incompetence. ---
**Author:** ![BlackHeart](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/c77e96/32.png) [@BlackHeart](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlackHeart)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/68 "2006-06-06T21:54:38Z")
A Brit guy I know once had a big hissy fit when someone called him “aussie”. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/69 "2006-06-06T22:19:19Z")
> [@Sir Doris](#): > > Oh I dunno. “You’ve buggered that up” is still common as far as I’m aware. However, that might be due to my incompetence. OK, the _original_ verb, not the general insult as a verb! ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 6, 2006, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/70 "2006-06-06T23:51:04Z")
“Bugger” is still used as a verb in Australia and NZ, although generally not relating to anal sex- it’s more commonly used to mean something’s broken, wrecked, or generally stuffed- for example “Well, the engine’s buggered”, or “You’re not going to bugger it up, are you?” (in reference to tinkering with something), plus expressions like “Bugger that!” (Not a chance/not interested/no way/too hard), and, of course, as a general expletive, “Bugger!” For maximum effect, it needs to be said in a calm, matter of fact voice after something has gone spectacularly wrong. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/71 "2006-06-07T02:28:57Z")
> [@me](#): > > Those among whom I worked as a missionary in South London understood it. > [@Szlater](#): > > See, this is just offensive, and with the ethnic make-up of much of South London comes across as pretty racist. Sensitive much?! This is a humorous thread in IMHO. Try being more sensitive to _context_ than to imagined slights. I used to live in Crawley and lots of the people I knew from the sports club I was a member of were from Brixton, Norwood, Peckham, etc. Some were even black. Chill! ---
**Author:** ![Smeghead](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f1d935/32.png) [@Smeghead](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smeghead)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/72 "2006-06-07T06:13:54Z")
> [@theunfounddoor](#): > > 😃 > > Wasn’t expecting that one. 😉 Oddly, I never thought to suggest “smeghead” as an insult. I’ve been using it as a name for so long that I often forget its other meanings. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 7, 2006, 9:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/73 "2006-06-07T21:45:11Z")
Isn’t “berk” current? (Rhyming slang, from “Berkshire Hunt”. I originally thought it was “Burke”, as in Burke and Hare.) “Well, who won the bloody Revolutionary war, then?” ---
**Author:** ![Martini\_Enfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/martini_enfield/32/11123_2.png) [@Martini\_Enfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Martini_Enfield)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 3:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/74 "2006-06-08T03:14:38Z")
You do realise no one in the UK gives a rat’s arse about the Revolutionary War, right? The fact people in the US keep harping on about it nearly 250 years later only serves as a source of amusement and minor irritation… Similar arguments about bailing them out of WWII are also going to be laughed at (see the “[WWII What Ifs](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=373153)” thread for more on that)… ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [June 8, 2006, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/75 "2006-06-08T04:09:57Z")
> [@Martini Enfield](#): > > You do realise no one in the UK gives a rat’s arse about the Revolutionary War, right? The fact people in the US keep harping on about it nearly 250 years later only serves as a source of amusement and minor irritation… Which revolutionary war, mate? ---
**Author:** ![Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e79b87/32.png) [@Boulter\_s\_Canary](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boulter_s_Canary)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2006, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/76 "2006-06-10T20:10:55Z")
> [@roger thornhill](#): > > “No Old Baileys” (even a lot of Brits won’t get this, but I learned it from South Londoners when I was doing missionary work there - just kidding) (means “Don’t moan about the result/your bad luck, etc” (the Old Bailey is the building that houses some famous court rooms) I’m a sarf Londoner and I’ve never heard that one! A word of warning: some insults vary, depending on region. ‘Twat’ is mild in London and the south but in the north it’s _very_ obscene. On a par with ‘cunt’. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/77 "2006-06-11T00:15:51Z")
So, would one call someone a “fucking chav tosser/wanker,” or “fucking tosser/wanger chav”? To my ears, the first sounds more plausable. I wish “daft bint” would catch on in the US, I know a lot of chicks to whom it would apply 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Revenant\_Threshold](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f1d935/32.png) [@Revenant\_Threshold](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revenant_Threshold)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2006, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539/78 "2006-06-11T00:20:10Z")
> [@elfkin477](#): > > So, would one call someone a “fucking chav tosser/wanker,” or “fucking tosser/wanger chav”? To my ears, the first sounds more plausable. The first. Tosser and wanker are both nouns, chav can be a noun and an adjective. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-i-want-to-verbally-offend-some-brits/359539.md?page=3)