While browsing through Cecil’s column on whether .999… = 1 I was mildly taken aback to read:
Now, in the UK a wanker is someone who is fixated with jerking off. I figure that a national syndicated column like The Straight Dope wouldn’t feature words with this fairly explicit meaning so I’m guessing the word means something different in the States.
If so, what does it mean?
It means the exact same thing as it does in the UK, someone who masturbates. At least, I’ve never heard any alternate meaning.
Note that Cecil’s column runs in “alternative” newspapers, which tend to use somewhat more colorful language than mainstream papers.
Having said that, wanker isn’t exactly a common insult here, so it can sometimes get past media censors. A more common insult here is jerk-off, which means more or less the same thing.
Another possible reason that they can get away with it is because “wanker” is thought of as just “one of those British words” in the US. Like on TV, when there’s a character from the UK, we all know he’s British because he’ll say “bloody” a lot and calls people “wankers”. Everyone goes, “Oho! It’s just one of those words the British use all the time! Therefore it can’t be as bad as all that!” Similar to how, IIRC, “bloody” is much more offensive in the UK than it is here.
Yes. We’ve discussed it before. Most people know what it means, (but maybe it’s just my crowd, I don’t know) we just don’t care. In my opinion, British curses and slang sound too funny to REALLY be offensive. So sod off you bloody tosser. Hahahahahaahaha, sheer hilarity for all ages!
I asked an american exchange student this same question recently. He was from Chile. He said that a wanker is a “lazy person”.
I am surprised that the UK meaning is a compulsive onanist. I thought it was the same as the Aussie meaning: “A person who considers themselves overly important, cultured or sophisticated. Arrogant and self absorbed.”
Sorry for the slight hijack. From the Macquarie (australian) dictionary.
Random American checking in: In every case I’ve heard or said wanker, it’s been using the definition that antechinus provides. It literally means “somebody who masturbates,” but the implication is more that they’re irritating or egotistical. On the other hand, if I say “he’s upstairs wanking,” I do in fact mean he’s having a J. Arthur.
Considering the reference to the blue-painted actress, Cecil was certainly talking about the act of coming unscrewed. In a broader sense, in midwest America, wanker is a general-purpose insult meaning fool, especially one with a narrow focus in life, such as Ms. Romijn-Stamos’s bodypaint or a Supreme Court Justice’s retirement portfolio.
On these shores, wanker is different from wonk. Wonk is a smart guy or gal with a narrow focus, such as energy or civil liberties.
“_____________is a ______________ wonk.” is not necessarily a bad thing, though it may mean that person is boring at parties.
It could be someone who lives in Wanker’s Corner, Oregon…
Well, here’n ol’ California, it really isn’t a commonly used word at all, and I’d doubt that most people would even know what it means.
…But, on the other hand, it’s really not too hard for a casual observer to tell that “wanker” isn’t exactly meant as a compliment. I mean, if I said; “Ben Hicks? Ha! What a noodge!” it’s still pretty easy to infer that “noodge” is an meant as an insult, even if one doesn’t actually know what “noodge” means.
And, oddly enough, my Dictionary of American Slang (3rd edition) lists one of the possible definitions for “wanker” as being “Party Animal.” This usage being primarily among “Canadian students” in the 1990s.
Wanker is a euphemism for jerk-off. I can call one of my buds a wanker and we get a laugh out of it. If I call him a jerk-off we might end up in a fight. I have also heard the term wuss used on tv and radio without censor. Wuss is just a euphemism for pussy. You can call a guy a wuss and not really piss him off too bad, but I suggest you don’t call a guy a pussy.
I can quite easily see how “wanker” can move from meaning “someone who wanks” to “someone obsesed with self-pleasuring” to “egotistical and self-absorbed” to “irritating little shit that you’d strangle if no-one was watching”.
Not that I know anyone like that 
Grim
Since this is a comment on one of Cecil’s columns, I’ll move this thread to the Comments on Cecil’s Columns forum.
bibliophage
moderator GQ
Or Wanker Draw, a small valley in eastern Wyoming.
Maybe these guys could tell you. (I especially enjoyed the shop selling “Wankerwear”.)
No, bloody is not offensive the UK, though about 100-50 years ago it still would of been frowned upon (bloody is a contraction of “by my lady”).
Wanker on the other hand in the UK is one of the taboo-words.
I have occasionally seen Americans using the word as a synomym for “penis”. I’ve no idea how widespread this misapplication is, but it‘s clearly out there somewhere.
I think you mean “wangler”(?), WotNot
antechinus: agreed. UK usage is the same; a “wanker” - whatever its literal meaning, is someone who’s precious, irritating - something like a jerk or a “git”, which has been discussed here before.
I’d always assumed “wank(er)” meant nothing much in the USA; the title of Jack Vance’s 1969 SF novel “Servants of the Wankh” has always amused British SF fans.
No it isn’t. Word Detective