American English

[Matt Morrison]

Thanks to Wipeout US, I have learnt that BOLLOCKS and SPASTIC are both completely OK words to use on US national primetime TV, not offensive at all apparently.
This surprised me very much. Perhaps you might like to share my surprise at the above and/or provide some surprising American word knowledge of your own.


"Spasticky bollocks."

[Ryan Taylor]

I remember when I first heard Marge say "fanny packs" in The Simpsons. I childishly laughed for years before knowing this was perfectly normal. My mum then met a Canadian on holiday last year and she too childishly laughed when she said "fanny pack". She's 49.

[Karen Pearson]

A couple of years ago we saw a trailer for Footballers' Wives on BBC America and it included a scene with one of the WAGs calling someone a wanker. This trailer was being shown in the middle of the day. Needless to say, we found it quite funny.

[Jon O'Neill]

They get VERY uppity about the c-word though, especially if you call a woman it, for some reason.

[Michael Wallace]

They get VERY uppity about the c-word though, especially if you call a woman it, for some reason.

This reminded me of the following exchange on Buzzcocks, which isn't even that funny now, but I spent so long trying to find it I'm posting it anyway, you cunts.

Simon Amstell: I think he's a cunt.
Anthea Turner (outraged): You can't say that! You can't say that if you don't have one.
SA: What?
AT: You can't say that word unless you have one!
SA: What? I don't have an umbrella either...

[JimBentley]

A couple of years ago we saw a trailer for Footballers' Wives on BBC America and it included a scene with one of the WAGs calling someone a wanker. This trailer was being shown in the middle of the day. Needless to say, we found it quite funny.

There was an episode of Mork and Mindy with a music shop owner called Mr. Wanker, which Channel 4 seemed happy to show at five o'clock in the afternoon. Also, Peggy's maiden name in Married With Children is Wanker and there's a few episodes featuring her extended family, The Wankers.

[Gavin Chipper]

Meet the Conts is coming out soon.

[Miriam Nussbaum]

In high school, I knew some people who would use "bloody" as an intensifier, because it was British and therefore cool (in contexts where they wouldn't use more obscene intensifiers). It's not considered nearly as bad a word here as I've been told it is in the UK.

I also hear people saying "bugger" all the time (even in contexts where one would expect polite language, e.g. with youngish kids), to mean someone who annoys or "bugs" people…apparently a certain salient meaning of the word is not common knowledge in the US (I'm not sure how I learned it).

But I just looked it up in the OED online, and apparently it can also mean someone who installs concealed microphones. Some of the quotations for that sense are pretty amusing, like "1983 Daily Tel. 31 Mar. 15/5 Chris Serle was asking himself: ‘What technology is available to the bugger of today?’"

[Martin Bishop]

Slightly off topic, but I was shocked one time watching Neighbours when Marco (Carmella's boyfriend who died in a forest fire) called himself a wog. Apparently, in Australia, it's a term for an Italian or Greek and is not considered offensive.

Also, Peggy's maiden name in Married With Children is Wanker and there's a few episodes featuring her extended family, The Wankers.

And her family live in Wanker County.

[JimBentley]

Also, Peggy's maiden name in Married With Children is Wanker and there's a few episodes featuring her extended family, The Wankers.

And her family live in Wanker County.

Haha yeah, I'd forgotten that. I used to love the baseness and grotesquerie of Married With Children, is it still on anywhere? It used to be on Paramount but that's long gone, and ITV probably consider it too classy for their schedule these days.

[Martin Bishop]

Also, Peggy's maiden name in Married With Children is Wanker and there's a few episodes featuring her extended family, The Wankers.

And her family live in Wanker County.

Haha yeah, I'd forgotten that. I used to love the baseness and grotesquerie of Married With Children, is it still on anywhere? It used to be on Paramount but that's long gone, and ITV probably consider it too classy for their schedule these days.

I haven't watched it recently, but I think it may still be lurking on one of the ITV channels. It used to be regular family viewing every night at 6 on Sky One during the 90s. I got my dad the first two seasons on DVD. It was like a living cartoon at times, especially in the episodes where Al was doing any sort of DIY.

Another bit of pointless trivia - One of the Wankers was played by WWF wrestler King Kong Bundy.

[Matt Bayfield]

I loved Married... with Children. When I first moved to Holland, I used to watch about 10 episodes a week, as it was being shown every weekday at 7:30pm on Ketnet (Belgian TV), and also at other times during the week on Veronica and SBS6 (both Dutch channels). Even that was barely enough Christina Applegate for me. The subtitling of Wanker and Wanker County was interesting. Some subtitling organisations would leave the word in English as "Wanker"... others would translate it into "Rukker", which is the Dutch word for "wanker". I watched a few episodes back recently; and the comedy has aged surprisingly well. Al Bundy's character is just as relevant today...

In other sweariness, apparently there's an episode of the Flintstones where Wilma described something as being "all bollixed up". I say "apparently", as whilst this seems quite plausible, this was something I read on the internet, so it could possibly be a bag o' shite. I believe that to "bollix something up", in US English, is simply to "mess it up".

[Liam Tiernan]

In other sweariness, apparently there's an episode of the Flintstones where Wilma described something as being "all bollixed up". I say "apparently", as whilst this seems quite plausible, this was something I read on the internet, so it could possibly be a bag o' shite. I believe that to "bollix something up", in US English, is simply to "mess it up".

Yes, it is true.I remember seeing it. Even had it subtitled with that spelling, so the subtitling was probably done over there too. American subtitlers blank lot of mild swear words, especially for programs kids might watch, so "bollixed" probably isn't classed as a swear word at all.

[George F. Jenkins]

In other weariness, apparently there's an episode of the Flintstones where Wilma described something as being "all bollixed up". I say "apparently", as whilst this seems quite plausible, this was something I read on the internet, so it could possibly be a bag o' shite. I believe that to "bollix something up", in US English, is simply to "mess it up".

Yes, it is true.I remember seeing it. Even had it subtitled with that spelling, so the subtitling was probably done over there too. American subtitlers blank lot of mild swear words, especially for programs kids might watch, so "bollixed" probably isn't classed as a swear word at all.

Has the word YES disappeared from our spoken vocabulary. All I hear on television is YEAH, which is American, and possibly came from the German word JA.

[Lesley Hines]

Has the word YES disappeared from our spoken vocabulary. All I hear on television is YEAH, which is American, and possibly came from the German word JA.

Yup. I reckon.

[Michael Wallace]

Has the word YES disappeared from our spoken vocabulary. All I hear on television is YEAH, which is American, and possibly came from the German word JA.

Nah.

[Ian Volante]

In other weariness, apparently there's an episode of the Flintstones where Wilma described something as being "all bollixed up". I say "apparently", as whilst this seems quite plausible, this was something I read on the internet, so it could possibly be a bag o' shite. I believe that to "bollix something up", in US English, is simply to "mess it up".

Yes, it is true.I remember seeing it. Even had it subtitled with that spelling, so the subtitling was probably done over there too. American subtitlers blank lot of mild swear words, especially for programs kids might watch, so "bollixed" probably isn't classed as a swear word at all.

Has the word YES disappeared from our spoken vocabulary. All I hear on television is YEAH, which is American, and possibly came from the German word JA.

Aye'm not sure.

[Matt Morrison]

Has the word YES disappeared from our spoken vocabulary. All I hear on television is YEAH, which is American, and possibly came from the German word JA.

[Peter Mabey]

Has the word YES disappeared from our spoken vocabulary. All I hear on television is YEAH, which is American, and possibly came from the German word JA.

Absolutely

[Miriam Nussbaum]

Has the word YES disappeared from our spoken vocabulary. All I hear on television is YEAH, which is American, and possibly came from the German word JA.

Absolutely

Like, totally.

[George F. Jenkins]

Has the word YES disappeared from our spoken vocabulary. All I hear on television is YEAH, which is American, and possibly came from the German word JA.

I wish that I was 65 years younger, I'd be there.

[Jon Corby]

Has the word YES disappeared from our spoken vocabulary. All I hear on television is YEAH, which is American, and possibly came from the German word JA.

I wish that I was 65 years younger, I'd be there.

And a cartoon.

[Matt Morrison]

From the FOX Sports homepage right now, in the left bar of recent headlines:



Quality. I even checked the article, and there's no quote from Rooney which could even be paraphrased as "Later, wankers" - so I can only presume that's purely a Sun-style pun or something. Weird!

[Matt Morrison]

Also, I just saw, in a proper news article, 'drug' being used to mean the past tense of 'drag' instead of 'dragged'. Pretty confusing to read that somebody drug someone else to the floor.