National/ regional differences in slang and cursing

Rick Johnson   Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:28 pm GMT
Following on from Terry's discussion about the word bloke.

As similar as English is around the world there are many words that simply fail to take root in the US and vice versa- bloke being an obvious example. I remember when I first visited the US in 1997, Austin Powers had just been released and exposed North America to the word "shag" although I'm not sure that Americans quite appreciated that it was considered quite an offensive word in in the rest of the English speaking world. I've only rarely heard "bloody" used by Americans and slightly more regularly by Canadians. The word "shite" can be heard regularly in Britain and Ireland, occasionally in Australia and NZ, but I've never heard it at all in N America.

It's hard to think of American slang that isn't used in Britain. If anything, the words that are least likely to take hold are the euphemisms, words such as "bathroom" for a room with no bath and "restroom". I remember arriving at Newark airport (the first time I went to the US) and looking for a sign for toilets- I honestly thought that a restroom was somewhere set aside for people who were waiting for connecting flights to have a rest. The other phrase that I learnt on that trip was the verb "to bus". I remember seeing it in a coffee shop in Seattle "Please bus the table when you leave"..........imagine my embarrassment as I crashed a 20 ton vehicle through the front of the premises only to find out that "to bus" a table simply meant to clear it. And the incident with the so called "Drive thru restaurant" is still in the hands of my lawyers!
Albert   Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:33 pm GMT
<<If anything, the words that are least likely to take hold are the euphemisms, words such as "bathroom" for a room with no bath and "restroom".>>

I don't think those words are really euphemisms in the United States, but just the normal terms that they use when referring to the lavatory.
Albert   Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:45 pm GMT
A good example of a regional difference in cursing, is with the word ''ass''. In the United States, ''ass'' is widely considered a vulgar word by many people in many contexts, but here in the UK, it only ever refers to a donkey.
andre in usa   Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:45 pm GMT
I think they are euphemisms because a restroom really isn't meant for "resting," it's a place where you piss and shit. There's a curse for you, Rick Johnson.
Albert   Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:51 pm GMT
<<I think they are euphemisms because a restroom really isn't meant for "resting," it's a place where you piss and shit. There's a curse for you, Rick Johnson.>>

Andre in usa,

A frankfurter is not made of dog meat. Does that mean that ''hotdog'' is a euphemism? I don't think so.
Brennus   Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:53 pm GMT
Re: "I've only rarely heard "bloody" used by Americans and slightly more regularly by Canadians. " --- Rick Johnson

I think this is because "bloody" is a relatively new interjection in the English language; "damn" and "blasted" are older forms and what most Americans use. In outlying areas, older forms tend to persist. I've noticed that even Liverpool speakers use 'damn' instead of 'bloody' or at least until recently they did.

Re: "It's hard to think of American slang that isn't used in Britain." --- Rick Johnson

Jet travel and modern telecommunications are almost certainly responsible for much of this. Today, California seems to be the prime source of new American slang with New York as a distant second. However this isn't to say that new slang words don't occasionally crop up elsewhere in the U.S.; Whites and Blacks both in Appalachia have been continually creating their own regional slang for at least 200 years.
Rick Johnson   Fri Dec 09, 2005 10:57 pm GMT
Albert,

As you know, we in the UK (certainly in the North of England where I am) like to call a spade a spade, so a toilet is called a toilet or a shitter if you feel the need to be especially crude. If for example I were to call it a "refresh chamber" or something equally bazaar, then I would count that as a euphemism.
Albert   Fri Dec 09, 2005 11:25 pm GMT
<<If for example I were to call it a "refresh chamber" or something equally bazaar, then I would count that as a euphemism.>>

I think you mean ''bizarre'', don't you? I find it strange for a Briton to confuse those two words, since we don't have the Lennon-Lenin merger.
Guest   Fri Dec 09, 2005 11:26 pm GMT
<<I first visited the US in 1997, Austin Powers had just been released and exposed North America to the word "shag" although I'm not sure that Americans quite appreciated that it was considered quite an offensive word in in the rest of the English speaking world. I've only rarely heard "bloody" used by Americans and slightly more regularly by Canadians. The word "shite" can be heard regularly in Britain and Ireland, occasionally in Australia and NZ, but I've never heard it at all in N America.>>

You had so many intersting points, Rick, I'm taking this one graph and one post at a time.

On "shagging," we had no idea, as we had never heard it before and people went around laughing and using it all the time, quite fond of it, some. Some people are still using it. Poor innocents.

"Bloody" is rarely used as it's considered British and most Americans really don't copy too many British terms except to impress their friends, but not in everyday usage.

My father used the word "shite." A lot of old New England families do but it's becoming less common there and I've never heard it from anyone in the rest of the states.
Terry   Fri Dec 09, 2005 11:32 pm GMT
Oops, the above post was mine, forgot to stick my name in the box. To continue...

<<It's hard to think of American slang that isn't used in Britain. If anything, the words that are least likely to take hold are the euphemisms, words such as "bathroom" for a room with no bath and "restroom". >>

Yes, restroom is a euphemism. I just use the word, john, as in, "I need to hit the john." Don't know why we use that one though.

Bathroom probably came about because in homes the bath tub and shower are usually in the same room. But it's still a bit of a euphemism, I think, because it does ignore it's more frequent use.

Dont' the English also call a bathroom a water closet or WC?
Terry   Fri Dec 09, 2005 11:39 pm GMT
<<The other phrase that I learnt on that trip was the verb "to bus". I remember seeing it in a coffee shop in Seattle "Please bus the table when you leave"..........imagine my embarrassment as I crashed a 20 ton vehicle through the front of the premises only to find out that "to bus" a table simply meant to clear it. And the incident with the so called "Drive thru restaurant" is still in the hands of my lawyers!>>

LOL, Rick. Yes we "bus" tables (only in restaurants) but I had no idea why until you brought it up so I consulted my book from Harper Collins called American Slang. It said the expression probably comes from the "four-wheeled cart used to carry dishes."

Damn, my supper's ready. It's so hard to keep up.
Terry   Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:20 am GMT
<<If anything, the words that are least likely to take hold are the euphemisms, words such as "bathroom" for a room with no bath and "restroom".>>

<<I don't think those words are really euphemisms in the United States, but just the normal terms that they use when referring to the lavatory. >>

I think it's probably a hold-out from the Victorian era. Indoor plumbing, as we know it today, in the states came about during that time. It must have showed up during the same period in the UK. And that may explain WC. (I'm not including the Romans here as I'm talking about plumbing as we know it today.)
Rick Johnson   Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:22 am GMT
<<Don't the English also call a bathroom a water closet or WC?>>

WC is a word that would be used by estate agents if you wanted to sell your house. Actually, here's a question - Why in the US are they called "real estate agents" is it to differentiate them from thousands of pretend ones?
Terry   Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:26 am GMT
<<A good example of a regional difference in cursing, is with the word ''ass''. In the United States, ''ass'' is widely considered a vulgar word by many people in many contexts, but here in the UK, it only ever refers to a donkey.>>

Yes, I think here people tend to associate "ass" with their bottoms more than with a donkey. Don't know why. But actually I think more people tend to use the term "asshole," when trying to insult. "Ass" seems to be a lesser insult.
Rick Johnson   Sat Dec 10, 2005 12:37 am GMT
There seems to have been a slightly puritanical view of some words in Victorian times. For example, "titbit" (still used in the UK) was considered in the US to be a little bit rude and as such was changed to "tidbit".

I think the word that produces most amusement for British people, when used by Americans, is fanny because whereas it's considered a polite word for buttocks in the US, in Britain it refers to the vulva. I remember watching Little House on the Prairie when I was about 5 and the Aunt said to her neice that she would "kick her fanny", I turned around to see my mother's jaw drop to the floor at such vulgar and flagrant use of foul language on childrens' TV.