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PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2679 thread views

Small-Scale Question Sunday for April 26, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

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Supposedly bugger's supposed to be just 'annoying person', and you'll hear 'silly bugger' in some circumstances, but I think that was a corruption from Gordon Ramsay and Terry Pratchett (and Father Ted, maybe?). It's still pretty low-stakes as an insult even among people that know the original context, though.

Under similar metrics, my impression's that 'arse' is a lot lighter-stakes than the UK take, though it's still not very harsh even in the UK. Same for 'bloody' as a prefix, which I still don't get.

From the other direction, in America, "cunt" is considered rude enough that I'll avoid it in explicit pornographic contexts (though not all Americans will), and could be a firing offense on the first use. Made a work trip to Australia very awkward.

"Cunt" would be at least a write-up in a white-collar workplace in the UK, and probably a firing offence for someone without unfair dismissal protection*. The Australian usage is Australian-only. (There was a survey about what words were unacceptable on British TV even after the watershed, and "cunt", "nigger" and "Paki" were in a class of their own for offensiveness, well above "fuck")

The difference between the US and UK usage of "cunt" is that in the US the primary meaning is as a misogynistic slur (so the cuntiest cunt in America is Hilary Clinton) whereas the primary usage in the UK is as an generic slur for obnoxious and/or unpopular people (so the cuntiest cunt in the UK is Boris Johnson).

* Under British employment law, once you have been in post for two years you can't be fired for a single offence unless it meets the legal bar for "gross misconduct". Calling a male cow-orker a cunt would be misconduct, but would only be gross misconduct if your workplace had a written policy saying that foul language was gross misconduct.

Made a work trip to Australia very awkward.

They also use it very freely in Scotland.

In my experience it probably depends on the workplace and culture? I'm Australian born and bred and have a white collar full time job here, and I not only never hear, but would never say the C word.

Never forget what woke took from you.

I think this was my polite upper-middle-class family and upbringing, actually, and I do not regret it.

Same for 'bloody' as a prefix, which I still don't get.

"Bloody" is generally just used as a generic intensifier. I have a very vivid childhood memory of listening to a newsreader talking about Bloody Sunday on the radio and feeling baffled as to why she was suddenly cursing mid-sentence.

‘Bloody’ is supposedly the descendent of a minced oath for ‘by Our Lady’. I don’t know if it’s true or not.

A 1909 dictionary of Victorian slang agrees, "by our Lord" (blood) "by our Lady (bloody), including a mention of a "blady hell" having been found in 18th century literature.

Of course, it also includes "birdofreedomsaurin" as a legitimate word, so...

Birdofreedomsaurin (Amer.). Birdof- freedom soaring. A jocular mode of describing the altitude of the American eagle. Used mildly in England to deprecate any chance American extreme expression of patriotism.

”I think that Prince Louis Napoleon was over-dressed. I know that in his green or purple stock (I forget which) he wore an immense breastpin representing an eagle in diamonds, not the eagle with displayed wings, that is, the American ' birdofreedomsaurin ' — but an aquiline presentment with the wings closed — the eagle of Imperial sway.”

That’s very funny. I guess it’s a play on the dinosaurs being named around this time, like stegosaurus?

The generally proposed etymology is that it derives from a now defunct curse “God’s blood!” which was shortened over time to “‘sblood!” and then became used as an intensifier.

I understand this to be a folk etymology.

Similar minced oaths do exist - my mother was very fond of "strewth!" while I was growing up, a mincing of "God's truth!" - but I believe 'bloody' predates any plausible minced origin.

Sounds plausible.

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