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PaperclipPerfector  3d ago (text post)   2042 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?

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What phrases are mostly innocent in the US but innuendo in the UK? Have some colleagues in the UK and would like to make things funny from time to time. I have no idea what they mean by "you alwight" and I want revenge.

Some examples that might be helpful.

  • "Bender" can be used as a derogatory term for a gay man.
  • "Bugger" can used as a verb meaning "to sodomize" (I don't know if this word has an innocent meaning in the US).
  • "Pants" refers to boxers and briefs, not trousers.
  • "Pissed" means drunk, rather than angry.
  • "To pull" means to get a girl to come home with you e.g. "I managed to pull at the pub last night."
  • "To shag" means to have sex with (I assume a lot of Yanks are familiar with this owing to Austin Powers).
  • "Slag" means a promiscuous woman.
  • "Spunk" means ejaculate.

"Spunk" means ejaculate.

I remember it being a minor plot point in Money by Martin Amis, where the protagonist has to break it to a certain Spunk Davis that he'll have to pick a different stage name if he wants to make it in the UK.

I can't help thinking of a recent Ladbible Stories video I watched where they interviewed a British porn director named Dick Bush. That's not a stage name. His parents Christened him Richard Bush and nominative determinism took care of the rest.

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