North Americans who say "Shite" and "Bollocks"...

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are wankers.

― fritz, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Do Brits use American slang as awkwardly as Yanks and Canucks?

― fritz, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

as awkwardly as Yanks and Canucks use Brit slang, I mean?

― fritz, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

you bet your ass they do.

― Alan Trewartha, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I have taken to saying ass, just cause 'arse' has got too many dull connatations for me. But in terms of words that are only US slang with no almost-the-same UK variant, people use them all the time without thinking, yeah. You rule the world, man.

― N., Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I say 'bloody fucking hell' sometimes. I don't think it sounds unnatural at all. But then, I curse a lot.

― Dare, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

The connotations I have in mind are unfunny comedians and annoying people in the pub and also possibly anglophiles. See also 'pants' for a more extreme example.

― N., Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

'arse' has got too many dull connatations for me

well la-h-di-dah mr bath-house glory-hole

― mark s, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"bloody fucking hell" - that's a weird one. I don't think I've ever heard anyone combine 'bloody' and 'fucking' before except possibly when they're doing 'ironic' swearing of the 'poo wee piss bum' variety. It just sounds odd.

― N., Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Britishers: Does it sound odd when you hear North Americans use Brit slang? I don't think I'd notice anything amiss if a Brit used American slang unless they were royalty.

― fritz, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

bloody fucking simultaneous posts, innit?

― fritz, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Growing up with Python and Hitchhiker's as regular viewing/listening/reading meant a certain amount of inculcated Britspeak in my vocab, for better or worse. Dan likely can add to this story with Dr. Who, at least to an extent. ;-)

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Yes, I've noticed many an odd look from British acquaintences whenever I've used the phrase "reverse the polarity of the neutron flow" in casual conversation.

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Americans sounds very funny when they say 'bloody'. I don't think their accent was constructed for such a work. When I'm in New York I always try to say "take me to toity toid and toid" but no one understands what I mean. New Yorkers speak like that in 70s cop films though.

― Steve.n., Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"for such a word" i meen

― Steve.n., Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

it was a badly placed "bloody" that made me laugh in one of the eps of Buffy that I saw. There's a certain rhythm to where they should go (abso-bloody-lutely right matey)

― Alan Trewartha, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

People who think slang is proprieterial are wankers. Culture is universal what with the internet/global movie culture/mass marketed music/etc, I don't think anyone sounds silly saying anything, except for when middle aged white guys walk around talking street, that's a bit silly.

A particularly invalid point on an international message board, I think.

― Ally, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Brit slang as used on Buffy = GRATE! Oh yeah Alan you are still coming tonight yesyes?

― Sarah, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

james "spike" marsters's battle with the intricacies of clipped brit cuss-speak is fascinating, because he TRIES REALLY HARD, and gets much more right than we erm limeys are probably noticing

and then there's drusilla...

― mark s, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

when middle aged white guys walk around talking street, that's a bit silly

I seek to avoid this particular fate. And I will, dammit.

*clenches teeth and snarls*

Excuse me, I'm listening to The Holy Bible. Goddamn, can this album ever wind you up.

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

someone on Buffy told someone else to "piss orf" and i laughed and laughed and laughed. then i turned the TV off.

― katie, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

ALso of course having Tony Head on set must help when it comes to getting the rythmn right.

― Pete, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

the best thing ever was when a North American friend of mine described someone on the TV as a "cockney twat". oh those words uttered in that Georgia accent! and then he wondered why i nearly choked with mirth. it was sweet though.

― katie, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

James Marsters' english English is infinitely preferable to Anthony Stuart Head's real strangled semi-Estuary, 'mate'. Drusilla sez 'Spoike'. Huh.

― Ellie, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Brit-American culture clashes, I have no problem with 'em, dude. I had to be in the apartment this afternoon, waiting for an electrician to turn up. So I put the TV on and they're showing the first ever episode of "Dempsey & Makepeace". You would have thought it would have been the walking (US) cliché that was Dempsey that would jar, but no it was all the orfentic Larndun types (likely lads, tarts, blonde molls and even a Yardie pimp in a wide-brimmed floppy hat!!!).

Also, since this is rapidly turning into a Buffy thread, U&K question: what do I say in response to pressure from work colleagues to play bridge henceforth on Thursday evenings instead of Monday? (The FULES know nothing!) How many weeks does this series have left to run?

― Jeff W, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

People who think slang is proprieterial are wankers.

Slang is initially proprieterial by its nature and becomes universal now in a way that it couldn't before, which is why the discussion of its evolution on an international message board is not only valid but a totally logical place to do it. (the "wankers" thing at the top of the thread was meant as a joke btw - using brit slang as a pejorative term for yanks who use brit slang)

― fritz, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

say NO jeff

(bridge? k-blimey, i tht the fellow played cribbage don't ye know...)

― mark s, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

(tonight = pub quiz not ile boozXoR, yesnoplease?! i am at sea with the pint steering comm otherwize...)

― mark s, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Mark, yes.

― Tim, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

it's funny to hear english people say 'aye'. or something not unlike funny.

― richard john gillanders, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

like. southern englishs, I mean.

― richard john gillanders, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

when middle aged white guys walk around talking street, that's a bit silly.
and when 20-something American cool kids walk around talking Guy Ritchie, that's a bit silly too BUT they're having fun knowing that they're talking silly (and talking silly is one of the great pleasures of life), whereas the middle aged white guys are expecting mad props or something.

― fritz, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

but all the young children in the Ilford area *do* talk silly! they talk like Ali G! so talking silly is their actual way of talking. i suppose kids are just more naturally "street" than adults, or more likely they just imitated their parents talking like Ali G.

― katie, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I know absolutely no cool 20-somethings in NYC who like Guy Ritchie, sorry.

― Ally, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

"talking Guy Ritchie" = talking like a character from a Guy Ritchie film, not neccessarily liking Guy Ritchie.

― fritz, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

No one even notices when I use common American profanity and slang, and of course it's better to be a wanker than ignored.

― Maria, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I prefer to say 'shite' because it's less harsh and I can get away with saying it around relatives. It's cute when Brits do hip hop slang with their Bling Bling and mad props. Y'all is mad stupid otay buh-weet.

― Evangeline, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I've noticed on the web I am far more prone to use Britishisms than I am in person. Actually, if I squeaked out a "shite" or a "bollocks" in a conversation, I think that I would never be spoken to again.

― Mandee, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I can almost guarantee that if you squeezed out a shite in the middle of conversation, the only people who would be interested in speaking with you would be coprophiliacs.

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Now them's tasty!

― Ned Raggett, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

See, Mandee? It's starting already!

― Dan Perry, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

00H Y34H...

― Kodanshi, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I like using a lot of low-key subtle britishisms but "shite" and "bollocks" are off limits to me given my whole public aura....plus I feel a bit "off" when I say them.

Bottom line, I think it's all fair game unless we're talking about those culturally insecure, wannabe-patrician pseudo-literate people for whom anglophilia goes hand in hand with negriphobia....it's a US thing....eg. ebonics are silly but calling your Jersey duplex a "flat" is ok....I'm gonna stop now before I get really nasty....like I said I hate pussies....

― Ramosi, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

when middle aged white guys walk around talking street, that's a bit silly

poor duane. and he thought he was being soooo cooooool.

― di, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

DAN PERRY-AMERICA'S LITTLE BUNCH OF FLESHGRAPES

― Mike Hanle y, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Indispensable tools if you want to live in North America and not grow up prissy and pretentious: friends that will beat the living shit out of you if you start speaking with a brit accent. I'm actually very thankful these guys are in my life....

― Ramosi, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

After spending so much time in the pub with Emma I actually can't imagine an American saying "Bling" anymore.

― Tom, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Affecting an accent is an entirely different story than simply incorporating slang, though. And in San Francisco, apartments that occupy the entire floor of a house are typically called "flats".

― Sean, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It's a bit of an ephemeral thing isn't it? What I mean is, most people can probably *sense* it when someone else is deliberately dropping an unnatural phrase into their speech in a way that was intended to appear natural. Blatant affectations of any kind tend to turn most people off. Try-too-hard-ism. Unusual slang that was picked up via osmosis tends to sound much better I think. I know a few people, incl. myself that do say shite from time, but it's not an affectation - it may have began that way, a stupid in joke (that often had us labelled as same) but now that we've reinforced it in each other and it's totally subconscious, no one ever seems to even bat an eye.

― Kim, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I wish the prefix "cod" would take off over here, it's excellent. I've really only ever heard it attached to reggae, though. Is it ever applied to other genres? Actually, I think I remember reading that Slade were considered cod-glam.

― Arthur, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Anybody who likes to hear Americans saying 'Bloody fucking bollocks' and putting on affected snotty New Wave British accents *must* hear the Prima Donnas. Order their tape 'Live on KVRX Austin TX' from Peek-a-Boo Records, PO Box 49542, Austin TX 78765. The interview sections are a scream, and the music is classic early 80s synthpop pastiche. I was listening to this driving round Los Angeles last year, and its infectious fakery was just so right for Plastic City. Like the Monkees covering early XTC.

― Momus, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Oh, the Primas Donnas are online. Check out the Interview mp3 here.

― Momus, Wednesday, 20 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

In face-to-face verbal communication with buds I might use brit slang in a jokey way, cuz they'd know I was screwing around, but I'd be embarrassed if anyone were to think it was anything other than self- conscious joking. Not coincidently, the same conditions apply to "talking street", a'ight?

Censoring yourself this way is really hard when shitfaced, so if any a you caught me brit-slanging/blingblingin', I was drunk then.

When I tried to explain my rules of cultural appropriation to my other, I got quite an eye-roll.

I save my real wrath for corporations/ad agencies/tract developers who utiliZe brit-spell in blatent pathetic attempts to cop some so- phist-o-cay-shun for their products. And any US broadcaster uttering "in hospital". Little nuke bombs in my head... WTF! They're not drunk or with their buds and are breaking the rules!

― Hunter, Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Arthur - apart from reggae, just psychology.

― N., Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Philosophy too, more rarely.

― Tom, Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

And war.

― Tom, Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Momus is a Prima Donnas fan! cool! there is a prima donnas thread on ilm, i'll go dig it up dude. like, that is, so cool, if you don't agree, i mean, talk to the hand, like, whatevah!

She Had Alien Written All Over Her is the greatest song ever (apart from this, of course!

― gareth, Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

poor duane. and he thought he was being soooo cooooool

how do you mean?

― , Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

the primadonnas thread

― gareth, Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

tom just made the joke of the century fools!! we are not wortheee etc

― mark s, Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

haha war AND piece (mark s = noblin on shoulder of giants here tho)

― mark s, Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

It wasn't that good!

― N., Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Also, a cod fax was the downfall of J. Aitken, no?

― Tim, Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

it has layers nick

― mark s, Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Very true.

Cod rock? No - I'm thinking of rock cod.

Link between reggae and psychology that explains why people like to attach 'cod' to them? Something about authenticity and suspicion of chancers pulling the wool over the public's eyes. Deep down, an insecurity about what 'real' psychology and reggae is.

― N., Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

That 'true' was directed at Tim not Mark. What layers? You mean cause it was a phoney war?

― N., Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

also the bjork/einar area

― mark s, Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Linda McCartney tried to launch a foul fish substitute called Cod Cod but the trading standards authority came down hard.

― N., Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Can there be cod spam?

― Momus, Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

dear god momus, let us hope not. if there was, though, Pete would probably love it.

― katie, Thursday, 21 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Does Madonna's British-esque accent these days piss anyone else off besides me? I watched an interview with her recently, and her accent sounds so affected. She's American, for chrissakes! What the hell? I know she's moved to England, but still. It's just weird.

― geeta, Friday, 22 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I started saying shite when I stumbled onto ILM..bloody tossers

― kevin enas, Friday, 22 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Hunter and Kim speak much truth.

geet-ah, Madge has been doing that since 95 but I'm with you....she needs to get beats for doing that...

Sean if that was addressing me, thank you for explaining to me there is a difference between slang and accents.....what I meant was that I got no problem with US people kicking UKisms like "flat" etc (yes your San Fran example is valid)...but some (many) corny social ducks think they're some kind of superior, cultured high society bitch cuz they use them and diss others....and often they do straight idiotic things like hear someone say "dope" and say "sigh....that slang bollocks is a tad juvenile, dont you think?".....they actually think "bollocks" is in the dictionary cuz it's brit derived.....that's the wannabe-sophist dbl standard I sniff out in many americans.....hence the negriphobia comment and why I said DUPLEX my man...

I think it's all good if like Hunter said there's an obv. conscious tongue-in-cheek, AFFECTIONATE thing going on.....like in the Kid Koala liner notes in that comic part in the UK dj warehouse or something someone says "BLEEDIN BLIMEY BOLLOCKS!!!".....I love that shit....opposite: some white guy waving his arms around hyperbolically and braying, "dope homie aiiiight!!! werd up G to the 187", then thinking, "yessss....I have in one fell swoop successfully satirized the mass black culture I think beneath me.....now if I disclaim all that shit by saying I like that Tracy Chapman song, I'm set, I'm a social critic"

― Ramosi, Friday, 22 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Holy shite I'm a wanker.....BOLLOCKS IS IN THE DICTIONARY

― Ramosi, Friday, 22 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

Brit Slang

― Kodanshi, Saturday, 23 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

tina turner also fakes the accent.

― keith, Sunday, 24 February 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I don't think I've ever heard anyone combine 'bloody' and 'fucking' before except possibly when they're doing ironic swearing.

I say "screaming fucking bloody mess" at least once a day. That and "Cheap thrills, cheap essential scenery."

― Frank Kogan, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

I usually go with "I wanna destroy, possibly."

― Arthur, Saturday, 2 March 2002 01:00 (twenty-three years ago)

eighteen years pass...

https://shytechocolate.com/

― The Corbynite Maneuver (Tom D.), Saturday, 25 April 2020 20:38 (five years ago)

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