NJR: Expletives

[Mulboyne]

I'm sure no good will come of posting this. Anyway, I just found an old British study called "Delete Expletives?" (PDF), published in 2000, which ranked words by their offensiveness.



(The same list appears as a bar chart on page 13 of the PDF)

[IparryU]

nice find... weird how the N word dose not trump wanker or cunt...

[matsuki]

...but funny how "bugger" "arse" and "wanker" make it up there. Would be interesting to see this for different English speaking countries.

[Samurai_Jerk]

I didn't know jew was an explative.

[2triky]

I didn't know jew was an expletive.

I was thinking the same thing.

[matsuki]

Really? I hear that shit all the time in LA.

Example:

A man puts down a $1 tip on a $80 meal.

His friends: "Don't be such a Jew!"

~or~

"Don't jew the waiter!" as a verb

Having quite a few Jewish friends, I avoided picking up this term but I occasionally run into people that have no problem using it in front of anyone without a second thought.

[IparryU]

Really? I hear that shit all the time in LA.

Example:

A man puts down a $1 tip on a $80 meal.

His friends: "Don't be such a Jew!"

~or~

"Don't jew the waiter!" as a verb

Having quite a few Jewish friends, I avoided picking up this term but I occasionally run into people that have no problem using it in front of anyone without a second thought.

i had a "friend" that used the N word without care of anyone around him...

was eating lunch with him and a "real" friend... he said it... me and my "real" friend got up and moved to another table mid chew...

this is when i lived in the east bay... and for those who dont know... Oakland is the capital... dont fuck about and say that for fun.. you will get shot/shanked/beat the fuck out of. chances on that day... we were alone in BK so no one even heard it, but we were not wanting to have any association with that shit...

now that same guy is the "international student coordinator" for a University... and married to a chinese girl who makes more than him... fuck wad.

[American Oyaji]

nice find... weird how the N word dose not trump wanker or cunt...

99% of the respondents were white

[2triky]

i had a "friend" that used the N word without care of anyone around him...

this is when i lived in the east bay... and for those who dont know... Oakland is the capital... dont fuck about and say that for fun.. you will get shot/shanked/beat the fuck out of. chances on that day... we were alone in BK so no one even heard it, but we were not wanting to have any association with that shit...

.

The biggity biggity O

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[Samurai_Jerk]

Really? I hear that shit all the time in LA.

Example:

A man puts down a $1 tip on a $80 meal.

His friends: "Don't be such a Jew!"

~or~

"Don't jew the waiter!" as a verb

Having quite a few Jewish friends, I avoided picking up this term but I occasionally run into people that have no problem using it in front of anyone without a second thought.

Yeah, I know those uses of "jew" in a prejorative way but I still never thought of it as an expletive and I'm surprised it would be on the list. Is "jew" that commonly used as an insult in the UK?

BTW, to all you Brits, most Americans are initially pretty surprised by how casually guys from the UK drop the word "cunt".

[Mulboyne]

nice find... weird how the N word dose not trump wanker or cunt...

It's a British survey and the word doesn't have the same history or usage as America. What's interesting is the way two racial slurs rose in the rankings compared with 1997, which the report mentions specifically. They also have a high number of respondents who don't classify the words as swearing but do regard them as offensive.

Wanker is much more offensive in Britain than a lot of Americans realize, perhaps because it seems to be used so often. Some Americans have recently taken to using it as a synonym for douche but that's not really the way it gets used in Britain.

[matsuki]

BTW, to all you Brits, most Americans are initially pretty surprised by how casually guys from the UK drop the word "cunt".

Yeah...considering I've never heard it come out of anything but a bitchy woman/girl in the U.S. American Men just don't use it...that there is feminine speak in these parts!

Wanker is much more offensive in Britain than a lot of Americans realize, perhaps because it seems to be used so often. Some Americans have recently taken to using it as a synonym for douche but that's not really the way it gets used in Britain.

Relative to the culture/usage I know...but Wanker, Poofter, Tosser, etc. etc. sound like "naughty words" used by 5yo's to me. To hear it come from an adult is too hilarious to take serious or consider offensive.

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

...but funny how "bugger" "arse" and "wanker" make it up there. Would be interesting to see this for different English speaking countries.

As an native Strayan speaker, I'm surprised to find most of the words on this list are even regarded as expletives.

[Greji]

As an native Strayan speaker, I'm surprised to find most of the words on this list are even regarded as expletives.

Damn Hair! That is suprising. I have heard you belch, fart and grunt "that wanker" a couple of times, while we out were slamming back pints at the old pub, but I really wasn't aware that you had progressed to the point were you could communicate by the spoken word!

[matsuki]

Damn Hair! That is suprising. I have heard you belch, fart and grunt "that wanker" a couple of times, while we out were slamming back pints at the old pub, but I really wasn't aware that you had progressed to the point were you could communicate by the spoken word!

He's trilingual, Japanese, English, and Bogan

[Screwed-down Hairdo]

He's trilingual, Japanese, English, and Bogan

I resent that...I can hardly speak a word of English (and my Japanese sucks, too!)

[sublight]

As a USer, 'wanker', 'shag', 'slag' 'bugger' and 'bloody' aren't even on the radar.

Kind of amused to see that a spastic jew is worth 3 Jesus Christs. [color="Silver"](yes, I realize you can't just add the percentages)[/color]

'Paki' always reminds me of an odd story from a while back. We had a Singaporean designer here a while back (a muslim mix of Indonesian, Japanese and German), who overheard a co-worker and I mention doing "packy runs" (Boston slang for going to the store for a case of beer). She said "Oh, you guys used to do that too?" and then proceeded to tell us all about how she and her friends used to go out looking for Pakisatanis to beat up.

[Mulboyne]

[YT]fuCbrPzPLAc[/YT]

[IparryU]

As a USer, 'wanker', 'shag', 'slag' 'bugger' and 'bloody' aren't even on the radar.

Kind of amused to see that a spastic jew is worth 3 Jesus Christs. [color="Silver"](yes, I realize you can't just add the percentages)[/color]

'Paki' always reminds me of an odd story from a while back. We had a Singaporean designer here a while back (a muslim mix of Indonesian, Japanese and German), who overheard a co-worker and I mention doing "packy runs" (Boston slang for going to the store for a case of beer). She said "Oh, you guys used to do that too?" and then proceeded to tell us all about how she and her friends used to go out looking for Pakisatanis to beat up.

LMFAO... sometimes you might want to confirm an expression before you elaborate on what you (the girl) did in the past.