"In the UK et al, how rude are "pants" and "pear-shaped?"" Topic

One thing that doesn't get clearly across the pond is how vulgar, relatively, various middle-echelon declamations are. Americans tend to use "bl**dy" pretty carelessly when they want to sound British thus PBS-ish thus sophisticated, but I understand that's actually a fairly offensive over where GMT is the actual time.

So, how rude is "pants?" How offensive is "pear-shaped?" Feel free to explain any other words we yanks simply haven't grokked.

There's no international standard for rude, so maybe we need one…

1 – You can say it in church, professionally
2 – Ordinary people use this every day
3 – Mildly rude but sadly widespread
4 – Quite rude, but not shocking
5 – Shockingly rude

(I have a suspicion this may stimulate some discourse…)

Andrew

pear shaped is below 1 its used to describe something going badly wrong
pants is 1-2 fairly mild.
YMMV

I would agree with SteelPenguin although I wouldn't have put "bloody" anywhere above 2 either. My parents say bloody all the time.

So "bloody" is not a 4?

Pants 2 at most, pear-shaped 0 – it isn't a term of abuse or a swear word.

Bloody, again 2 at most, probably wouldn't say it in front of the Pope, but would in front of senior work colleagues from the same department (usually when describing people from other departments).

Even is only a 3.

The only 5 I can think of is .

We are (in the main) Anglo-Saxons after all. Hmm, lets see what the bleepometer thinks of that.

So where would bollux sit?

Pants = underwear. Fairly common

Pear-Shaped = gone wrong.

If someone "goes all pear-shaped" it means it has gone wrong or "gone sideways"

"Fanny" can be a bit rude at times, depending on what context you use it in.

The first bleep begins with an f.

The second bleep with a c.

is between a 2-3 I think.

, 2? depends on the company and the context. Similarly crap.

You may wish to research the legal action taken out against the Sex Pistols album 'Never Mind the '.

Yay! I got one through.

Pants is also one of my favorite descriptor for something that isn't very good.

"Hey! What do you think of my new paintjob?"
"Its pants."

Bloody-pear-shaped-pants! I need to get ready for my afternoon-evening shift at work.

Afternoon, Gents!

:)

Neither "pear-shaped" nor "pants" (meaning something is crap) are the slightest bit rude.

I think "pants" is a bit old hat now. It's a faddish kind of word in that context and it has had its time. Use it too much and you'll sound like you're last year's news and trying too hard. It's a bit naff, to be honest.

My wife (Oz) says bloody all the time.

I say just about anything anywhere I go. Except I don't tell my mother-in-law that she drives me crazy sometimes.

I would never call my wife pear-shaped.

Anything else is fair game.

Wizard! Brilliant!

Wizard – I don't think that's been used to describe anything (other than an actual wizard) as being rather good since about 1950, and then only by chracters in Enid Blighton books.

Another nice one, used to describe a something that is going a bit pear-shaped is to say it's all going a bit Pete Tong (a BBC Radio 1 dance DJ) – it's modern rhyming slang – Pete Tong = Wrong. The obscurity of Mr. Tong in the US should suitably baffle you co-workers, and when you explain it you can demonstrait your intimate knowledge of the UK music scene at the same time.

G.

How cool is 'naff' and where does it rate on the scale?

Wizard = good Ozard = bad – I remember that from Jennings goes to school

If you want to sound oh so 80's Say everything is Ace!

"Naff" just quietly hums along, neither cool nor not-cool. It is frankly a little bit 1970s, but that gives it retro-chic.

Opps thought it would bleep me…

Pants and pear shaped are fine, if I stub my toe in the warehouse for example I have been known to string several 3 to 4 grade words together in such as a b***** faced * monkey which the boys find quite amusing…

I find I have to employ combinitive forms of what used to be fine, stand-alone cuss words to get to Category Five these days, and even then it doesn't always take. It also helps to mention various forms of livestock.

Really effective turn-your-ears-red cursing has become a strenuous activity as the years have gone by.

This thread is a wizard wheeze, innit? ;-)

w.

Oh, I've always enjoyed "Ace" too.

I don't think North Americans quite understand shag.

DBDD

Really effective turn-your-ears-red cursing has become a strenuous activity as the years have gone by.

And is possibly heading in the direction of becoming a "lost art" in English. With DIs no longer able to indulge in the art of the red-eared insult, this art is left to the surprisingly vocabulary-limited Hip-Hop crowd and a few dock workers. The days of a proper five-minute paint-peeler may be gone for good.

Best of all is this little quirk..

If something is described as being "" then it has gone wrong, is something objectionable or is totally unbelievable.

If however something is described as being "the dog's " then it is in fact very good, something to be proud of or a success.

We have a great language here in the GB.

And thats before looking at local versions of the language either.

Obligatory Monty Python quote follows:

"You can't say on the radio
Or or or ,
You can't even say I'd like to you one day
Unless you're a doctor with a very large "

Pants – my 9 year-old uses it at school without repercussions.

Pear-shaped – not even a swear. Especially since the OED is still unable to explain where it COMES from.

Bloody? A vicar could use it ina sermon without anyone minding nowadays.

f…, Tw.., and sh.. are too rich for use to strangers if you are polit, but I have sat at dinner parties in mixed company where half the table was not previously known to the other half and heard them all used without anyone blinking. England seems a lot more tolerant of this stuff.

I agree with the poster above who says it's getting hardr and harder to really offend. Today, I described somebody at work as a mum-ing dog-rapist, and his response was to look up at me and grin.

The word that is Aunt with a different initial letter is now the ONLY word the Sunday Times will not print in full.

It's only a matter of time before swearing becomes a master's art. I expect to hear it on Kids TV soon enough, 'and now kids, it's Andy Pandy! ing brilliant or what?!'

It's not the only area in which we are different from the USA. The fuss over Janet Jackson's tit falling out at the superbowl mystified everyone I know. If a UK celerity's knockers fall out during a prime-time TV show we giggle. I know, it's happened.

There is some Hypocrisy on the subject. Julian Clary, at the height of his carreer, destroyed by appearing on a 7pm Award ceremony and announcing 'Sorry I am late, I was back-stage Fisting Norman Lamont'. he only recently rehabilitated himself.

Pat

Pants is just gay (according to my niece).

'c…' is the only word that in the UK still hits Cat 5, imho.

Pat

Which Call U Next Tuesday?

Pretty much a cat 5 here in the states, as well…

That's the one. It has the distinction of having only the one definition, so there is NO polite usage of that syllable. While derived from the Latin it is no longer the Latin word and so has no medical usage (unlike the word featured in the Zardoz graphic causing such a furor at the moment), and it is firmly a noun, unlike the F-bomb, and so is harder to conjugate and use as a replacement for every word in a normal sentence (such usage and the resulting saturation is why the F-bomb is not a Cat 5 anymore). Finally, as it refers to female anatomy, its usage in sexist and harrassing context is near 100%.

It'd be a hard word to ever bring down from Cat 5, not that I intend to try…

I think it Micheal Barrymore not Julian Clary who uttered that famous line. Very objectionable what he said- I mean who in their right mind would even touch a Tory government minister?

Graham

Yup, you need to use a whole flurry of other words, or repitive F-Bombs to get close to a cat 5. Picture a typical scurvy rant…

I don't think North Americans quite understand shag.

In the interests of furthering knowledge and fostering brotherhood, please explain it to us.

F… is a word that makes a handy full stop. I use it constantly.

The trick to good swearology is to collide many non offensive words into a shining word picture of dispicable english. Something I feel I excell at.

For example a typical conversation may go thusly.

"So I was down boozer and that pubbie who's a scrote dome says to me 'Oi, I told ya to put that ing weezer out! It's bloody banned these days!' So I says to him 'One more word out of you sunshine and I will kick yer tiny manky spankers so hard you will be wearing em as earings!

Well of course that goes down like a cup of cold wash and the bolshie bastard jumps the bar keen to ave a go. Now at this point Ado pops a gorilla finger in his jocks cus o the imminent spillin o claret and his vicinity to it.

Now cus scrotey is built like the backside of a brick house. I acts fast, stubbin me lung torpedo out on his ocular appendage and we does the harry holt out the back door faster than a nun droppin her knickers at a catholic sex romp.

Well to top off me outrage he is screaming like a violated boyscout with the pain of a singed peeper, so as we exit I yells back "What the flyin you complainin about now! I in put it out didn't I!"

What about ""? Why is that so offensive?

Also the same question about the term "island monkey"?

You're a poet Scurvy! A freakin' poet!

"Shag" is just another word for doin' it that is a bit (but only a little bit) less offensive than the "F" word. But it isn't used as a general expletive the way "F" word is, it's generally used just in the one sense. For instance, you wouldn't tell someone to "shag off", say something was "shagging brilliant" if you liked it, or say "Oh shag!" when things go wrong.

The only other use it has is that if a person says they are "shagged" or "shagged out" it means they are tired. Similarly an inanimate object that is "shagged" is broken or not working properly.

I was a little surprised when that Austin Powers film used the word in its title. It's not quite like calling it "The Spy who F…ed Me" but it almost is. I think there was a little controversy about it over here, and the title was censored in some situations. Obviously in America where it isn't a sexual term, everybody just thought it was some quaint Brit phrase, and didn't realise that it was a swearword.

Talking of that last taboo, the "C" word, here's a desirable street name that has sadly died out:
link

You still very rarely hear that word on British TV, it's just about the only swearword that isn't allowed. The last time I recall hearing it was in a drama about Oswald Moseley, and so I feel its use in that context was entirely appropriate.

It was Julian Clary who make the remark about fisting Norman Lamont, not Michael Barrymore.

Barrymore hadn't come out back then, was still a considered a prime-time family entertainer, and wouldn't have said something that outrageous at the time.

Going back to that other thing, I think Mike Myers devalued shag's impact as a swearword by his free use of it in that picture. Now it probably has become the quaint, cuddly word that the American audience originally thought it was.

Damn you, Myers! We want our SHAG back! It was one of our best words and you killed it!

he he heh he. I love the British tradition of naming things after the bleeding obvious. I think they might of changed that street name due to students constantly stealing the road sign come orientation week at the local Uni.

Cunny-Warren for brothel is another olden daysey one that always makes me laugh.

Warren Cunny aint to happy about it though.

on a more serious note cunny warren is also a girls boarding house. :)

Here is a gem of a site for ya Pol

vulgar.pangyre.org

the 1811 Dictionary of vulgar terms. More olden daysey mouth scrubbers than you can point a stick at.

From above dictionary:

Tat Monger
One that uses false dice

:-)

pear-shaped 0 – it isn't a term of abuse

Try calling your significant other pear-shaped!

It was deffo Clarey, i was watching at the time.

Michael Barrymore was actually found dead last week, with his arse covered in chocolate. Police have arrested George Michael on suspicion of being careless with a wispa.

'Michael, its Maury, I have a great Gig for you, doing Pantomime! you on board?'.

'leave it out Maury, I did Aladdin already.'

Pat

It all depends on context, if a male friend wins the lottery you could call him "a lucky c**t! and it would be a compliment, if you thought he wasn't pulling his weight and called him a lazy c**t! he'd be very offended. In an all male working environment every other in word is in in or at least it was when I started work in the early 70's In Britain now only the "C" word has any power to really shock.