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

Many, if not most, of our current 'swear' words were in common usage and merely descriptive in earlier times. Try reading some of the late 17th century diarists and you will see plenty of 'bleepables'. Even place names have had to be cleaned up in some parts of Britain – the River Kennet wasn't always pronounced quite that way in the past. Most Cunny names are to do with rabbits however (Coney).

I've always felt that overuse of such words simply indicates a lack of vocabulary rather than a foul mouth or a desire to shock. English is such a rich language with volumes of synonyms it seems a shame not to use greater variety.

The strange thing is that reference to female body parts in a place name was, in pre-christian times, likely to have religious significance so I suppose, in a strange way, it should be appropriate in church.

Tony H

Thanks for clearing things up, Polynikes.

But no, you can't have your word back.

There was a whole programme about the C word on BBC4 last week.

Going by 'Sex in the City', I don't think Americans understand what '' means. It was used something like 'Carrie's going home to Berger' (I think that was what he was called. While I appreciate the attempt at wordplay, I doubt that she had the equipment to perform the act.

Having said that, both this word and it's three letter relative are both used as fairly mild swearwords by most Brits (About a 3?) even though they are descriptive of a particular form of congress.

Unfortunately, due to the swear filter, I can't tell what word you're referring to, Swampster. Maybe I'm just being dense.

Is there some way you could clue us in without getting yourself put on the naughty step?

I used a star instead of a letter and it still got bleeped!

It is a similar word to Berger and supposedly comes originally from Bulgar. Rhymes with mugger.