Why are British people so good at cussing, using vulgar language and hurling insults?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm English. It's because there are no guns in our society for the most part. We're not afraid of getting shot by some rando who is insulted by our language or offended by our lack of religious piety. Like in America.

^^^ And here's an example of winding people up. Something the Brits and Aussies love to do. It involves pushing all the buttons and watching the person on the other end get upset.

My personal theory, having both British and Australian relatives, is that many Brits are emotionally constipated. Cursing and winding people up are socially acceptable ways of letting things out.

So easy to wind up people who take themselves so seriously and doesn’t hurt to poke a bit of fun.

PP here. It's more that Americans don't expect to be wound up, because we don't have that sort of interaction here. Has nothing to do with taking yourself "so seriously."

I stand by my contention that my Brit and Aussie relatives use flowery insults because that's more socially acceptable than letting your emotions out with "I'm mad at you" or "I'm jealous of you" or "you suck."

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm English. It's because there are no guns in our society for the most part. We're not afraid of getting shot by some rando who is insulted by our language or offended by our lack of religious piety. Like in America.

^^^ And here's an example of winding people up. Something the Brits and Aussies love to do. It involves pushing all the buttons and watching the person on the other end get upset.

My personal theory, having both British and Australian relatives, is that many Brits are emotionally constipated. Cursing and winding people up are socially acceptable ways of letting things out.

So easy to wind up people who take themselves so seriously and doesn’t hurt to poke a bit of fun.

PP here. It's more that Americans don't expect to be wound up, because we don't have that sort of interaction here. Has nothing to do with taking yourself "so seriously."

I stand by my contention that my Brit and Aussie relatives use flowery insults because that's more socially acceptable than letting your emotions out with "I'm mad at you" or "I'm jealous of you" or "you suck."

Americans aren't very good at expressing emotions using those words. They use sarcasm and insults but most just Eff U because they have limited words to choose from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm just regularly amazed by the beautiful profanity that Brits come up with on a regular basis. Combinations of vulgar worlds with rare and super intelligent insults. It just rolls off their tongues too like being Shakespeares of profanity is built into their DNA from birth. Why are Brits so, soooo good at cussing and at insulting people? Is there schooling for this? I really would like to up my profanity and insulting game. Do they just teach kids swearing skills starting in primary school?

I do t know but I love it.

Ya wanker!

Nah, ya tosser.

[Anonymous]

I’m British and can confidently state that I am no god at cussing or insults.

Many other British people, I find when I go home, like to insult or goad their friends in the name of sarcasm. I hate it and find it extremely unkind.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean their use of the word wanker? Bc that is foul. Also Brits are famous for saying a bunch of words that have no sense or meaning. So, it probably stems from that.

I just read that wanker means a man who masturbates a lot. We don't have a word for that because all our men masturbate a lot. Well, maybe incel, but that has more meaning than just that. I think it's funny that a whole society frowns on men masturbating a lot. I think the whole world would be better off if everybody masturbated more, it would probably reduce sex crimes and desperate sexual decisions.

Huh? Don’t Americans say “tosser” or is that British too? Means the same thing. I’m sure there are several others too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some people take the literal origins or insults or swear words too seriously. Brits commonly say 'silly old bugger', which is a very mild and even affectionate term, and 'sod off', which is somewhat akin to buzz off. Obviously the origin of both - buggers and sodomites - relates to people who practise anal intercourse but that is not at all how the terms are used these days. Similarly, wanker is akin to calling someone a prick. It doesn't literally mean a masturbator.

Yes it does literally mean masturbator! Look up the definition of both wanker and literally.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean their use of the word wanker? Bc that is foul. Also Brits are famous for saying a bunch of words that have no sense or meaning. So, it probably stems from that.

Brits also love them a slang term for women’s genitalia that makes American women faint. The word starts with c. It has four letters ending in t. The middle letters are u and n. That’s just run-of-the-mill vernacular in Britspeak.

Yeah, words are words, just combinations of letters. Their meanings are what we give them.

In this country, that's an awful word to call someone. In Britain it's totally different.

That is very much untrue. It is also an awful word to call someone in Britain.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm English. It's because there are no guns in our society for the most part. We're not afraid of getting shot by some rando who is insulted by our language or offended by our lack of religious piety. Like in America.

^^^ And here's an example of winding people up. Something the Brits and Aussies love to do. It involves pushing all the buttons and watching the person on the other end get upset.

My personal theory, having both British and Australian relatives, is that many Brits are emotionally constipated. Cursing and winding people up are socially acceptable ways of letting things out.

So easy to wind up people who take themselves so seriously and doesn’t hurt to poke a bit of fun.

PP here. It's more that Americans don't expect to be wound up, because we don't have that sort of interaction here. Has nothing to do with taking yourself "so seriously."

I stand by my contention that my Brit and Aussie relatives use flowery insults because that's more socially acceptable than letting your emotions out with "I'm mad at you" or "I'm jealous of you" or "you suck."

I agree there is definitely a cultural difference on this. Aussies definitely use insults to take people down a peg or two. Rightly or wrongly, they probably perceive people who take themselves seriously as projecting a sense of superiority or self-importance and that is cultural anathema. Are they more emotionally constipated? Not sure about that one. I think it's just a different way of expressing emotion.


There have been many times I would like to use a few colorful insults with humorless US immigration officials which would obviously be suicidal. I once commented to an Aussie immigration official how nice it was to see a friendly face after going through US immigration and their response was "yeah, mate, you can take your job seriously without being a tool about it".

[Anonymous]

They've had 1000 years to work on it together. USA keeps getting new language speakers mixed in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do you mean their use of the word wanker? Bc that is foul. Also Brits are famous for saying a bunch of words that have no sense or meaning. So, it probably stems from that.

Brits also love them a slang term for women’s genitalia that makes American women faint. The word starts with c. It has four letters ending in t. The middle letters are u and n. That’s just run-of-the-mill vernacular in Britspeak.

It's just different connotation. British people faint at the word "fanny"

[Anonymous]

Because of Shakespeare, king of awesome insults.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm just regularly amazed by the beautiful profanity that Brits come up with on a regular basis. Combinations of vulgar worlds with rare and super intelligent insults. It just rolls off their tongues too like being Shakespeares of profanity is built into their DNA from birth. Why are Brits so, soooo good at cussing and at insulting people? Is there schooling for this? I really would like to up my profanity and insulting game. Do they just teach kids swearing skills starting in primary school?

OP, you need to check out the "britishproblems" subreddit. It's hilarious.

[Anonymous]

Google Cockney slang

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Because they believe that they are better than everyone else, and have convinced you to believe it too.

Yup. I'm amazed at the levels people will go for their love of all things white.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a foreigner, it’s mostly that Americans are really bad at cussing, it’s all f**k and mother**er. Just crude and bland and no fantasy at all. I am from a region if Italy where people were legendary for what they could say. So much variety and even clever combinations.

French person here. Yes, Italians have quite the reputation! The gestures add a lot of drama and expression too
Americans talk with their guns. Very sad.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=7YCVSePryPo&pp=ygUXYmVuaWduaSBmaWxtIGJlc3RlbW1pYSA%3D