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two months pass...
I know the word, but this American needs to know EXACTLY what a prat
is? I've discussed these slang terms with English friends before,
but even they have disagreed. So if anyone can explain this British
slang I've become familiar with through British music and magazines
(another thread might be necessary), I'd appreciate it. Some I think
I know or can guess, but meanings change with the times. So: Prat.
Boffin. Wide boy. Git. Sod. Bollocks. Wanker. Ponce. Poof. Boy-
o. Bleeder.
Other Americans please add more. Then maybe we can know exactly what
you mean when you insult us!
― X. Y. Zedd, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
Prat: may sometimes be smart (unless a "total prat"), but exhibits
utter unawareness of when behaving like an idiot in the world's eyes.
Generally fond.
Boffin: brainbox with considerable technological-theoretical
abilities: the latter a mystery, possibly an exasperation, to who maes
the judgment. Techno is boffin music ne plus ultra, obviously. Fond.
Wide boy: formerly meant hooligan/hard-man, now more likely to mean
someone with dodgy entrepreneurial skills, and a somewhat strained
relation with the law. Probably a charmer, probably a dresser.
Violence somewhere in there, but not kneejerk and not central.
Probably more fond than not, these days. (But I live in the East End,
world capital of the wide-boy... )
Git: see prat, but without the fondness. Unclear if the edge of
nastiness is more present in the judgment or the behavour judged.
Sod: From sodomite, but long ago lost its pervert connection. Usu.just
a noun intensifier. cf: "I'm a lazy sod" = "I am worthless and
therefore somehow marvellous in my laziness"
Bollocks: rubbish, robustly stated. Used to be a swearword — the Sex
Pistols went to court to prove it was just good old anglo-saxon, and
cd grace a shop-display of record sleeves
Wank: self-indulgence to the point of audience abuse
Wanker: related to the above, though generally directed at the
socially insensitive/thoughtless rather than the artistically
demanding. Degree of fondness varies with context.
Ponce: used to mean "a man who lives on the immoral earnings of a
woman", and as a verb still means e.g. to bum a freebie ("Can I ponce
a ciggie?" etc.) "Poncey" I take to mean "is flimsy yet has ideas
above its station". One of half a dozen probably accurately observed
words that crops up in eg LockStock&..., which crims and cops fling at
one another: you ponce, you tart, you scrote, you fucking muppet...
They (ie real-life crims and cops) get it all from TV.
Poof: used to be the main anti-gay epiphet, now long drifted down to
mean "weak, fey, feeble, useless". My sister and her girlfriends use
it of one another, fondly, which actually I find kind of adorable.
Boy-o. Welsh equivalent to lad? cf also bootboy and yob: but very much
depends on who's using it. Aggressive self-affirmation or hostile
snobby put-down...?
Bleeder. cf Sod. Rarely used on its own: lucky bleeder, silly bleeder.
Deriv. Bleeding as an adjectival intensifier, which probably goes back
to (a) By our Lady (hence bloody) (b) the Eounds Suffered on the
Cross by He Who Died For Us All...
And any aggro over this, you mincing toe-rags, and I'll 'ave you so
fast you won't know your arse from the Avon Lady...
― mark s, Sunday, 20 May 2001 00:00 (twenty-three years ago) link
one month passes...
I've made pretentiousness a hobby of mine, so it doesn't bother me in
anything else.
Thank you for the slang terms...I'm a little disappointed to hear
what wanker means in Britain, though. And sod. In America, they still
have strong sexual connotations, which makes them more amusing.
― Antonia, Monday, 23 July 2001 00:00 (twenty-two years ago) link
three months pass...
one month passes...
four weeks pass...
one year passes...