Friday 7 December 2012

Let's Get these Wankers

Remember when Mike Myers came out with "The Spy Who Shagged Me?" (I can't believe I just wrote that.) Being a good Catholic convent  schoolgirl, I could barely bring myself to read the title never mind go and see it. I mean, that was one of those words that you heard pre-pubescent boys say, and you'd be sure of a lash with the rosary beads if you were ever caught uttering the word.

What I loved about it in the USA however, was the fact that no one seemed to have a clue what it meant - possibly because the term "shagadelic" was also introduced in the movie, and I suspect, Americans thought it had more to do with psychedelic than, well, you know, ........ (There I go again.)

Well, much to my delight, it's happening again. This time it's the word "wanker", which I have to say, makes me blush even more than "shag". The divine Gerard Butler has a new movie out called "Playing for Keeps" , and here's the trailer - (keep watching).


Did you hear it? He yells "Let's Get these Wankers" at a group of really young kids,  - as you do. Presumably the parents are clueless as he doesn't seem to lose his job over it, and you can bet that'd happen if he said "Let's get these assholes", or something like that.

The funny thing is, they're playing that exact five seconds as a condensed trailer on Prime Time TV here - obviously having no idea about the definition of the word. Now I know wanker has come to mean someone who's not terribly nice, but let's not forget its original meaning. I shall point you to the dictionary link 'cause if I write it down here, Lord knows what kind of spam I'll get! I can only assume they can't understand Butler's accent, because you wouldn't believe the stuff that normally gets bleeped out in the USA.

I predict in about a month, we'll have nine and ten year old boys nationawide, running round school fields calling each other wankers, and not one of them will be in trouble. Now, if they say "liar" on the other hand......

10 comments:

  1. Fantastic. We're taking over the world by stealth, one expletive at a time... (By the way, Gerard Butler? You're right - he is divine in the trailer for this movie!)

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  2. HA! I suspect you are right. Most Americans probably don't have a clue to what that means. I was pretty sure I did; and when I clicked the link I found I was right.

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  3. I know what it means, but a lot of the Brit swear words don't sound naughty to my American ears.

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  4. That's really funny, made my Saturday morning! ) Although my Glaswegian other half did point out that, being said by some one who grew up on the same housing scheme as him, it's very tame swearing ;-)

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  5. That's really funny, made my Saturday morning! ) Although my Glaswegian other half did point out that, being said by some one who grew up on the same housing scheme as him, it's very tame swearing ;-)

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  6. That's hilarious! But I can't believe it's being shown, why doesn't someone tell them?!

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  7. One of my most embarrassing experiences in America was when an American friend who'd live in Europe, insisted on telling the two other mutual friends who we were with, exactly WHAT each and every British swear word really meant. She did it in a manner that implied "hey, we're all grown-ups", very matter of fact. But as the list went through wanker, bastard, bugger, my other friends' eyes got bigger and bigger. I then found myself in the role of Defender of the Brits, and had to keep saying "yes, it does mean that, but no-one really MEANS that when they use the word". It was very embarrassing.

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  8. Iota - that's embarrassing and very annoying.

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  9. Hi There!

    Just a quick message to say that I'm loving this blog! Thanks so much for sharing your tales and experience... I'm actually also a British expat who moved to the US almost a year and a half ago - I'd love it if you could check out my own blog (trying to share tips and tricks with other Brit immigrants - phew what a process!) and if you enjoy it maybe we could link to one another's work?

    Either way have a wonderful day!

    http://leapacrossthepond.blogspot.com/

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