Periodic Table of Swearing.

February 24, 2026 by 6 Comments

Via Pengio’s MeFi post on the 30th anniversary of Trainspotting, “the intro to Glaswegian slang that is Modern Toss’s Periodic Table of Swearing (The Scottish Field Report).” It goes from C 1 Cunt to Sbb 102 Shitting A Fucking Breeze Block, and if you click on a square you will hear the sweary element spoken.

Has it really been thirty years? I loved that movie when it came out, and I obviously need to see it again or I’ll be a Prat in a Hat (48).

Comments

  1. rozele says
    February 24, 2026 at 5:43 pm

    this is great fun!
    and now i want a multidimensional matrix version to represent the combinations properly…

  2. J.W. Brewer says
    February 24, 2026 at 7:04 pm

    Is the “Pringle” in #99 merely a reference to https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pringle_of_Scotland or is there some interestingly-offensive slang meaning not recorded by Green’s?

  3. V says
    February 24, 2026 at 7:05 pm

    When I was in Glasgow everyone told me not to go to across the river to Govan to buy cigarettes.

  4. V says
    February 24, 2026 at 7:05 pm

    When I was in Glasgow everyone told me to not go to across the river to Govan to buy cigarettes.

  5. Jerry Friedman says
    February 24, 2026 at 7:24 pm

    🙂

    @70: I saw what you did there.

  6. Y says
    February 24, 2026 at 8:32 pm

    It’s very nice. I personally would have liked them read out in Glaswegian.

    I didn’t know Modern Toss before. I might try and get some of their books. A Tossary of Terms “…identifies and defines, with new words and phrases, a random pisspot of contemporary social phenomena which has so far gone unnamed. The fast changing modern scene chucks up stuff faster than we can nail it down and label it. The ear grease on a smart phone screen, wearing a hat that makes you look like even more of a tit, the DNA rich stew in the bogs hand dryer trough, paying extra money to sit in a plane before the rest of the passengers.” Etc.

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