One of those silly but enjoyable online quizzes, from Isabella Kwai at the NY Times: “Hey, Bampot! Can You Tell Real British Insults From Fakes in This Quiz?” (archived). The intro:
How do I snub thee? Some British researchers are counting the ways, asking people around the country to send them swear words and insults that might be little known to outsiders.
“We’re really interested in those words that only make sense if you’re from a particular place,” said Chris Montgomery, a senior lecturer at the University of Sheffield who is leading the endeavor along with Modern Toss, an arts group.
Their hope, Dr. Montgomery said, is to preserve the diversity of curse words being used around Britain, particularly if they are obscure. “It’s a real window on people’s creativity with language,” he said.
Can you find the genuine British insult among the fakes?
I got 6 of 8, through sheer luck — I only knew a couple of them. Thanks, Nick!
Missed the Portsmouth one (I actually knew all the others, which is probably not unusual in the UK.)
Where is Portsmouth, anyway?
Where is Portsmouth, anyway?
Across the water from the Isle of Wight. I’ve been on the Waverley there.
I got 8/8, but only really knew 5.
5/8, with some luck.
Anyone who doesn’t try this is a big girl’s blouse.
I got six out of eight, although I only really knew three of them. On each of the other five questions, I was able to narrow it down to one of two possibilities and make an educated guess.
I got 6/8 as well, and for both that I got wrong the right answer was my second choice, although I didn’t really know any of them. They didn’t really try to come up with plausible-sounding alternate answers.
Where is Portsmouth, anyway?
Where do you usually go to get insulted?
3/8 — which shows it’s a long time since I got insulted in Blighty. (Whipmawhopmagate is a narrow street in York.)
I’m a little puzzled by “An idiotic person from the city of Portsmouth risks being called a ____,” because of the implicature that it’s what such a person will be called everywhere from Land’s End to John O’Groats as long as the locals know the idiot’s Portsmouth origins, while nonetheless refraining from using the same word for their own homegrown idiots (or e.g. London-origin idiots, which might be more numerous).
London-origin idiots, which might be more numerous
Nah, it’s a quality thing. London has the most sophisticated idiots in the UK. State of the art.
Compare Masshole and Florida man, maybe? (Supposedly general demonyms, but really mostly applied to people who actually act idiotically.)
As in “if you invent anything foolproof, someone will invent a better fool”?
1/8. I knew none, but that took some bad guessing as well..
Florida man
Éssex Mán is similarly not just a man from Essex. Indeed, I would think that not a few Éssex mèn would rather resent being called Éssex Mén. #NotMyEssex
[The term is certainly negative, but simple idiocy is not the implication. ]
My British wife got 7 of 8. By myself I might have got 4 or 5. Or fewer or less.
I may have been oversubtle. I was thinking that the correct phrasing for the question they probably meant to ask would have been “An idiotic person IN the city of Portsmouth” rather than “FROM.” The way you would use “cheese, in Paris” as a clue for “fromage.” By contrast, I don’t think the phrase “Essex Man” arose in Essex or was predominantly/distinctively used there.
Compare Masshole and Florida man, maybe? (Supposedly general demonyms, but really mostly applied to people who actually act idiotically.)
I have never heard Florida man before, but since moving to Maine a quarter century back am quite familiar with Masshole. It is definitely not a general demonym. This portmanteau of Massachusetts and asshole is often applied to those practicing aggressive, tailgating driving habits, loutish behavior at such charming libation spots as Old Orchard Beach, being overt members of Red Sox Nation. It’s somewhat akin to cockwomble, but regional and a bit more insulting.
Masshole also refers to people from the Boston area who act boorish in more rural upper New England.
Masshole also refers to people from the Boston area who act boorish in more rural upper New England.
Not to quibble—too much anyways—you and I have defined it similarly. And “upper New England” is nearly all rural, overlooking Portland, Maine with its ~75,000 citizens, and they don’t care for Massholes either.
Seriously?
Where is Portsmouth, anyway?
Ô: “cred rhai mai’r hen enw Cymraeg yw Llongborth.”
https://cy.wikipedia.org/wiki/Portsmouth,_Hampshire
Popeth yn glir!
@DE. “Éssex Mán is similarly not just a man from Essex. Indeed, I would think that not a few Éssex mèn would rather resent being called Éssex.”
If so, how would you complete this sentence: A native and/or resident of Essex is called a(n) ….. And likewise for Sussex and Wessex.
Éssex màn. (As opposed to: Éssex mán.)
(I have complained before about the shameful lack of marking of contrastive suprasegmentals in the rococo English orthography. And you have truncated my example, thereby making my point incomprehensible, but I forgive you.)
portsmouth, as every bostonian knows, is just this side of the maine border, taking up an unconscionable percentage of the new hampshire coastline.
Brett’s comment made me realize that i don’t think i’ve ever said “upper new england” – it’s always “northern new england” to me, meaning all of maine, new hampshire, and vermont, including their more urbanized parts (though the region’s certainly more rural overall than eastern massachusetts). “upper maine”, yes, but “northern vermont/new hampshire”, so maybe it’s the contrast with “downeast” at play there. it also made me wonder whether people from west of worcester regularly get referred to as massholes, or whether it’s mainly reserved for those hailing from inside route 495 – i left the state before the term really took off (at least in places i’d’ve heard it) so can’t claim local knowledge.
Four out of eight for me, all guessing. And I’d never heard Florida man before, either. I tend to miss most internet memes.
Brett’s comment made me realize that i don’t think i’ve ever said “upper new england” – it’s always “northern new england” to me, meaning all of maine, new hampshire, and vermont, including their more urbanized parts (though the region’s certainly more rural overall than eastern massachusetts). Ditto.
it also made me wonder whether people from west of worcester regularly get referred to as massholes, or whether it’s mainly reserved for those hailing from inside route 495
If they have Mass plates and do a tractor beam on the exhaust of the vehicle in front of them, they earn full rights to the sobriquet.
Speaking of Portsmouth, it is also–with many different proposed origin stories–called Pompey.
Reliable attestations are known from 1898ff.
Éssex màn. (As opposed to: Éssex mán.)
Essexman as opposed to Essex Man.
It just struck me that the obvious demonym for denizen-of-Essex ought to be “Essaxon,” and googling reveals that this has previously occurred to others although I’m not sure it’s yet firmly established in the lexicon.
Looking at the rubric again, calling all these “curse” words is a bit excessive. Apart from the Pompeyism, which I don’t know about, and “git”, they’re actually pretty anodyne. “Clype” and “bampot”, for example, are rude things to call someone, sure, but they’re hardly Rude Words. “Mardy”, too, is just descriptive.
@de
“Melter” is not in my idiolect. Designating someone as a ‘whore’s melt’ would be Rude. But no one would use this term for a sibling, so the N.I. term has a different origin (or has been bleached).
Yes, I wouldn’t pronounce on the Rudeness level of “melter.” I may be wrong about that one. I recognised it, but it’s not part of my active vocabulary. One would need to ask someone actually from Norn Iron.
Bleaching is always a possibility, I suppose. I was once surprised to hear an eminently respectable young lady speaking in a wholly neutral context describe someone she was mildly annoyed with as a “twat.” I blame violent video games.
it’s always “northern new england” to me, meaning all of maine, new hampshire, and vermont
Now that I live in southern Maine, I think of northern New England as those parts that are a good distance north of me. A friend of mine, a bona fide New Englander who spent much of her youth in the mountains, says that in New Hampshire, the dividing line between south and north is Crawford Notch. Anywhere south of the Notch is far too soft and civilized for the true northerners.
ETA: As someone said to me recently, drive 5 hours south from Portland, and you’re in Manhattan. Drive 5 hours north and you’re still in Maine (unless you accidentally turn right into Canada).
Oh, I think you can for real blame teh intarwebz for exposing lots more people to twit and especially twat than ever before. The people who only knew twit, and the ones who knew neither, got them confused and ended up equating them much like this. I’ve seen a few instances of this happen.
I’m British and I didn’t know clype, melter or dinlo. And I would have said ‘barmpot’, which I’ve always associated with the adjective ‘barmy’.
(I’m from Derbyshire, but I happened to pass through Portsmouth a few days ago en route to the Isle of Wight. I didn’t get insulted there.)
I have never heard Florida man before, but since moving to Maine a quarter century back am quite familiar with Masshole. It is definitely not a general demonym. This portmanteau of Massachusetts and asshole is often applied to those practicing aggressive, tailgating driving habits, loutish behavior at such charming libation spots as Old Orchard Beach, being overt members of Red Sox Nation. It’s somewhat akin to cockwomble, but regional and a bit more insulting.
Compare FIB (Fucking Illinois Bastard) in Wisconsin, Minnesota, and Michigan.