Writing about advertising guru George Parker’s preferred pronominal profanities got me thinking about my own. I have to say I’m partial to “wanker” in the British colloquial sense of the word, which has little to do with a person’s propensity for actual genital manipulation, though it can be used to describe socially masturbatory behavior.
The reason I love this word so much is that its use is surprisingly subtle. In the UK, you can call your best friend a wanker and it’ll be taken as a term of endearment, or you can call your worst enemy one, in which case what’s conveyed is entirely different. It’s one of those limber words that’s transformed by context and tone.
Fortunately, my fellow Brits are innately attuned to the unspoken nuances attached to such verbiage and almost unfailingly understand precisely in which way it’s been used – and, more importantly, whether they’ve been insulted or not. Sadly, having realized the hard way that this skill is not encoded in the DNA of many people I encounter on this side of the Atlantic, I’ve had to retire the word from my common vernacular to avoid further confused looks, embarrassing silences, and spectacularly awkward moments.
Anyway, just saying. Carry on…you wankers.
The reason I love this word so much is that its use is surprisingly subtle. In the UK, you can call your best friend a wanker and it’ll be taken as a term of endearment, or you can call your worst enemy one, in which case what’s conveyed is entirely different. It’s one of those limber words that’s transformed by context and tone.
Fortunately, my fellow Brits are innately attuned to the unspoken nuances attached to such verbiage and almost unfailingly understand precisely in which way it’s been used – and, more importantly, whether they’ve been insulted or not. Sadly, having realized the hard way that this skill is not encoded in the DNA of many people I encounter on this side of the Atlantic, I’ve had to retire the word from my common vernacular to avoid further confused looks, embarrassing silences, and spectacularly awkward moments.
Anyway, just saying. Carry on…you wankers.







