[HPFGU-OTChatter] Brittspeak (was Re: Wotcher)

[Laura Ingalls Huntley]

On Tuesday, October 21, 2003, at 10:45 PM, annemehr wrote:

>
>> Iggy here:
>> Personally, the only "Britspeak" words I tend to use (and have for a 
>> LONG time) are "bloody", "bloomin'" and "git."  (Usually when 
>> describing someone as a bloody git, or a bloomin' git.)  Dunno where 
>> I picked it up, since I grew up in central California... probably 
>> from a book somewhere.

Annemehr:
> The year I lived in England, my Dad said "bloody" *all* the time --
> because he could swear without really (to him) swearing, especially in
> front of us kids (I was 11 at the time).  I do hope he managed to
> control it at work, though!

Like Iggy, I use pretty minimal Britspeak, and the only word that I 
have used/heard since I was a child was "bloody" -- but only in the 
context of "bloody mess." Or, more specifically, "This house is a 
BLOODY MESS! Why can't you people pick anything up??!!  WHY DO I HAVE 
TO DO EVERYTHING MYSELF?!"

That was my mother, if you couldn't guess.

Despite the fact that she uses it constantly, I'm not really sure where 
she got it from -- my grandfather is Italian, but I can't understand 
where an Italian immigrant would pick up British slang.  *shrugs*

Anyway, you can imagine my surprise when a phrase I'd heard my mother 
scream at least once a day for most of my life turned out to contain a 
fairly serious British swear word.  ^_~  Esp. when if I said something 
as innocuous as "that's sucks," I'd get yelled at.  Double standards, I 
tell you.  Piffle.

Laura (who likes the way British swears sound, but hasn't got the 
stones to use them herself ^_~.)