A few basic British expletives(taken from the BBC study "Delete Expletives?"):
- Bollocks - v : (1)make a mess of, destroy or ruin; an expression of disbelief
- Wanker - n: (1) A person who masturbates
- Arse - n: buttocks
- Paki - n: Pakistani,
or any Arab-descended individual.
- Shag - v: to
engage in sexual intercourse with
- Spastic - adj: clumsy or inept
- Bugger
- n: a sodomite
- Slag - n: a woman whose appearance and sexual
activities are considered unacceptable
- Sodding - tr.
v: to damn. Sod n: (1)
a sodomite; Sod
Off tr v: to dismiss
angrily
- Bloody - adj., adv: used as
an intensive; reference to the "blood of christ"
Rough translation
into American English:
- Bollocks = "Bullshit", or "Fuck Up"
- Wanker ="Jack-off"
- Arse = "Ass"
- Paki = "Rag-(or Towel-)head", "Osama"
- Shag = "Fuck"
- Spastic = "Retard"
- Bugger = "Fag"
- Slag = "Slut" or "Whore"
- Sodding = "Fucking (esp. anal)"
- Bloody = "God-Damned" (any vulgar reference
to God)
Interesting tidbits:
- The word "shag" was made popular in the U.S. by the "Austin Powers"
movies.
- According to the BBC, the top 5 severest expletives are "cunt", "motherfucker",
"fuck", "wanker", and "nigger"
- "Nigger" and "paki" are the two words with the highest increase in severity,
over the last 5 years.
- "God" is ranked last (#28) on the BBC's list of severe expletives.
- "In all cases, women find expletives more offensive
than do men" - BBC
- "Shit" and "piss" are not considered very severe by the BBC, whereas
they are on the FCC's forbidden list.
Source: www.asa.org.uk/research/documents/upl_10.pdf
...And thus begins my career as a Nodeshell Rescuer...