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Propp, please note that in England people associate the term "VendingMachine" with "soft northern shandy-drinking big girl's blouse".
Just for reseach purposes, you understand.
PS This thread is a minefield. I refuse to teach you anything about it :)
Аlso, "fag" and "faggot" are litterly ciggaretes. In England I believe that those terms refer to ciggarete, where as in North America, they are offensive as Pravit explained
Today I've seen a word "pimp". And I forget to ask about "queer" and "a queen". Are they abusive?
And "a fairy" also.
Pimp isnQuote:
Originally Posted by Propp
I say gayer, or bummer, and for lesbians I say lesbitarian, lesbatron, or fishmonger.
Queer is sort of like the word n*gger. If it is said by a straight person, it is offensive. Dogboy said "Shutup queer" to me in a thread in the Grammar and Vocabularly section. But gay people use it to refer to each other (that's why I wasn't offended by Dogboy's comment :wink: . Queen is sort of more light-hearted, and specifically refers to an effiminate gay. It really depends on how it is said.Quote:
Originally Posted by Propp
Bugger is a verb. It mean to sodomise (sodomize), which means to f*ck someone up the arse (ass). It is quite victorian though. Buggary is the noun = anal sex. It is still in common use but is used as a mild curse.
When someone drops a plate they may shout "Bugger!" (like "F*ck!". Also it can be used as an exclamation "Bugger me! I won the lottery" (like "F*ck me!"). Or also, when you are in a bit of a pickle, "I've lost all my money, I'm a bit buggered" (like "i'm f*cked".)
Sod comes from Sodomite, I believe, but has lost its meaning. It is a very weak insult now, used for anyone. "You sill sod!"
What about "queer" as a synonym for odd, strange? Is it better not to use it this way or it's always understandable what meaning is implied?
I get the impression that it's undergoing the same transformation as "gay" did some time ago, i.e. its original meaning is because of being swamped by the much more emotive new meaning.
But it's much earlier in the process, so you can still use it in that way. I'd say at this point in history its usage is acceptable but unusual.
In the US, you would rarely use "queer" to mean odd or strange anymore. You would be *understood* if you used it, but because of the current usage for homosexuality, you would sound old-fashioned if you used it the other way.Quote:
Originally Posted by Friendy
When I was a kid (I'm in my 30s), we played a game called "smear the queer", which was probably originally named back when the "queer" was the odd one out. One guy had a football, and everybody tried to tackle him. Once he was down, he had to let go, and someone else would pick it up and run with it until they got tackled, and so on.
But now, the two most-used phrases with "queer" in them are:
Queer Eye for the Straight Guy (queer = gay)
and
"We're here, we're queer, get used to it." (queer = gay)
Queer as Folk, which was a popular gay tv drama from the late 90's. It came from the nothern English expression "There ain't nowt as queer as folk", which means something liked "there isn't anyhting stranger than people."Quote:
Originally Posted by Aaa