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  3. One of the greatest strengths of the English language is any noun can be an insult if delivered in the right tone.

One of the greatest strengths of the English language is any noun can be an insult if delivered in the right tone.

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  • FlicF Flic

    @CarstenBoll @c0dec0dec0de @DamonHD @afewbugs yeah what the US calls trolleys we call trams. This is a shopping trolley/cart situation

    FlicF This user is from outside of this forum
    FlicF This user is from outside of this forum
    Flic
    wrote last edited by
    #22

    @CarstenBoll @c0dec0dec0de @DamonHD @afewbugs I once raced in a shopping trolley down a street in Brisbane when on a trip there as a student. Classic international activity apparently

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    • QuixoticgeekQ Quixoticgeek

      @cassana @afewbugs the crazy thing with this is you can also use it to describe being drunk. "Got utterly trousered yesterday" "totally gazebod"...

      JenJ This user is from outside of this forum
      JenJ This user is from outside of this forum
      Jen
      wrote last edited by
      #23

      @quixoticgeek @cassana @afewbugs or mix and match!

      "You're totally tabled, you utter biro!"

      Cassana 🍻C 1 Reply Last reply
      0
      • JenJ Jen

        @quixoticgeek @cassana @afewbugs or mix and match!

        "You're totally tabled, you utter biro!"

        Cassana 🍻C This user is from outside of this forum
        Cassana 🍻C This user is from outside of this forum
        Cassana 🍻
        wrote last edited by
        #24

        @jetlagjen @quixoticgeek @afewbugs The funny thing is that it only works with a solid British accent. I used to get mistaken for Canadian when talking English for a long time, but then I moved to the UK, and all that shifted to modern RP with hints of Essex and London. And suddenly this magical world of creative vocabulary and wordplay opened up to me.

        JenJ 1 Reply Last reply
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        • Jules she/herA Jules she/her

          RE: https://mstdn.social/@sodslawyer/116056688380387248

          One of the greatest strengths of the English language is any noun can be an insult if delivered in the right tone.

          Ludwig VielfrassL This user is from outside of this forum
          Ludwig VielfrassL This user is from outside of this forum
          Ludwig Vielfrass
          wrote last edited by
          #25

          @afewbugs also nearly every alliterative “verbing the noun” construction sounds like an euphemism for masturbation.

          Piers CawleyP OblomovO 2 Replies Last reply
          0
          • Jules she/herA Jules she/her

            RE: https://mstdn.social/@sodslawyer/116056688380387248

            One of the greatest strengths of the English language is any noun can be an insult if delivered in the right tone.

            Wonderdog 🏳️‍🌈C This user is from outside of this forum
            Wonderdog 🏳️‍🌈C This user is from outside of this forum
            Wonderdog 🏳️‍🌈
            wrote last edited by
            #26

            @afewbugs See Australian usage of "mate" ...

            Simon LandmineS 1 Reply Last reply
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            • Jules she/herA Jules she/her

              @FourT4 "Your Mom is a last noun used!"

              Jon Roach, ♻️ Duke of YorkF This user is from outside of this forum
              Jon Roach, ♻️ Duke of YorkF This user is from outside of this forum
              Jon Roach, ♻️ Duke of York
              wrote last edited by
              #27

              @afewbugs exactly this. "You're a dog brush", that sort of thing.

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              • QuixoticgeekQ Quixoticgeek

                @cassana @afewbugs the crazy thing with this is you can also use it to describe being drunk. "Got utterly trousered yesterday" "totally gazebod"...

                robR This user is from outside of this forum
                robR This user is from outside of this forum
                rob
                wrote last edited by
                #28

                @quixoticgeek @cassana @afewbugs you got wallpapered, didn't you

                1 Reply Last reply
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                • Jules she/herA Jules she/her

                  RE: https://mstdn.social/@sodslawyer/116056688380387248

                  One of the greatest strengths of the English language is any noun can be an insult if delivered in the right tone.

                  GJ Groothedde 🇪🇺E This user is from outside of this forum
                  GJ Groothedde 🇪🇺E This user is from outside of this forum
                  GJ Groothedde 🇪🇺
                  wrote last edited by
                  #29

                  @afewbugs I should say this is, in fact, a strength of any language. 🤷🏻‍♂️

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                  • Cassana 🍻C Cassana 🍻

                    @afewbugs New grammar module:
                    British english insultative vocative: “You (insert random creatively applicable noun).
                    Emphatic insultative vocative: “you absolute …”
                    This one is of course related and regularly combined with the common exclamatory vocative: "Oy!", e.g., "oy, you absolute disco light!"

                    Piers CawleyP This user is from outside of this forum
                    Piers CawleyP This user is from outside of this forum
                    Piers Cawley
                    wrote last edited by
                    #30

                    @cassana @afewbugs note that, without the “you”, exactly the same nouns can be used as a term of affection.

                    “Hello, gazebo!” — affectionate
                    “You table!” — insulting

                    As Pete Seeger noted, English is crazy.

                    1 Reply Last reply
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                    • Ludwig VielfrassL Ludwig Vielfrass

                      @afewbugs also nearly every alliterative “verbing the noun” construction sounds like an euphemism for masturbation.

                      Piers CawleyP This user is from outside of this forum
                      Piers CawleyP This user is from outside of this forum
                      Piers Cawley
                      wrote last edited by
                      #31

                      @lerxst @afewbugs “Are you verbing the noun in there Billy? You’ll go blind if you’re not careful!”

                      Doesn’t have to be alliterative.

                      1 Reply Last reply
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                      • Cassana 🍻C Cassana 🍻

                        @jetlagjen @quixoticgeek @afewbugs The funny thing is that it only works with a solid British accent. I used to get mistaken for Canadian when talking English for a long time, but then I moved to the UK, and all that shifted to modern RP with hints of Essex and London. And suddenly this magical world of creative vocabulary and wordplay opened up to me.

                        JenJ This user is from outside of this forum
                        JenJ This user is from outside of this forum
                        Jen
                        wrote last edited by
                        #32

                        @cassana @quixoticgeek @afewbugs that's delightful! I hope you're having fun with it.

                        Although it only works in British accents, it does work in *all* of them.

                        "Ahm bluddy loo rawlled, eh?" (Cumbria)

                        "Ye buzz seat!" (West Midlands)

                        "We'll gan get bridged" (Geordie)

                        "He is such a bookcase!" (RP)

                        1 Reply Last reply
                        0
                        • Wonderdog 🏳️‍🌈C Wonderdog 🏳️‍🌈

                          @afewbugs See Australian usage of "mate" ...

                          Simon LandmineS This user is from outside of this forum
                          Simon LandmineS This user is from outside of this forum
                          Simon Landmine
                          wrote last edited by
                          #33

                          @caity @afewbugs That's not just limited to Australia - still practiced in the UK, too ...

                          1 Reply Last reply
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                          • Ludwig VielfrassL Ludwig Vielfrass

                            @afewbugs also nearly every alliterative “verbing the noun” construction sounds like an euphemism for masturbation.

                            OblomovO This user is from outside of this forum
                            OblomovO This user is from outside of this forum
                            Oblomov
                            wrote last edited by
                            #34

                            @afewbugs @lerxst «verbing my noun» especially

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                            • Jules she/herA Jules she/her

                              RE: https://mstdn.social/@sodslawyer/116056688380387248

                              One of the greatest strengths of the English language is any noun can be an insult if delivered in the right tone.

                              Amro has beenA This user is from outside of this forum
                              Amro has beenA This user is from outside of this forum
                              Amro has been
                              wrote last edited by
                              #35

                              @afewbugs
                              Haha, not only the English language. My mom freaked when I called my brother "een aangebrand stuk protoplasma" = a piece of burnt protoplasm in my teens.
                              🤷‍♀️

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