[geeks]

[Mike Meredith]

On Fri, 17 Oct 2003 08:40:59 -0500 (CDT), Eric Dittman wrote:
> different.  Most people I know in the U.S. would view "wanker" as
> being just a harmless slam, while in the U.K. the use of "wanker"
> would be like using the term "jerk-off" in the U.S.

And also a pretty harmless insult.

> Probably "bum" in the U.K. and "ass" in the U.S. would be about the
> same.

I'd have said "arse" is the UK-equivalent of "ass" (as in "working one's
ass/arse off"). In the UK "ass-fucking" is a bit more obscene than the
US, involving as it does a four-legged beast of burden.

> I think "fuck" is offensive in both the U.K. and U.S.

Not particularly.

Some of the misunderstandings can be quite amusing ... a US film called
"Shag" caused much hilarity over here using as "a shag" = "a fuck" over
here. 

> places.  Turn the hand around to present the back of the hand means
> nothing to most people in the U.S., but is equivalent to extending the
> middle finger (palm or back of the hand presented), which is
> considered an obscene gesture in a lot of different countries, in the
> U.K.

Cue urban legend about it being used by English archers to show the
French that they still had their fingers intact.