ummm.....arsehole is something that is more likely to be muttered under ones breath than said aloud to someone. So yes it is used, jsut not as a to the face insult.

Smartarse, well among my friends we tend to refer to each other as smartarse, smart bastard, smart git, that sort of thing when one of us gets high marks or an award or something. We usually tend to get a good share of the awards at prizegiving between us, and usually are near the top of our year.

However, smartarse isn't really used as an insult or anything of that nature.

 

In relation to other insults, what is a prat/git/coot?

 

Dumbarse is the only other one I can think of.

A prat is an idiot but is generally used in good fun. However this, I believe, is going way down in terms of popularity, as is git. Git is the equivent of 'jerk' (btw DON'T have Harry + co use jerk - it's American). A coot is someone who's crazy but outside of the HP books, I've never heard it used.

 

Just seeing the word coot. We do not have cooties in Britain. Nothing liek boy cooties or girl cooties was ever mentioned when i was in primary school.

The nearest I can think of is that kids usually say that skanks have "persons name disease" so if the skank is called Cassandra (as the "skank" in my class was called) then its Cassandra Disease.

This disease is passed on by touch, and if get it then the only "cure" is to touch someone else.

 

it doesn't matter to what type of building it is, just in general, how old would a building be before you would start to think of it as old. I am imagining it is a good deal younger than in britain, where cities, and towns usually date from the 1700's, at least the centres do, and the majority of villages date from well ebfore that.

 

We had lurgies at primary school lol. Lurgies = cooties btw

 

i don't think i have ever heard that word. As i said, where I live we didn't really have anything that similar to cooties.

 

Only thing that sounds like lurgies up here is the lurgy (pronounced lur-gey), but that's when someones ill.

P.S. Watch Dog Soldiers of some of the more hilarious Geordie activities.

 

We had lurgy at my school.

Celly Cel in Nottingham they are in the hundreds at least. Even the normal kind are more than £200, after going through shops looking for a new one I'm getting familiar with Fridge economics.

We don't use arse that much round my way, instead you get called a bastard or bitch.

Sometimes you get called a cow, although the most insulting word I know is cunt.

Litha

p.s don't you hate it when you lose your bottle opener

 

Buildings: To be honest, in the US, apart form more "historical" sites, I would say any larger town has newer buildings. You don't see places that have been around for hundreds of years except in areas in the South that are more "used to be plantation" type homes.

Though, like pointed out earlier, it really depends what type of building we are talking about. Apartment buildings that are rundown and over 30 years old. (ie haven't been updated in that long) would be considered fairly old. Houses that LOOK more than 100 years old would be considered old. Skyscrapers tend to be old if they are more than 10/20 years old.

The biggest thing though is appearence. Things have been changing quickly enough recently that if a building doesn't look new, it tends to be seen as old regardless of how old it really is.

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I know this isn't entirely true everywhere in the US, but my circle of people tend to see cunt as a REALLY derogatory word. It just isn't said. Its seen as only slightly better than having a white person say nigger.

 

I know c-nt is the most insulting word, because it's the only word I got my mouth washed out for.
Choking on soap bubbles is a good reminder not to use a word.

Litha

 

I got my mouth washed out for saying shit when I was 5 once...uke:not a pleasant experience.

When I said coot, I meant how people refer to Dumbledore as a "manipulative, old coot." Not cooties or lurgies or whatever else you guys were talking about.

 

coot

• noun 1 ([SIZE=-1]pl.[/SIZE] same) an aquatic bird of the rail family with black plumage and a white bill that extends back on to the forehead as a horny shield. 2 (usu. old coot) [SIZE=-1]informal[/SIZE] a stupid or eccentric person.

As you can see the second meaning would be meant when Dumbledore is called a manipulative old coot. I don't hear it said in day to day life, however, not very often anyway.

 

I suppose cooties could translate to Nits. Over here, we call headlice Nits, even though that term actually describes the empty lice eggs. My nan still harps on about Nitty Nora!

 

we talk about nits or neets here as well, hadn't thought of that.

 

Also, winnit, for an insult, along with arsegoblin, and describing something crappy as arse-gravy, a-la Stephen Fry on QI about Da Vinci Code the shite movie.

 

What americans call Fall, is called Autumn in Britain.

 

In secondary schools [British English for "high school"] (which therefore applies to Hogwarts), it is not a "semester", it is a "term".

 

Somethign I have to say Im shocked at in the series is that porridge isn't served at breakfast. Anywhere you go in Scotland, where a group of folk are being served breakfast, porridge is offered. It is the Scottish food.