Brit Insults

[Carruthers]

They missed out 'lummock'.

Gormless bunch. Two bricks short of a load, the lot of them.


Further material for the discerning etymologist here:

Link

[Griff]

Billy no-mates.
That one could sting a bit, think I'll apply to my brother at a later date.

[xoxoxoBruce]

Sure is a lot of words referring to women of loose moral standards.

[Carruthers]

'Poltroon' is a good one but it's recorded as archaic so, on the one hand, it's pretty pointless using it but on the other hand you can still insult someone and live to tell the tale.

[Urbane Guerrilla]

Originally Posted by Carruthers

'Poltroon' is a good one but it's recorded as archaic so, on the one hand, it's pretty pointless using it but on the other hand you can still insult someone and live to tell the tale.

Archaic or obsolete I doubt; I'll use it, no hesitation.

Though if there were a schtick about the clueless guy who asks, "Who's this Paul Troon, and what'd he do?" somebody might bring some fun to a story.

[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Carruthers

They missed out 'lummock'.

Gormless bunch. Two bricks short of a load, the lot of them.


Further material for the discerning etymologist here:

Link

Funny you should point out 'lummock'

I've been listening to a series of audiobooks (zompoc fiction) and it follows several different groups in different locations, mostly in the US but with a few storylines in other countries. One of the groups being in London - and as much as I love the story overall, I find that storyline difficult to listen to. The author is clearly familiar with the UK - the physical descriptions, some of the routes he describes and some of the slang and culture....but: it's so not today's Britain. It's definitely written by someone familiar with rather than born of the UK - the slang and speech patterns are off kilter - along with some of the cultural notes. Its supposed to be set in 2013 but is a mish mash of 1950s -1980s slang and attitudes.

One of the words that jarred with me was 'lummock' used by someone in their late teens/early 20s :P Along with a 14 year old addressing a woman in her 30s as 'mum' (ma'am) on first meeting - and then later exclaiming 'what the blazes was that?' ....ya know like the teenz do.

There are a bunch of those details that really pull me out of the narrative. But 'lummock' was one of the first, along with descriptions of someone with a 'stiff upper lip'

[Carruthers]

Lummox

Though the etymology of lummox is heavily disputed, one thing is for certain: It came from East Anglia, the coastal outcrop of Britain above London.
There, around 1825, someone threw out the word as an insult, and it stuck, becoming a typically British go-to term.
Some linguists believe it comes from the word lummock, which typified a lummox: it means a clumsy oaf.

If pressed, I'd have put its origins in the West Country.
It just doesn't sound as if it originated in East Anglia.

LINK