Rude, but funny

Rude, but funny

Mae: In issue 6 of Spotlight, there is a language feature all about insultBeleidigunginsults in English. I was really excited to read this feature, but when I did, I realized that these were all insults that would be used in the UK, and I just didn’t understand them as an American. Owen, did you understand them?  

Owen: Not at all, no. That’s not true, I did. 

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Mae: So, we’ve invited our colleague Lorraine into the studio. Lorraine is from the UK and she’s also a new editor on the Spotlight team. So, Lorraine, welcome to the team and to the studio!

Lorraine Turner-Akcakaya: Thank you very much.

Mae: All right, let’s dive right in. So, the first thing I didn’t understand is “he’s all mouth and no trousers”. Can either of you explain to me what this means?  

Lorraine: I can take this one. It’s actually a phrase that comes from northern England and it would often be used by a woman towards a man and it’s suggesting the man is talking boastfullyprahlerischboastfully or making promises that he doesn’t keep and it is really a sharp put downherabsetzende Bemerkung, Abfuhrput down for a man, so.  

Mae: OK, the next one. “He couldn’t organize a piss-up in a breweryBrauereibrewery”.  

Lorraine: This is for you, Owen.  

Owen: Yeah, I mean, obviously a brewery is where you’re going to find alcohol. So, a piss-up, in this case, means everyone gets very drunk. So, if you can’t organise a party where everyone gets drunk in a brewery, then you can’t organise anything. So, you are a disaster at organising.  

Mae: So I was to be way offsich gewaltig irrenway off on this one. I thought it was in reference to organising the urinals in a brewery – I guess it’s not a literalwörtlichliteral piss-up, it’s just the...  

Owen: Yeah, that’s the expression “piss-up”. Yeah, this is the… so it means just that everyone gets very, very drunk.

Mae: I see. OK, the next one is “He’s a big girl’s blouse”. 

Lorraine: I like this one. I think that’s got a nice… this is something I would actually say.  

Mae: What does it mean?  

Lorraine: You really don’t get that?  

Mae: No.  

Lorraine: It’s so funny. We always think they’re implicitunterschwellig; hier: selbstverständlichimplicit, the meanings.

Mae: No, absolutely not.  

Lorraine: It would mean that a male person is slightly wimpyschwächlichwimpy or not so masculine, let’s say. So, he’s a big girl’s blouse, meaning he’s not very courageousmutigcourageous, but it’s, yeah, that’s one that you would hear and it’s also one of these slightly... because the image itself is quite humorous. It’s also not one of the harder insults, I’d say.  

Owen: Yeah, it’s nice.