Hey, Brits! Explain this to me.

[George K]

Explain to me, so I can explain to Mrs. George.

She's watching the Oprah Prince Harry interview on Apple TV called "Say It Out Loud."

I told her that the Brits don't use the word "asshole" too much, am I right @Doctor-Phibes ? Instead they use the word "twat," which has a different meaning from what we use that word for in the US.

What's a simple definition that I can give to Mrs. George, so when I say "He's a twat!", she'll understand?

[Mik]

Aren't you a bit old for this kind of naivete?

[George K]

@mik said in Hey, Brits! Explain this to me.:

Aren't you a bit old

Of course.

for this kind of naivete?

But I detect a subtle difference between the usage of "twat" in the Brit sense and the US sense.

I've seen at least one Brit mystery show that used the word. That would never pass muster here in the US.

[Loki]

In the UK they pronounce it tw at.

And it can denote any of the body parts below the waist, but generally ass.

[LuFins Dad]

Think Twit with an A.

[Doctor Phibes]

'Twat' has the same meaning in the UK as the US, but when it's used as an insult, it's kind of a step-down from calling somebody the c-word. It's a fairly common insult.

We also call people arseholes, rather than assholes. It sounds so much more sophisticated.

[Doctor Phibes]

Link to video

[George K]

@doctor-phibes that was probably most informative.

Now, is there one in which I can actually understand what the actual hell they're saying without subtitles?

I only understood "shithouse" "favor" "scabies" "sumo wrestler," and a couple of other words.

[George K]

Thanks for the link though. It redirected me to this:

Link to video

[Doctor Phibes]

That, my friend, is John Cooper Clarke. He has a very strong Salford accent. Salford is Manchester's rather rough step-brother. And it has to be said, Manchester's not exactly hoity-toity.

I'd completely forgotten about it being used as verb. There was a kid at our school who was always threatening to twat people, as in beat them up.