vardathemessage

Entry tags:

slang

Slang

script:
MIDDLE-AGED MAN

Well, I think it’s a disgrace, parading around all ponced-up like a pack of bleeding woofters. Bloody hell, what’ll they think up next?

Slang:
ponced up = Dressed up; or overdressed
woofters = male homosexual

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

hah hah

the fact that anyone would need that explained to them amuses me. Is it really not that common?

Yay, to us ignorant Americans, we'd need an explanation!

But I figured that's what it meant anyways. Cause I'm smart like that. Oh, yeah. ;D

tsk tsk, I have sooo much to teach you my young padawan ;)

Back in the day I can see where those not in the know wouldn't know what this meant. What is interesting about this comment however, in this context, is that apparently the gay slang had slopped over into the mainstream, appropriated as a cut-down of course.

Hmmm. I wonder though if the put-downs came first, and then became part of gay slang as a way to take control of them? "We're here, we're queer"...etc.

Funny how words become international weapons, shorthanded by the waiters as Jack Fairy floats by: "Maricone, epicene, sexe douteux, Le Vice Anglais."

Speaking of Jack, it occurs to me that he is the very embodiment of Genet's Divine in "Our Lady of the Flowers." What is it Mandy says? "This wreakage of the streets." Yep.

Hmmm. I wonder though if the put-downs came first, and then became part of gay slang as a way to take control of them?

sounds highly probable to me

What struck me as odd about "vice anglais" is that I'd never heard it used to reference homosexuality, but only a penchant for whippings. It was a reference to caning etc. at English public schools, as in Ian Gibson's book The English Vice: Beating, Sex and Shame in Victorian England.

It was a reference to caning etc. at English public schools...

I wonder if perhaps the use of le vice anglais/the English vice to refer to homosexuality in VG is an indirect suggestion of the homerotic potentiality of the single-sex public school system?

I've heard the term as a reference to whipping/caning as well; also (rather unkindly!) as a reference to hypocrisy, both in the movie Wilde* and in conversation.

*Once I get home, I'd be glad to reference the script on that; I'm pretty sure it's in the scene where Oscar shows Queensbury's note to Ross.

One of the first naughty things I remember learning about sex was that French meant oral, Greek meant anal and English meant whipping, haha. It does seem that the guy in VG saying "Le vice anglais" is American, so he might be getting at the idea that all British men are swishy.

I should have said, in using the phrase, "Do you speak French?" etc.

Speaking of Jack, it occurs to me that he is the very embodiment of Genet's Divine in "Our Lady of the Flowers."

Yes, we can only wonder what he's been up to in the years since we see him in the schoolyard.

A lot of Aussie slang is derived from British slang, so you might be more familiar with it, but I often see things in Eric Partridge's dictionaries that say Chiefly Aus.

Yeah, I'm aware of that, I just figure, I know sooooo much about americanisms etc it just surprises me that so little is known in reverse sometimes

we'd never get back on topic!

I think the reason is that the entertainment industry - Hollywood - has been exporting films and tv shows worldwide for so long, whereas Australian film has really come into its own as an international phenomenon in the past 15-20 years. And pop culture is where people learn slang.

Yeah, I know, no need to explain it to me, I've had many a convo with my US buddies about it

who I had to teach wanker, tosser, twat, root and erm, bollocks ;)

I love those words! Twat is used in the U.S. but I've never known root as a slang expression. I have to ask, what expressions, in VG or otherwise, sound specifically American to you?

when I've heard them say twat on stuff like QAF, tis always pronounced differently than the brittish way, which kid of gives it a differenet meaning.

Root is another word for shag, or fuck, or sex ;)

Giving some one a good root for example ;)

Erm, I can't think of any americanisims in VG just now since tis after 3am and I'm tired as hell, I'll think bout it though

Thanks for the info, this was fun. If you happen to think of something, pop in and tell us.

Hmmm. I take it "woofter" is a variant of "poofter", which is a term I've definitely heard used as a reference to gay males.

That being said, "poofter/poof" is more of a British slang term, and not as often used here in the States. I've only heard "woofter" used in VG.

And context is everything of course. I had to look up "shirt lifter" as I'd never heard that one before. Such an evocative term!

Tis taken from rhyming slang

I've heard woolly woofter used instead of poofter

I've heard woolly woofter used instead of poofter

I was just looking that up! Poofter is from poof, which is possibly from powder puff, or from puff, which is tramp's cant for a sodomist since 1870(!)

"Ponce" in particular is slang for "pimp", and it's also used in the the phrase "ponce about" meaning "saunter showily".

I was even wondering if this information warranted a post and then it's gotten the most comments of anything so far!

For one thing, I think those Americans without a script might not get the exact dialogue, and then unless you are an anglophile, they are not familiar, since they really aren't used here in the States. I suspect that that is part of their charm to Todd, there is a far more colorful array of terms for homosexuality in the U.K. than in America. Perhaps it has something to do with being ruled by a Queen... ;-)

Perhaps it has something to do with being ruled by a Queen... ;-)

HAH!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Slang

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

no subject

I agree, but if I started to apologize for that...

Re: I agree, but if I started to apologize for that...

Never Mind the Bollocks! ;-)

Re: Never Mind the Bollocks! ;-)

Re: Never Mind the Bollocks! ;-)

Mind yer P's and W's

Re: Mind yer P's and W's

Re: Mind yer P's and W's

Re: Mind yer P's and W's

no subject

Chuffed!

Re: Chuffed!