Dear flist, you are wonderfully barmy (or NaArMaMo Day 22)

[lost_spook]

I had nothing particular lined up for today's 'naart', so took up the (probably not-at-all-serious) requests/suggestions my flisters helpfully made for things that should have sparkly icons. (And don't worry; I do realise that none of the suggestions was made in an 'I want to use that icon' sense!)

For pitry, who thought Spike should be sparkly (under

Comments

[dbskyler]

Interesting. I didn't know that about "bint," and I'm guessing Buffy's writers didn't either (although I would've hoped they'd run their scripts past a Britpicker, or maybe Anthony Head since they had him right there). "Bint" is a word that is so meaningless here, most people don't even know what it means. If that makes sense. That is, "bloody" is at least a known (if unused) expletive, like "lift" for elevator, but "bint"? That can get you blank stares. I think I first learned the word from Monty Python, and assumed it couldn't be that bad because it was in Monty Python. Like a British version of "chick" or something. I had absolutely no idea there was any racial connotation to it at all, so I wouldn't be surprised if the Buffy writers didn't either. (Some of them are probably Monty Python fans too.) Or maybe they thought it didn't matter since they were writing for American audiences? I wonder how much thought they put into possible worldwide distribution back in those days?

Hah, frak - like smeg! Red Dwarf swearwords are all invented too.

Oh yes, smeg! That's a wonderful one. It really conveys what it means. *g* Although I do have to point out that frak came first -- it was in the original Battlestar Galactica. They also had "feldercarb" which was a milder swear word than "frak." I still remember what a novel concept made-up swear words were. I was a young teen at the time, and it was like, "They can do that?" Frak and feldercarb became very popular words to use at school. : )

[lost_spook]

Yeah. I'm suspecting it was already a bit obscure and is now being used back because of Spike. I can't remember how I knew it & what the connotations were now (but I am right, because the word's origin is African - I want to say Swahili, but I'd have to check - so I'm guessing it got used in an English context from soldiers & other colonials having African mistresses). It's way too uncommon to be something like 'chick' - a sort of racist version of 'bitch' maybe. But like I said, I think it might have been obscure - I hadn't heard it used on TV really, other than Spike (and since). Slang and swearing doesn't really travel or translate much, I think.

I'd just been managing to watch some Red Dwarf. It was in my mind... :-)