10 British Insults Americans Won't Understand

[Sam Flynn]

I was told once that TWIT was an acronym for That's What I Thought

I just checked in the full Oxford English Dictionary, and it doesn't offer any origin for the word at all.

While I was there, I looked up "twat" as well. It, too, is of unknown or uncertain etymology, but I had heard at school that "twat" was another word for a nun's head-gear. This is actually mentioned in the OED, but only to say that it's incorrect; the entry in the OED shows that the original quote (from 1660) was clearly using the "rude" definition, but Browning (whoever he was) evidently took it to mean "nun's head-gear" due to the mention, in the same verse, of a cardinal's hat:

Erroneously used by Browning in 1727... under the impression that it denoted some part of a nun's attire. Vanity of Vanities, 1660: "They talk't of his having a Cardinall's Hat / But they'd send him as soon an Old Nun's Twat"

[Pcdunn]

I'm so sure about "twat" meaning a nun's headgear (also called a wimple), because "an old nun's twat" fits well with nun meaning prostitute.
See also Shakespeare's "get thee to a nunnery" in which he may be referring to a brothel, not a convent.

[Sam Flynn]

I'm so sure about "twat" meaning a nun's headgear (also called a wimple), because "an old nun's twat" fits well with nun meaning prostitute.

Indeed, it doesn't mean a nun's headgear, but that was the urban myth - started by Browning in 1727, I guess - which was still circulating when I were a lad.

[Abby Normal]

Someone once called me a vile wanker on here. LOL! Greatest insult ever. And it rolls off the tongue like honey. Vile wanker. Love it!

[johns]

Bellend...

Used almost every day at my work to describe someone

[Magpie]

"Knob" was left out. A grievous omission, I feel.

[Magpie]

Another one that American's never seem to understand is "whinger"

[Robert]

Plonker, prawn, ponce, ratbag, faggot, scrubber, wazzock, turd, git, toerag, airhead, p*sshead, nerk, p*sspoor (adjective).

[Joshua Rogan]

I'm sure Americans know the word faggot, Robert...although if you asked them if they'd ever eaten one you may get some funny looks.

[John G]

Someone once called me a vile wanker on here. LOL! Greatest insult ever. And it rolls off the tongue like honey. Vile wanker. Love it!

Phil Collins used the word in an episode of Miami Vice, at a time when network US tv was highly regulated-I believe it still is. I remember when he was interviewed about it he said he suggested the dialogue to the director; he agreed, without taking the trouble to ask what it meant! https://amp.theguardian.com/tv-and-r...actors-jamelia

[Pcdunn]

Another one that American's never seem to understand is "whinger"

That's just a "whiner", isn't it-- someone who complains incessantly?

[Svensson]

Wool / Wally

[GUT]

That's just a "whiner", isn't it-- someone who complains incessantly?

Yep, here in Ausknown as a whinging POM.

[Sam Flynn]

Some favourite Welsh ones: twpsyn, lembo, twmffat, mwlsyn

And, in English: twonk, pranny, prat

[Robert]

Gareth, is twpsyn related to twp? Hale and Pace used to do sketches where a man kept asking, "Ooh, what's that, then? " "Ooh, how does that work, then?" etc and I believe this man was known as the twp man.