Swearing

[saltedpeanut]

Why and who thought that some words are known to be swear words and why is in that in the UK 'wan*er' is offensive and yet in America it is a common surname?

[andy hughes]

I think it's just one more of the cultural differences that exist in the world - a bank has made a TV campaign out of them. Interestingly, although we expect Americans to use and indeed not use words in the same context as the British, your point reminds me of an episode of the TV series 'Mork and Mindy', starring Robin Williams. Although a childrens' show, and aired in afternoon viewing time, they referred to a 'Mr W**ker' in one episode, much to the chortling and blushing amusement of the UK audience. The obvious absence of any laughter or sideling glances by the cast proved your point - to the Americans, it is just another surname. As for that island in The Shetlands - don't let's go there - at least not in conversation!

[geofbob]

Though the w word is undoubtedly more English than American, I'm sure that most Americans now know what it means and regard it as offensive, even if it does occur as a surname. In any case, it's hardly a common name - an online phone directory search of NY, LA and Chicago (about 15M inhabitants in all) reveals only one person with surname Wan*er.

[Quizmonster]

The basic word itself SOUNDS very Anglo-Saxon, as if it were at least as old as the other sex-related four-letter words. However, it didn't appear anywhere in print until Partridge's "Dictionary of Forces' Slang" was published in 1948. Clearly, thereafter, it was considered offensive in exactly the same way as other such words are.

[boognish76]

I've seen a US DIY show on which the female presenter said, "You might not want to bother doing this but I'm going to because I'm a bit of a w*nker." In the US the word just means a silly person - I suppose like a 'plonker' in the UK. So the word is often used for comic effect in the US - eg. In Married With Children, Peggy Bundy's maiden name is W*nker