9-11_Insults.qxp_RH Page 05/05/2025 16:03 Page 9
INSULTING ISSUES
Sticks And Stones… When it comes to an insult, greeting cards lead the way in inventive invectives and ways to casually be rude to family and friends while also conveying affection, but how will they cope as much-loved terms fall out of use? So long plonker, farewell prat, goodbye git – a new survey has revealed that traditional British insults are dying out as Gen Zers don’t use them. Even worse, many have never heard of some of these typical ways Brits have used for insulting their loved ones to show how much they care, according to the recent study by research agency Perspectus Global. They asked 2,000 Britons of different age groups if they’d heard of terms such as berk, nitwit and pillock, but Gen Z, born from 1997 to 2011, didn’t understand many of them. With 62% of people under the age of 28 never having heard of lummox, and 54% of all age groups also being unfamiliar with the East Anglian term for a clumsy or awkward person, the survey determined it’s most at risk of dying out within a generation. Bampot is next on the list, as 60% of
Goodbye git! Very British insults expected to die out within a generation: 1. Lummox 62% 2. Bampot 60% 3. Blighter 54% 4. Ninny 51% 5. Cad 47% 6. Drip 42% 7. Tosspot 36% 8. Toe rag 34% 9. Pillock 33% 10. Nitwit 27% 11. Scallywag 26% 12. Git 26% 13. Plonker 25% 14. Prat 25% 15. Numpty 22%
Above: Plonker was made famous by Only Fools And Horses.
youngsters don’t know the Scottish word for a foolish person – barmpot is the Yorkshire term – that’s thought to come from the pot for storing yeast in brewing as barm is the frothy foam on a fermenting liquid and the root of the word barmy. Even plonker, which Del Boy constantly calls little brother Rodney Trotter in TV comedy classic Only Fools And Horses, is apparently unknown to 25% of folk – obviously they’ve not seen the programme or the current hit musical! Meanwhile, blighter was new for 54%, while 26% of those asked didn’t know scallywag or git, and nearly 60% of the Gen Z respondents hadn’t heard the term berk for a fool or twit despite its Cockney rhyming slang origins of Berkshire Hunt which rhymes with the much-more offensive word. In the survey, 68% of respondents of all ages claimed Britain still has the best insults of any country but they’re being replaced with American-influenced terms such as Karen, basic and simp, which are far less creative. Where there was agreement between all ages, 81% said that it is a very British trait to insult your loved ones as a backhanded term of endearment Harriet Scott, chief executive of Perspectus, said: “Language changes, evolves and moves on. Our research shows that calling someone a plonker or a prat is no longer a fashionable way to insult them. “Interestingly, the research highlights the
extent to which Brits feel some of the more traditional jibes feel softer and less severe than some of today’s more controversial ones. 'It’s been fascinating researching thousands of old insults such as mooncalf, which used to mean a fool, or cozener meaning a trickster dating back to Shakespearean England.” To stop the rot, the only course of action when it comes to saving Britain’s idiosyncratic insult culture is to use them or lose them – call a pillock a pillock, it’s in the national interest!
Today’s Titters “I’ve been enjoying some of the newer political comedians such as Will Sebag-Montefiore (pictured) and Munya Chawawa on Instagram, trying to make sense of our crazy world! I also like Jen Brister’s routines on parenthood and family.”. Jessie Wood, owner, Jessie Maeve Design
FOCUS ON HUMOUR CARDS
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