Remember when Mike Myers came out with "The Spy Who Shagged Me?" (I can't believe I just wrote that.) Being a good Catholic convent schoolgirl, I could barely bring myself to read the title never mind go and see it. I mean, that was one of those words that you heard pre-pubescent boys say, and you'd be sure of a lash with the rosary beads if you were ever caught uttering the word.
What I loved about it in the USA however, was the fact that no one seemed to have a clue what it meant - possibly because the term "shagadelic" was also introduced in the movie, and I suspect, Americans thought it had more to do with psychedelic than, well, you know, ........ (There I go again.)
Well, much to my delight, it's happening again. This time it's the word "wanker", which I have to say, makes me blush even more than "shag". The divine Gerard Butler has a new movie out called "Playing for Keeps" , and here's the trailer - (keep watching).
Did you hear it? He yells "Let's Get these Wankers" at a group of really young kids, - as you do. Presumably the parents are clueless as he doesn't seem to lose his job over it, and you can bet that'd happen if he said "Let's get these assholes", or something like that.
The funny thing is, they're playing that exact five seconds as a condensed trailer on Prime Time TV here - obviously having no idea about the definition of the word. Now I know wanker has come to mean someone who's not terribly nice, but let's not forget its original meaning. I shall point you to the dictionary link 'cause if I write it down here, Lord knows what kind of spam I'll get! I can only assume they can't understand Butler's accent, because you wouldn't believe the stuff that normally gets bleeped out in the USA.
I predict in about a month, we'll have nine and ten year old boys nationawide, running round school fields calling each other wankers, and not one of them will be in trouble. Now, if they say "liar" on the other hand......