[[quoteright:300:[[VideoGame/MarioParty http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/mp8_3899.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:300: Who knew such a term would be highly offensive across the pond?[[hottip:*: Other than everyone living across the pond, we mean.]] ]]

->''It is somewhat more offensive in British use than Americans typically realize.''
-->--'''[[http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19961119 Mary Cresswell]]''' on "wanker".

Sometimes a writer will use "international" slang to make a character seem more salty and "regional" (frequently American versus British usage of a word). Sometimes, however, an expression is still considered vulgar elsewhere. When words like "bollocks" or "wanker" appear in, say, an American work that is otherwise PG, the words create [[ValuesDissonance dissonance]] in places that are more familiar with them.

This is also used intentionally, to the opposite effect: unfamiliar or [[ForeignCussWord foreign swear words]] may be used where an equivalent local expression [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar would be inappropriate]]. ("Bloody" is about as strong a curse as "damn", and "bloody hell" is about the same as "goddamn", in the UK. In Australia and other areas where it's entered common usage it generally isn't considered at all profane though, which can cause confusion. It refers to "God's blood" as an oath. [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody#Etymology Maybe.]])

This works both ways, as there are a lot of words that are offensive in the US, but innocuous elsewhere in the Anglosphere, such as "fag" referring to cigarettes in Britain, but being a slur of homosexuals in the US.

This trope covers any confusion or [[HilarityEnsues hilarity]] arising from foreign swear words, not just in the US. Since international expletives are often "G-rated" on American TV, "arse" and "shite" can be family-friendly ways of getting "ass" and "shit" [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar past the radar]]. In Britain, "ass" can be used freely before the {{watershed}}, but "arse" may be censored. Gestures may be similarly misunderstood, such as the two-finger V-sign to signal "peace", which, if the hand is turned around, is an insult in some countries.

See also SeparatedByACommonLanguage, BilingualBonus and HaveAGayOldTime. Can result in YeOldeButcheredeEnglishe.

----
!!Examples:

[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* From the mouth of James in ''Anime/{{Pokemon}}'': "That's why she doesn't know a bloody thing about us, there's no Sinnoh Team Rocket branch!". In a non-Anglophonic variant, the Japanese Lt. Surge (who is supposed to be American) exclaims in an early episode, "God damn!"
** In the Napoleonic Wars, one of the French slang terms for the British was "Les Goddamns", because of how often they said it. On the other hand, randomly cussing for no reason at all is a common Japanese stereotype of Americans, though almost exclusively played for laughs.
* For a different culture's take, see the ClusterFBomb from ''Anime/AbenobashiMahouShoutengai''.
* Inverted in the dub of ''CastleInTheSky'', which was originally titled "Laputa: Castle in the Sky". This was changed because "Laputa" resembles "la puta", which means "the whore" in Spanish. And more people in Europe and North America are more likely to recognize a Spanish swear word than in Japan. Obviously, you don't want to take a chance with printing something like ''that'' out there.
** The name Laputa was taken from Jonathan Swift's ''Gulliver's Travels'', so it's not too big of stretch to imagine Swift naming a floating island "the whore" on purpose. Of course, Hayao Miyazaki probably didn't realize the name had a hidden meaning.
*** Swift may have called it "Laputa" because it had "no visible means of support", a phrase used in vagrancy laws.
*** It may have also been more literal, referencing Martin Luther's "Reason is a whore", seeing as Laputa is a highly advanced society that cannot make anything practical for all its enlightenment.
** NOT averted, out of all places, in the Latin American dub itself. The characters still refer to the place as Laputa, and what's even worse, the pronounciation they give to the word is the ''exact same'' you'd give to the actual insult.
* The English dub of ''[[NegimaSecondSeason Negima!?]]'' has two British (specifically Welsh) characters at or younger than ten years old say 'bollocks' on more than one occasion, once in front of a British adult who just giggled. The rest of the language in the show is pretty tame, however.
* In the first episode of Season 3's edited English dub of ''DragonBallZ'', the apparently Australian Jiece gives us such lines as, "ah bugger, this blasted thing!" and, "no bloody Saiyan that we've ever met is that strong."
* In the Creator/FourKidsEntertainment (of all things) dub of ''Anime/YuGiOh'', Sid says, "git", which, to Britons, is a very mild expletive but still not one you'd expect to hear on a kids' show.
* Given that the whole thing runs on stereotypes PlayedForLaughs, ''AxisPowersHetalia'' has a grand time with this. In particular, the English dub has England constantly calling the other Nations "wankers", while Spain at one point calls Austria a "puta" (bitch).
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Comic Books]]
* In an issue of ''YTheLastMan'', a captured woman calls the leader of the Amazon gang/army a cunt. The AxCrazy leader [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] this by going into a detailed description of the word and how it's not an insult in Britain. The captive responds by spitting on her and getting shot for her troubles. To clarify, it certainly ''is'' an insult in Britain, just (in certain circumstances) somewhat more acceptable than in America. Like most expletives, it largely depends on how you're using it.
* In an issue of ''GenerationX'', Chamber (whose British-ness is often emphasized) uses the word "wanker" as if it was a rather harmless insult.
* ''ComicBook/{{Excalibur}}'', the funny, light-hearted X-Men title, had Pete Wisdom, who tried to include 'bloody hell' in every sentence he spoke. He was supposed to seem rough and a jerk, but it was still slightly uncomfortable if you don't like swearing, especially if you're not quite sure how offensive the swearing is.
* Lampshaded in one ''ComicBook/TheSimpsons'' comic, Bart and Lisa end up staying with psuedo-South-american freedom fighters. When Bart utters his CatchPhrase "Ay Carumba!" He is immediately beaten down by a woman for using dirty language in front of her child.
* Whoever decided that "wank" would be a good onomatopoeia for CaptainAmerica's [[http://superdickery.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=category&layout=blog&id=32&Itemid=50&limitstart=89 shield hitting a villain in the face]] was clearly unaware of the word's [[ADateWithRosiePalms meaning]] in British/Australian/New Zealand slang. [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Or was 100% aware of it and having a laugh.]]
** It's even better. Because of the placement of the speech bubble, it looks like "I command you to--WANK!"
* In an early issue of MarvelComics' ''ComicBook/ConanTheBarbarian'' series, British artist Barry Smith convinced American writer Roy Thomas to have a soldier call another soldier a "wank". After the issue's publication, Thomas shortly ended up with more informative letters from British readers than he'd have liked.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Fic]]
* While all the swearing recognizable to American readers of SoBadItsGood ''Manga/DeathNote'' fanfic ''FanFic/LightAndDarkTheAdventuresOfDarkYagami'' is censored out, British ones are not, leading to Watari yelling things like "''THAT TIT IS TAKING THE PISS NOW!... WE MUST GET THE WANK OUT OF THIS SODDING CONTRACEPTION!''" fully uncensored.
** Same goes for ''[[FanFic/{{ITSMYLIFE}} ITS MY LIFE!]]'', to the point that overused British curses were associated with this fic's Wheatley.
* The ''FinalFantasyVIII'' fic ''Phantom Dreams'' had Seifer refer to Squall as a little bugger, which given the [[SlashFic nature]] of the fic was AccidentallyAccurate.
* Really, this is fairly common in most fanfiction written for something that originated in a country different than the one the author is from. The most prevalent example is probably American authors writing Literature/HarryPotter fanfic. Seriously, next time you see a long fic by a non-Brit, count how many times 'wanker' is said. It especially happens to Ron a lot, because he ''is'' implied to be swearing sometimes in canon, it's just never outright stated what he said.
** In the other direction, "git" is often taken to be far worse than it actually is. It's actually a [[GoshdangItToHeck very mild insult]], barely even considered swearing at all (which is precisely why it's one of the few things to get through the NarrativeProfanityFilter in the original books). Some fanfics that succumb to ObligatorySwearing have characters calling each other "fucking git", which looks completely ridiculous to British readers.
** The word "berk", possibly because of its [[CountryMatters etymology]], is often mistaken for far worse than it actually is. In reality, it doesn't even register as a swearword to most people and calling someone a berk is less offensive than calling them an idiot.
* In ''FanFic/CalvinAndHobbesTheSeries'', a guy on his Bluetooth rants about "bloody conspiracies", which is somewhat out of place in a normally clean fic.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Film]]
* The story goes that Steve [=McQueen=] didn't know the meaning of the reverse V-sign while making ''LeMans'' and, when told, used the gesture instead of The Finger at the end of the movie as a way of giving his character a European-flair, as a globetrotting racing driver would probably have picked up all kinds of foreign insults on his travels. (There was probably some thought of [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar getting crap past the US radar]] too).
* The film version of ''Film/TheHitchhikersGuideToTheGalaxy'' has the Highly Evolved Beings [[spoiler: a.k.a. mice]] shout "Oh bollocks!" before being crushed by Arthur Dent. The DVDCommentary states that they wanted to sneak in a curse word which wouldn't be as well known to American audiences.
* ''AustinPowers The Spy Who Shagged Me'' had some trouble being marketed in the UK entirely because of this. The posters either partially censored the middle of the offending word or displayed the title of ''Austin Powers 2''. They also had to run different sets of ads before the 9pm {{Watershed}}, because they couldn't use the film's full title.
* [[PiratesOfTheCaribbean Jack Sparrow]] manages to say "oh, bugger" a number of times, despite the film's PG-13 rating and very sparse cursing. This might be yet another case of GettingCrapPastTheRadar.
* In Shyamalan's ''Film/TheLastAirbender'', the repeated use of the word "bender" (a homosexual male) has been said to provoke inappropriate laughter from British audiences.
* ''MuppetTreasureIsland'' is otherwise free of profanity, though when Billy Bones is dying, Gonzo and Rizzo lampshade the fact that "this was supposed to be a kids' movie!" Shortly after that, when Billy's shipmates search his room, one of them says "Billy's dead, and he hasn't got the bloody map!" Billy himself asks aloud "How does [Mrs. Bluberidge] bloody do that?" Some versions of the film dub over "bloody" with "bloomin".
* In the first ''Film/TombRaider'' movie, Lara is fond of the word "bugger". She uses it a couple times, once with something as innocuous as some food blowing up in the microwave. The movie is PG-13, but it's mainly because it's an action movie, so there's very little in the way of swearing anyway.
* In ''Film/TheAvengers'', Loki calls Black Widow a "mewling quim" at the end of a particularly vicious rant, quim being old English slang for the female genitalia. The film is rated PG-13. The word is pretty archaic, and even those who know what it means would find it more a novelty than actually offensive.
* ''Film/AChristmasCarol2009'' has a guest at a genteel Victorian party playing 20 Questions and guessing "Is it an arse?" She meant ass. As in donkey.
* Middle-finger gestures are generally censored in America, but the ''Film/{{Trainspotting}}'' poster in which Begbie gives a V-sign is shown without any problems.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* In the LoisMcMasterBujold Literature/VorkosiganSaga novel ''Memory'', Miles Vorkosigan is said to have "buggered the cartridge" from a SonicStunner to improvise a grenade. Also, he describes Impsec's security recording as having been "buggered" when he finds evidence of tampering. Nowhere else in Bujold's books do we find this sort of expression. "Buggered" is fairly innocuous US slang for fouled-up or broken (but usually not irreparably). In the UK you can ''describe'' something as "buggered" or talk about "buggering [something] ''up''", but in most dialects if you say you've "buggered [something]" you'll get some strange looks. Thus Miles' statement sounds as odd to the British ear as it does to the US ear when a Brit "[[BurnTheWitch lights up a fag]]."
* Used in-universe on several occasions by Diana Gabaldon. She ''does'' do the linguistic research, but several characters (from different countries or different ''centuries'') manage to cuss each other out and have it go right over the other person's head. (Such as Claire using the word "fucking" and utterly perplexing her husband.) In a more fitting sense for this trope, the author also gets away with a lot of creative language in the ''Literature/{{Outlander}}'' series by way of it being exotic and Scottish, or terribly dated-- and then lets loose with the contemporary profanity.
* HarryTurtledove doesn't do too badly at curse levels, but uses things like 'bloody' far too often in a lot of cases (which has to be quite a bit, given how much we use it). Furthermore, some of the slang is simply wrong. 'Crikey' is an exclamation of surprise, not a swearword that you can chuck in anywhere.
* The aliens in ''EndersGame'' are known as Buggers, which makes an awful lot of the text hard to stomach for British readers... "We can't let the Buggers win!" "I'm going to kill as many of the Buggers as possible!" It would be akin to somebody writing a huge sci-fi epic where we're being invaded by deadly swarms of Dumbasses or [[Film/{{Spaceballs}} surrounded by Assholes]].
** Or for older readers who think of the literal rather than generalized-pejorative meaning of Bugger, the [[UnfortunateImplications deadly swarms of Faggots]]. Somewhat ironic given Card's [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orson_Scott_Card#Homosexuality views on homosexuality]], though he nonetheless probably would ''not'' advocate killing them.
** The formal name of the aliens is "Formic," as demonstrated in ''Ender's Shadow'', where Bean is entertained by the Americans and others calling the aliens expletives.
* The ''[[Franchise/StarWars Han Solo Adventures]]'' series contains a character named [[http://starwars.wikia.com/wiki/Bollux Bollux]]. Whether that was a deliberate attempt at GettingCrapPastTheRadar is up for debate but, unsurprisingly, he was renamed for the UK release. Han specifically asks him at one point if he minds that his name is a rather insulting joke, so it's not really worried about the radar. In some rural parts of the US, "bollocks" is simply used to mean "testicles, usually of an animal", (e.g. in the context of castrating a bull)—it's slightly more objectionable than "buttocks".
* Creator/JohnBrunner, in his dystopian near-future novel ''Literature/TheSheepLookUp'' (set in a TwentyMinutesInTheFuture version of the [=USA=]), fell foul of this by having a midwestern DJ [[spoiler:(who had been poisoned, alongside thousands of others, by leakage into the water table of a military psychedelic)]] use the word "bollocks" in what is probably the filthiest limerick ever printed.
* In TheKaneChronicles, which is G-rated, except for a NarrativeProfanityFilter with Carter sometimes, Sadie uses the word "bloody" a lot.
* Creator/JackVance innocently named an alien race ''the Wankh''; the resulting book ''[[Literature/PlanetOfAdventure Servants of the Wankh]]'' sold quite well in a niche market. For a recent republication he consented to rename them ''Wannek'', irritating at least a few fans because a race that can express a sentence in the overtones of a single chime ought to be monosyllabic.
* Some of the ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'' novels in ''The SpaceWolf Omnibus'' seems to have very little cursing other than this.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live Action TV]]
* Spoofed in ''Series/ThirtyRock'': After the supposedly British Phoebe accidentally used an American accent when she got upset and Liz called her on it, Phoebe picked up her British accent again and replied "I don't know what you're on about, you daft wanker."
* In one episode of ''Series/{{Friends}}'', Chandler calls a character a "wank", to which many British viewers react with surprise or disbelief.
* ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' lived and breathed this trope through the character of [[BadassDecay Spike]] and occasionally Giles.
** Giles also repeatedly calls people "pillock," which despite being a mild swear word in the UK, stands out compared to the American characters' cleaner language. Especially given Giles' clipped and somewhat posh phrasing most of the time.
** Not to mention Spike used ''[[VSign that certain hand gesture]]'' several times. Probably the director [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar worked under the assumption]] that no-one outside of the U.K. would know that an outstretched index finger and middle finger do ''not'' form the victory sign if the back of the hand is pointing ''away'' from the body, in the direction of the viewers. Done this way, it means the same as an outstretched middle finger gesture. Hilarious.
*** And then he put it in the ''Season Five opening credits''.
*** The original "V for Victory" sign, as done by Churchill, ''was'' palm inward. Whether the upper class, half-American Churchill knew what that gesture meant to other classes in the UK is subject to debate, but he turned it around later in the war. One story ran that Churchill, while visiting troops, would give the palm-out V sign, then, [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome "And this is what we think of Hitler!"]] [[CrowningMomentOfFunny turn it around]], [[AndThereWasMuchRejoicing to great cheers]].
** Then there's the hilarious moment in the episode "Tabula Rasa" where Anya accuses Giles of using a lot of British slang that she doesn't understand. When he argues that she couldn't possibly have heard him say any of them words she mentioned (they had lost their memories at this time), she retorts, "Oh, bugger off, you brolly!" which is a slang term for umbrella. Clearly Anya overestimates her curses.
** There's a truly startling moment in ''Series/{{Angel}}'' where Spike instructs Angel to "wank off," the writer apparently believing this is analogous to "piss off." [[ADateWithRosiePalms It really isn't.]] It's commonly believed that Joss knew what was meant. The creators have joked in the commentaries about how they could use language that would ''never'' have made it past the censors if not for the fact that it was British, rather than American, obscenity. Although it may have worked well for American broadcast, it somewhat spoiled the UK transmission of the show, which had to cut the "wankers" and the "bollocks" from pre-watershed airings, thus making dialogue occasionally choppy and nonsensical.
*** Conversely, Spike tells Xander to "fag off" in a season 4 episode of Buffy. The word "fag" has several meanings, but "fag off" means nothing on either side of the pond.
** How about in the flashbacks in "Fool For Love", where a respectable Victorian woman in mixed company uses the word "bloody" twice in rapid succession ("bloody awful poetry"). [[EternalSexualFreedom Eternal Language Freedom]], anyone?
*** Well the entire point of that scene was to demonstrate how "William the Bloody" got his name. If people didn't use the word it wouldn't have made much sense at all, would it?
** Spike is just wonderful for this. He at one point dismisses another character as a "Bloody poof", pronouncing "poof" the way it's spelled...the combination of the surprising harshness/homophobia of the word 'poof' (still used in Britain as a VERY slightly more acceptable variant on "faggot") with the bizarre delivery is hilarious.
** Sought to be averted, but backfired to hilarious effect, when Anya, then Aud, and Olaf speak Swedish. Apparently everybody was so pleased with the delivery that it was allowed to remain. What it sounds like is ''beer - mumble, mumble - rabbits -mumble mumble - Baltic -mumble, mumble'' etc. in modern Swedish. Not to mention the fact that their names at that time would have been ''Auðr'' and ''Óláfr - Áleifr''.
* Subverted in ''Series/ArrestedDevelopment'' when Michael's British girlfriend refers to him as a pussy and he assumes he's being called a wimp. A voice over explains that in England this is actually a term of endearment. They are later forced to bleep the same word and comment on what a shame it is to have to ruin an adorable moment. And it's not even true; the word means the same thing in England as it does in America.
** This is probably deliberate though, as they use the storyline involving Rita to parody other examples of people having not done the research.
** Could also be an instance of FridgeBrilliance. Rita is [[spoiler: retarded, meaning that mentally she is a child. Therefore, although pussy is by and large an offensive term to adults, a child would only know it as a friendly word to describe a cat.]]
** Pussy is still a perfectly acceptable term for a cat in the UK, though. Really, it can mean either...
* In an episode of ''Series/ICarly'', a one-shot British character calls the main characters hob-knockers at least five times. Only one of them knows "what it really means", however, and they don't say it out loud to the viewers. In this case, Brits would be equally mystified: the insult appears to be either made up or an archaic dialect word.
** UrbanDictionary suggests that the word means either someone who [[ADateWithRosiePalms masturbates in public]] or someone who has... ''relations''... with animals. Either way, it's gross. And illegal.
* In ''Series/{{Leverage}}'', which is otherwise almost entirely devoid of profanity, Sophie Devereaux is introduced in a flashback where Nate shoots her and she snarls, "You wanker!"
** But let's be honest. What would YOU say if you'd been shot?
* Ewan [=McGregor=] was a guest on ''TheTonightShow'' with Jay Leno a few years back, and the conversation turned to the V-sign. [=McGregor=] was asked to explain the history of it (the ''false'' folk etymology based on the English longbowmen at Agincourt), and while doing so he demonstrated it to the entire audience. The audience cheered madly, and [=McGregor=] started laughing about how he had just flipped off both live and viewing audiences and was being applauded for doing so. He actually looked rather embarrassed by it.
* ''DinnerImpossible'' chef Robert Irvine frequently throws out stuff like "bollocks," "bugger," "bloody," and "tosser" and Food Network never bleeps any of it. It's only when he uses profanity that's unsuitable for US TV that they bleep him.
* In ''Series/CornerGas'', when Davis feels the need to use British English words ('football') over their Canadian English counterparts ('soccer').
-->'''Davis:''' Thanks for donating the footballs.
-->'''Lacey:''' Well, it's the least I could do for our ''soccer'' team; give them some ''soccer'' balls, to play ''soccer'' with.
-->'''Davis:''' The proper term is 'football'. It's good for the kids to hear some of the British terminology.
-->'''Lacey:''' So what's the British term for a person who uses stupid British terms?
-->'''Davis:''' A wanker.
** Given the entirely-innocent grin on Davis' face, he likely didn't realize how offensive the word was. Which was probably part of the joke.
* It's a little jarring, considering the [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar superficially clean]] nature of ''[[Series/MysteryScienceTheater3000 MST3K]]'' humour, to hear them burst out with the occasional stronger-in-Britain profanity. They use the terms correctly, it's just an unexpected comedy bonus as there's virtually no US profanity in the series.
** Neil Connery inviting someone to 'kiss my white Scottish arse.'
** Receptionist at 'Nirvana Village' doppling centre: "Your kind has to take what you can get." "And what's that?" "''Bollocks!''"
* In ''WeirdScience'', Lisa once used 'wank' to mean any pointless pastime. "Then you can wank to your heart's content. Wank, wank, wank."
* Irish actor Colm Meaney got away with saying "bollocks" in the ''Series/StarTrekDeepSpaceNine'' episode "Time's Orphan". The BBC airing was edited accordingly.
* On an episode of ''JudgeJudy'' (which is available on her DVD "Justice Served"), a man is suing a woman he had a one-night-stand with for allegedly stealing his checkbook the morning after. The judge at one point says his bank account was "all bollocksed up," which passed uncensored. Presumably, JJ was not aware of the potential vulgarity, and neither were American S&P censors.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Music]]
* Frank Zappa wrote a song called "Poofter's Froth Wyoming Plans Ahead", which appears on his live album Bongo Fury, sung by Captain Beefheart. He was unaware of the meaning of "Poofter" and just thought it was a funny British word. When a British journalist told him what it actually means (a less offensive version of faggot), he was shocked. Unsurprisingly, this song is hilarious to British listeners in a way that was never intended.

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* On ''[=LoveLine=]'', Adam Carolla once pondered if it was okay to say "shite" on the radio at 10 PM pacific (it is, or at least it was when he said it).
* A succession of radio commercials with an AustinPowers tie-in had him openly talking about "shagging" every thirty seconds, apparently without any notion of what the Belgium it MEANS.
** It means the exact same thing in American English that it does in British—most Americans would be surprised anyone thought it was an exclusively British expression ([[DiscoStu it just sounds slightly outdated to American ears]]). Apparently, TheyJustDidntCare.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Tabletop Games]]
* Having researched Victorian thieves' cant enough to create a glossary but not enough to know which words were still in use, the ''TabletopGame/DungeonsAndDragons'' setting ''Planescape'' also included "berk" on its list of slang. To make matters worse, most of the books were written in-universe style, slathering virtually every character's speech with cant, and that was the writers' single favorite word. Most Brits don't know what berk derives from, so it does sometimes get used casually in the UK as well, but it is still a reasonably strong term (equivalent to "moron") even if you don't know its history. [[hottip:* Hint:"Berk" is Cockney rhyming slang, where a shortened version of a phrase is slang for what the phrase rhymes with. It's short for "Berkshire (or "Berkeley") hunt." [[CountryMatters Yeah.]]
** Though the few still-in-use terms included in the Cant were jarring enough (Bloody and Sodding being the most jarring) the use of the word Pike for "move on" was ill-advised, since the only derivation still in use is "Pikey", which is [[UsefulNotes/IrishTravellers rather racist]]
*** Strangely enough, "pike" is still in use in Australia and New Zealand (where it isn't offensive at all, and means "to cancel at the last minute on a social engagement"), along with "piker" (one who is notorious for doing so). "Pikey" is however completely unknown (or at least it was, until ''Film/{{Snatch}}'').
[[/folder]]

[[folder:TV Tropes]]
* The term FanWank: There's usually discord between it and the tone of the environment in which it's being used. This gets even more discordant when someone describes a claim as being [[FanWank Wankable]]. And of course, if you know what it means you could [[InsultBackfire take it as a compliment]] (it's used as one in porn reviews).
** That apparently metaphorical meaning of 'wank' seems to have overtaken the literal British meaning on the Internet. [[AlternateHistoryWank Apparently alternate history's full of wankers]].
** However, the term Fan Wank often has a more literal meaning when used by Brits. In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' fandom, for instance, FanWank is used to mean "Continuity references put in the script to get the fans off", as if the writers were tossing the fanbase off. This is closer in spirit to ScriptWank, which is as if the writers are tossing ''themselves'' off.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* In ''{{Recettear}}'', Charme, The Lady Thief, repeatedly introduces herself as a "professional Berk." One wonders whether Carpe Fulgar knew exactly where [[CountryMatters that quaint colloquialism]] came from. [[hottip:*: While drunk, she even goes so far as to say that she is Recette's personal berk.]]
* ''VideoGame/{{Sonic Rush|Series}} Adventure'' got a 12 rating in the UK partly because the (American) translators gave Marine the Raccoon, who speaks in an exaggerated Australian accent, a line involving the word "bugger." It still got a G rating in Australia, because Australians tend to take swearing much more in stride.
** ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic 3]]'' had a a tank-like, insectoid badnik named in the manual as [[AccidentalInnuendo Buggernaut]].
** The [[http://www.games.lt/w/gbox/6956.jpg European box art]] for ''VideoGame/SonicHeroes'' has the titular hedgehog holding up three fingers to symbolise the three-character teams used in the game. The three fingers in question are his thumb, index and middle fingers, from the back. The [[http://www.blueblur.org/games/heroes/images/heroesBoxArt.jpg American box art]] doesn't show his hand.
* ''VideoGame/MarioParty 8'' (seen above): The line "Magikoopa magic! Turn the train spastic!" in the Shy Guy's Perplex Express board game initially caused the game to be recalled in the UK, where "spastic" is seen as an insulting term for the disabled. It was changed to "erratic" over there.
** Before that game, ''VideoGame/MarioParty 7'' did this in the intro to Grand Canal. Toadsworth said the word "bugger". Which can lead to a big faulty disaster in PAL regions...
* The GBA game ''[[VideoGame/MarioAndLuigiSuperstarSaga Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga]]'' features a race of snails named 'winkles'. Nothing wrong with that in America - 'winkle' is simply a shortened form of 'periwinkle', which is a snail. But in the southern UK, 'winkle' is also an old-fashioned childish word for a male organ. And this is a game primarily aimed at kids.
* ''VideoGame/SuperMarioRPG'' has Croco refer to Mario as a "persistent bugger" at one point; when Europe finally got SMRPG on the Virtual Console, it got changed to "persistent pest" to avoid PEGI giving it a 12+ rating.
** And, after all these years [[NoExportForYou spent waiting for the damn game]], this was the only line that got changed.
* Reverse example. In the DS version of ''VideoGame/DragonQuestV'', Prince Harry tells the main character, before his wedding to not "cock it up." Cue the player making innuendos about the wedding night. Although, considering Prince Harry's choice of souvenir for his own wedding [[spoiler: (he has musical instruments made so he can gleefully present the player with his very own *coughcough* "marital organ,")]] this one might be intentional.
* ''VideoGame/JakAndDaxterThePrecursorLegacy'' features a fisherman with a stereotypical pseudo-Bristolian seafarers' accent. He describes unwanted fish as "buggers". The game got off with a 3+ ("general") rating.
* (Perhaps) unintentional: ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolid3 Shagohod]]''. Makes perfect sense if you understand the Russian name. If you don't, you might only pick up on the first few letters...
* Subverted by ''RatchetAndClank''. The American subtitle of the third game is ''[[RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal Up Your Arsenal]]''; for some reason, they decided to drop the subtitle for the European release. It's almost certain they knew what they were doing given the subtitles of the other games, such as ''[[RatchetAndClankGoingCommando Going Commando]]'' (which also didn't make it across the Atlantic without a rename), and ''Quest for Booty'' (which did).
** And the previous game got away with a character saying 'arse'. However, the third game is careful to avoid the trope. A character uses the word 'bollocks', but it's censored.
* ''VideoGame/JazzJackrabbit 2'' fell into this trope in Britain, due to Jazz' brother being called Spaz. "Spazzy" in American English simply means "zany" or "crazy", which definitely describes him, but anywhere else it would be like naming him "Retard."
* An interesting version that's actually not with American and British English but Japanese and American English happens in the little known PSP game ''VideoGame/PoPoLoCrois''. A monster fought ''very'' early in the game is called "Pecker". Well yeah, it ''is'' a bird after all, except guess what "Pecker" means in English? It's a slang word for a penis. It's unknown whether the game is rated "T" in North America for this reason or because there are some rather violent scenes.
* On ''VideoGame/TeamFortress2'', the phrase "bloody" is pretty common in the vocabulary of Demoman, a Scotsman, and Sniper, an Australian. Sniper is also keen on using the word "wanker." The game ''is'' rated Mature (17 and up), but the other characters keep to milder language, in keeping with the [[LighterAndSofter lighthearted tone]] of the game (the strongest words they use are "ass" and "son of a bitch").
* The Korean-developed ''AllianceOfValiantArms'' has one of the EU side's taunts vocalized as "Go ahead, shoot some more, you bloody tossers!" One can suppose it was the British voice actor [[ThrowItIn ad-libbing a bit]], as the other English taunts use somewhat more benign words like "rascals" and "cowards".
* The manual for ''Videogame/CrashTeamRacing'' offers advice for avoiding missile attacks by saying that, if the player is, 'being tailed by one of these buggers,' it's a good idea to drop something behind you. Could be GettingCrapPastTheRadar.
* ''VideoGame/ChronoTrigger'' features enemies called Buggers (possibly a ShoutOut by the translators to the ''EndersGame'' example, but as they are robotic and accompanied by enemies called "Debuggers" it is likely to be a coding reference and unintentionally funny). The NintendoDS release had a new translation that changed the enemies' names to Verminator and Deverminator respectively since that release was the first time the game made it across the Atlantic. The new names seem to imply that they're rogue pest control robots.
** Non-offensive example - the band of carpenters are referred to as "blokes" by their boss. Obviously the translator has heard that "blokes" = "guys" - however, when an English-speaking player sees "Come on, you blokes!" it stands out like he had greeted a group of women with "Come on, you females!". In Australia the terms are interchangeable, but the character's supposed to be British, and British people don't use "blokes" that way. "Mate", "pal", or "chum" would make more sense in context.
** Early on in the game, one particularly disgruntled character will tell you to "take your bloody time!".
* ''StarWarsBattlefront 2'' is almost completely devoid of profanity, which makes it surprising when an Imperial officer acknowledges a particular Jedi Master with what seems to be a sarcastic, 'Yoda? Bloody wonderful' (if it's not 'bloody', it's something similar enough to be a euphemism).
* The Australian versions of the New Play Control {{Pikmin}} games change the name of the Pollywog and Wollywog to Pollyhop and Wollyhop, respectively. ("Wog" is a slur for Mediterranean people, and the words "pollywog" and "wollywog" are evocative of "Gollywog", which are offensive caricatures of black people.)
* British players of ''EscapeFromMonkeyIsland'' have been rather taken aback upon hearing the usually family-friendly Guybrush Threepwood describe a group of termites as "little buggers."
* ''VideoGame/{{Portal 2}}'' features Wheatley, a personality core with a pronounced British accent and vocabulary to match. Later in the game, when things stop going his way, he begins tossing around "bloody" an awful lot for a game rated E10 in the U.S. (One must also however consider that Wheatley was ''made'' in the United States in-universe, so it could just be stupidity on the part of Aperture.)
* Any number of online swearfilters for games: take [[http://pastebin.com/xVaCNsje this list of banned words]] (rather obviously NSFW) from ''VideoGame/Warhammer40000Spacemarine'', which includes typos and foreign language swearing (as well as every single ScunthorpeProblem word), but not bugger, arse, bloody, wanker, sod, shag...
* ''VideoGame/DeusExHumanRevolution's Missing Link DLC'', being made outside the UK, shows the development team isn't too experienced with the lingo; an Irish character comments on a weapon being [[StockBritishPhrases "the bollocks"]] (read: slang for ''very good''), which, most likely to the confusion of whomever wrote the subtitle script, has compromised with "bullocks".
** [[spoiler: On the other hand, the "[[{{Fauxreigner}} Irish]]" character himself is not actually an Irishman but Russian, as his AccentRelapse shows during TheReveal...]]
* Rocket Racoon in ''UltimateMarvelVsCapcom3'' gets away with calling people 'wankers' just by having a British accent. Which is strange, since one of his other taunts gets censored to "Flark-Face".
** Actually, the term "Flark" is commonly used in the comics by Marvel's cosmic heroes including Nova and Star-Lord. Whether or not it's supposed to be a swear in the cosmic culture or a case of GoshDangitToHeck is not clearly defined.
* The ''BanjoKazooie'' games contain a lot of racy Britishisms that slipped past ESRB censors and got an E rating. Note that given Rare's sense of humor [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar this was almost certainly on purpose.]]
* Rareware inverted this trope with its next game DonkeyKong64, using the line "One hell of a guy" in the [[SoBadItsGood infamous D.K. Rap]].
* In ''SuperPaperMario'', Dimentio, trying to provoke Luigi into fighting him, refers to his mustache as a "shag," to which Luigi takes offense at. Shag in America meant unkempt. In Britain, however, it was basically their equivalent of the F-Bomb (in other words, a vulgar reference to sexual intercourse), so they altered the line to simply calling Luigi a pushover. If the line had been kept, [[FridgeBrilliance it would have]] made even more sense, since Dimentio just cursed him out.
* In LuigisMansion, Professor E. Gadd refers to a ghost as "the little bugger". In the UK, at least, this seems unusually strong language for a kid's game.
* Kabam's KingdomsOfCamelot on Facebook has sound effects for various actions and screens within the game. Some are just sounds and some are spoken words supposedly by your troops or whoever. When you're attacked and you click on the report, if it's one where you lost, you can clearly hear someone saying "bugger off" in the string of words and sounds, intended to convey depressed and disappointed troops, that accompany it.
* The original box art for Videogame/Left4Dead2 showed the back of a hand with the middle and index fingers raised, a fairly innocuous gesture in the States, but not so much elsewhere, requiring a change to be made for overseas boxes. Can be seen side by side [[http://i.neoseeker.com/gg/uploads/news/8-2009/news_img_23652_0.jpg here]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* Played straight and averted by ''SurvivalOfTheFittest'', as some British characters are played by British handlers themselves, while others do tend to lapse into this.
* Bakura in ''WebVideo/YuGiOhTheAbridgedSeries'' swears one bloody hell of a lot. You wankers.
** Invoked since the maker of the videos actually IS British.
* While swearing is ''very'' infrequent and mild in the ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' universe, in sb_email 22, Strong Bad receives an e-mail from a fan from England. Since the e-mail concluded with "Thank You," Strong Bad told the sender he would sound more English if he used something in its place like "Cheers," "Cheerio," or "[[SexPistols Nevermind the Bullocks]]." Of course, knowing Strong Bad [[FridgeBrilliance he probably didn't know or care he was being offensive]], or perhaps thought he was but wasn't, since the British term is 'bollocks', and 'bullocks' refers to cattle.
** Swearing is mild and rare except for the fact that the use of the word "crap" was a running joke in some of the Strong Bad e-mails.
* [[WebVideo/AtopTheFourthWall Linkara]] once, "borrowed a phrase from the British" to describe people as 'twats', but pronounced it 't-wot' - to rhyme with hot, instead of 't-wat' to rhyme with hat, cue many confused British people wondering what the hell a twot is and why it's apparently British.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Western Animation]]
* Happened in ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'' several times - Bart has used the word "wanker" several times, and more {{egregious}}ly, Groundskeeper Willie used the word "shite" to describe a tractor. You'd think people would notice that it's just one almost silent letter away from its American counterpart. (SkyOne apparently didn't notice this until ''after'' their first airing of this episode - unsurprisingly it's cut from future screenings, and as ChannelFour runs the series at 6pm it's safe to say it's snipped there as well.)
** One episode featured a SexPistols parody including a song consisting entirely of " is bollocks!"; for comparison, this is essentially equivalent to "bullshit." When the episode was aired on Sky in the UK it was the first ''Simpsons'' episode ever to premier after the watershed.
*** "bollocks" actually means "balls" i.e. testicles. While somewhat synonymous with bull shit, bollocks is slightly more offensive. One rarely hears "bull shite", but one does hear bull's bollocks, which may be more offensive than either bull shit or non-specified bollocks. Bull shit is more synonymous with bullock shit, bollock should not be confused with bullock, which used to mean any young bull, but now means an ox which used to be a young bull but no longer is, as it has had its bollocks removed Oh, bugger all! I think I've buggered up this explanation, its all a bunch of bollocks shit.
** Possibly lampshaded in an episode where Homer is forced to ensure the safety of a screaming caterpillar taking up refuge in their garden. After making it clear several times he wishes to kill it but knows he can't, Homer accidentally (almost) kills it. The judge then sentences him to community service for (among other things) "... aggravated buggery."
** The episode ''Wild Barts Can't be Broken'' features a spoof of classic English horror films, which centres on a group of children being able to tell the adults of the village their secrets. One of the children accuses two men of ''rogering'' a woman. That scene is uncensored on Channel 4.
** The episode "Trash of the Titans" features the Irish band {{U2}}, and repeated use of the word 'wankers'.
** It's gone right over Skinner's head at least once.
-->'''Bart''': Oh, come on, everyone knows the first day of school's a total wank.
-->'''Skinner''': If by wank you mean educational fun, then stand back, it's wanking time.
*** All the kids assembled break into laughter, obviously.
* ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' have also used to the 'w' word - when Stewie makes it to the set of ''Jolly Farm Revue'' and is told to "Piss off, you grotty little wanker!" Although Family Guy being the [[RefugeInAudacity tasteful show it is]], they probably knew what was being said.
** Almost certainly the latter, to judge by previous examples of FG fun with Anglicisms:
-->'''Cleveland''': The only British idiom I know is that "fag" means "cigarette."
-->'''Peter''': Well, someone tell this "cigarette" to shut up.
** Stewie (who has a fake British accent because he's a [[EvilBrit villain]]), uses both British and American words. Cue hilarity when he vainly refers to his backside as his "fanny". Again, the writers could well have known what it meant in Britain. They may have even [[FridgeBrilliance been using the dual meaning]] to joke about Stewie's sexuality...
*** Note this is unlikely, as one episode has a QuintessentialBritishGentleman of sorts stealing Chris' butterfly, before taunting him by '''[[SeparatedByACommonLanguage showing him his fanny]]'''.
* In the ''{{Daria}}'' episode "Depth Takes a Holiday", the Holiday Spirit of Guy Fawkes Day punctuated nearly everything he said with the word 'Bollocks!'; "wanker" and "tossers" also make an appearance. As a result, the entire episode was (mercifully, one imagines) cut from the UK presentation of the series. The fact that the episode played mostly uncut on [[{{Nickelodeon}} Noggin]], when the song 'Gah God Damn It!' from "Daria! The Musical" was removed, is the source of quite a few snickers by those few US fans who were in the know.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice'' cartoon, Sam once had a rocket launcher in his back pocket, sticking out all the way past his head, and asked Max if his pants made his arsenal look big.
** That sounds more like GettingCrapPastTheRadar (via LastSecondWordSwap).
*** A ''pocket rocket''?
* One episode of ''ThePowerpuffGirls'' featured the Mayor catching a flying object and exuberantly yelling "I've got it, I've got the little bugger!" The first part of the line was apparently looped when it aired in Europe.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Animaniacs}}'': Amusingly, Wakko, who speaks with a Liverpudlian accent, has used the term "fanny" a few times.
* ''MightyMax'' had an episode featuring swarms of killer insects in which Max regularly refers to them by the term "bugger". It's not clear whether the creators wished to imply that he was a closet Orson Scott Card fan (unlikely given his BookDumb tendencies), were GettingCrapPastTheRadar or genuinely didn't know what it meant in the UK. [[HilarityEnsues Hilarity Ensued]] when the show was picked up for syndication over here and transmitted without anyone bothering to watch it all the way through first...
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuCbrPzPLAc This clip]] from ''TheFlintstones'' where Wilma says bollocks.
** Wilma actually says "bollix," which comes from the same root (balls) and actually means the same ( messed up) as "bollocks." In the US at least, bollix can be used in polite society,whereas, while we might not know the root or real meaning of either word, we have a feeling that bollucks shouldn't be used when ladies are present.( If Lady Snootington is present, its best not to use bollix either, lest she deem us to be a wanker.
* ''WesternAnimation/TheTransformers'' episode "The Girl Who Loved Powerglide" opens with a man with a British accent saying "I feel like an absolute bloody fool."
* Lizzie in ''WesternAnimation/{{Cars}}'' refers to her husband as a 'persistent little bugger'.
** Perhaps she had shag carpeting in the boot ( Boot UK = trunk US)
* ''WesternAnimation/HeyArnold'' is jam-packed with this:
** When there is a British character featured with dialogue, they nearly always use "bloody" as a casual adjective.
** It gets worse when Brit fashion designer Johnny Stitches shows up to make Helga his new muse. He casually swears all the time, and punctuates his exit with one almighty "BOLLOCKS!"
** The local themepark the kids always talk about is called [[ADateWithRosiePalms "Wanky Land"]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Real Life]]
* BBC America {{lampshade|Hanging}}d this in an advert that went "Bugger. Roger. Wanker. Shite. [[GettingCrapPastTheRadar Find out what they mean before the censors do]]."
* "Bloody" is not generally considered an offensive swear word. Police forces in [[CanadaEh Alberta and Saskatchewan]] ran a [[PublicServiceAnnouncement series of ads]] with the slogan, "If you drink and drive, you're a bloody idiot!". Exactly the same campaign was used in Australia and New Zealand, but not in the UK, where the word would've seemed slightly more offensive and risky. (In fact, in Canada the ads drew protests not about the word "bloody" but the word "idiot".)
** In contemporary times, "bloody" can be an emphatic way of saying "very", with little residual offensive value. Ironically, it's so inoffensive now that using it often sounds like a [[{{Bowdlerise}} bowdlerization of worse swearwords]]. "Bugger", in modern Britain, is mostly harmless in much the same way (but "bugger" ''really really'' does not mean the same thing in the UK as it does in the US. See also "fanny").
* Real life examples abound in Asia as a result of the practice of GratuitousEnglish. The sight of a demure girl in a T-shirt reading "A Fuck" (not just "fuck", not "the fuck" but "A fuck") is pretty jarring. It's rumoured that there are hospitals in China where the gynaecological ward is labeled (in huge letters) [[http://www.weirdasianews.com/2009/07/20/engrish-signs/cunt-examination/ "Cunt Examination."]]
** Also, the time when AyaHirano wore a T-shirt reading "Did you cum twice too?" in a concert.
** The DVD of the Korean movie Tae Guk Gi includes an interview with one of the special effects supervisors. He's wearing a t-shirt which says "D-Squared Fucking."
** The (extensive) rules and regulations for Shanghai municipal park, prominently displayed on signs by the entrances, include the instruction that visitors should not [[SophisticatedAsHell "urinate or shit"]] anywhere in the grounds.
** Like the above examples of Americans using British swear words, most younger Asians know the meaning of these words (more or less), but find them cute or funny because, as [[ForeignCussWord foreign words,]] they don't have the same emotional impact. Westerners are brought up thinking the words are offensive; Asians are not. Europeans as well. At least one European T-shirt company makes child sized T-shirts that say "Fuck You". Some words just aren't as offensive.
** Many Japanese people, particularly young ones, are aware from movies that the middle finger gesture is rude in the United States - they just don't realize HOW rude, and will happily throw it around as if it was just a gesture of wacky mild defiance. Manga and anime characters are sometimes drawn making the gesture as well, with the same not-meant-to-be-offensive context, which can be very jarring for American manga readers who aren't used to that kind of thing.
** The same story happens even in Europe. In Russia, for example, a pitched battle still rages [[SeriousBusiness in translators' circles]] about whether English profanities have the same level of obscenity as Russian ones, with lot of seemingly reasonable and well-qualified people insisting that they are significantly milder. The idea of English swearwords being indeed milder can be best supported by the fact that most of the "harsher" Russian swear words have never been used uncensored in mainstream media, sans R-Rated DVD releases of movies like ''Film/{{Wanted}}'' or ''Film/KickAss''. To a foreign ear, English swear words sound inoffensive, leading to things like "fuck" being a borrowed mild swear in Russian.
*** 'Same in both Germany and the Netherlands.
* Many English-language publications in the USA are quite happy to print the offensive Spanish word ''cojones'' (often misspelled as ''cajones'') as a [[ForeignCussWord euphemism]] for "balls." An owner of a faux-Mexican eatery got away with calling his place C. O. Jones for about a year before anyone caught on.
** Also ''pendejo'' ("limpdick") and ''cabron'' (literally "randy old goat" but somewhere between son-of-a-bitch and mother-fucker in severity). Nobody has managed to get the Ch-word (which only exists in Mexican and possibly Cuban Spanish) past the radar, but doubtless someone will try.
* Some years ago, a US network purchased an Australian tv show (''The Flying Doctors'') but required certain dialogue changes made - specifically, when a young boy describes his injuries as hurting 'like buggery'. In Australian, although most people are aware of the actual meaning of the word, it's rarely used that way or censored when used in other ways. The comedy troupe '''Doug Anthony All Stars''' got considerable mileage out of variations on this joke:
--> ''Richard injures himself''
--> '''Paul or Tim:''' Does that hurt, mate?
--> '''Richard:''' Yeah, it hurts like buggery.
--> '''Tim and Paul in chorus:''' No Richard, ''nothing'' hurts like buggery...
* [[http://www.colourswheelchair.com/products/prod_spazz_g.htm This]] wheelchair caused considerable offense when it was released in the UK because of the word "Spazz" on it.
** It originally referred to 'Spastic', which means someone with a particular developmental disability. Much like the similar epithet "retard," it has become somewhat divorced from its origins; and the perceived offensiveness of the word depends greatly on crowd and context. Some will find it highly offensive, regardless of the use, and others hardly bat an eye.
*** It ''originally'' meant "[[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin prone to spasms]]," for any reason.
*** Within medical circles it still does, although the use is context dependent as mentioned above; You would say somebody has a "spastic paralysis" or a "spastic limb" but you'd never say that they were "a spastic", this mirrors the way that referring to people as "a [medical condition]" has become a lot less acceptable
*** Either way the Spastic Society had to rename itself as Scope as their word was taken over to mean "moron" (which itself formerly meant a mental age of 8-12).
* Similar to "spastic" above, "retard" is considered a pretty strong pejorative in the UK whereas in US media it still seems to get thrown around with a fair degree of regularity, although Sarah Palin made an effort to change that. Americans disagree about "retard"; see [[http://voices.yahoo.com/whats-wrong-word-retard-5277975.html?cat=9 'What's Wrong with the Word "Retard"']] versus [[http://voices.yahoo.com/why-being-offended-word-retard-retarded-4858030.html?cat=7 'Why Being Offended by the Word "Retard" is Retarded]], both articles from the US.
* In some Spanish translations of children's (and even preschool) shows, they use words like ''idiota'' and ''estúpido'' which, at least in part of Mexico, were certainly not words you would want children saying. They did this because they were direct translations of the words in English, which were not bad words.
** They're not really words one wants small children saying in English, either—there's a reason kindergartners consider "stupid" to be the ''other'' "S-word".
* Due to years of enforced squeaky-cleanliness by the Franco regime, there was an enormous backlash of profanity on Spanish television during the transition to democracy. This has led to Spaniards being comfortable hearing "[[ClusterFBomb joder]]" being dropped left and right in early evening sitcoms. Exporting them to Latin America, on the other hand...
* Not a particularly offensive example, but {{Twitter}} amused a few Brits when it was launched, "twit" being a very mild term for "idiot."
** Although Prime Minister David Cameron managed to put his foot in it when he said on radio, "Too many twits make a twat".
* ''Brat Camp'', a documentary about British delinquents being sent to an American disciplinary camp, had one of the teenagers in question making use of this, explaining to the camera crew that they "Don't know what the word 'bollocks' means, so don't tell them".
** They do know. It's just not used as profanity here (it's basically just used, mainly by older people, in its literal sense, and almost exclusively of animals). Saying "oh bollocks" sounds, to Americans, like saying "Oh pizzle" or "oh phallus".
* Often satirized on British magazine TV shows such as ''That's Life'', which sometimes featured foreign products which accidentally fell into this trope -- such as (Danish) Bollux washing powder. Such a pity that was never marketed in the UK, imagine the campaign; "To all your tough laundry stains, say Bollux".
* French from France and Quebec French have various dialectal differences. When the Premier of Quebec visited France in 2009, a French member of parliament thought that it would be a friendly gesture to welcome him with a nice, informal Quebec phrase. His staff found a phrase online meaning "I hope you're not too tired" (from your trip.) Unfortunately, it was ''J'espère que vous n'avez pas la plotte à terre,'' literally meaning "I hope you don't have your cunt on the ground." [[http://www.cyberpresse.ca/le-soleil/actualites/politique/200902/09/01-825716-plotte-a-terre-les-dessous-dune-gaffe.php The story (in French)]].
* [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sacrebleu "''Sacrebleu''!"]] in English-language works is a silly, meaningless expression that a stereotypical character will utter in order to demonstrate his or her [[BuffySpeak Frenchness]]. It means "holy blue" (from "sacré" and "bleu") and could be a veiled reference to the sky-blue clothing traditionally worn by Mary (the mother of Jesus) in Roman Catholic illustrations. However, [[http://www.cnrtl.fr/etymologie/sacrebleu dictionaries explain it as being]] [[{{Bowdlerise}} a bowdlerization]], with "bleu" substituted for "Dieu" (God), occurring also in old phrases like "parbleu" ("by blue") or "morbleu" ("blue's death"). Such phrases are thus comparable to English phrases like "zounds" (from "God's wounds") or "dagnabitt" ("God damn it").
** Interestingly, "Sacrement!" and "Tabarnak!" [[hottip:*:sacrament and tabernacle]] and other French Catholic curses are still used in Quebec. It's common in English Canadian children's shows to have the [[TokenMinority French character]] say them as a way of GettingCrapPastTheRadar, since they aren't swear words when translated into English.
** Also popular in Quebec in the 90s was t-shirts which contained the phrase "ouate de phoque" which messily translates to "cotton of seal" but in English sounds like the familiar WTF.
* There is a chain of themed pubs (traditional Irish apparently) in Australia called Pug Mahones. Wonder how many people know that 'pugmahones (póg mo thóin)' is Irish Gaelic for 'Kiss my arse'? There is probably as much if not more Irish ancestry in Australia than English. Plus, kiss my arse is pretty mild for Australians. And with this being ''Australia'', it's more than likely it's entirely intentional.
** It's also the derivation of the band name "The Pogues", originally "Pogue Mahone". They shortened it when BBC airplay became a likelihood, as it was pointed out that there are Irish-speakers who listen.
* In Aussie slang, the word "root" apparently is somewhat offensive. One website describes it as "a synonym for fuck in nearly all its senses" and uses some examples including: "I feel rooted;" "this washing machine is rooted;" "(s)he's a good root." This created a pretty funny story after the 2008 Olympics, when Australian diver Matthew Mitcham won the gold medal in a pretty amazing come-from-behind (no pun intended) victory. He was apparently pretty amused and surprised when he heard a bunch of American fans saying "they were rooting for him."
** One of the sponsors of the 2010 Olympics was a Canadian clothing company called Roots (a longtime Olympics and {{NHL}} supplier, and Canada's answer to The Gap) . One wonders why the Australian team seemed so interested in wearing their stuff...
** On a similar note, in the promotional trailers for the WesternAnimation/YogiBear movie in Australia, they left in the voiceover saying "It's time to root for the bears."
** While it might be seen as offensive by a small number of Australians, it's generally considered a incredibly mild word by Australian standards of swearing.
* The word 'twat' in some parts of Britain is just as offensive and has the same meaning as the [[CountryMatters C-word]], but in Scotland it is often used as a marginally-more-offensive form of "twit" (as in "you complete twat"). When a scientist was quoted as saying anyone who thought the Large Hadron Collider was going to destroy the world was "being a twat," it was rather amusing to note the difference in how many letters of the word, if any, various newspapers chose to censor.
* It's also worth mention that "Twat" is actually a less extreme epithet than the "C-word", even in Britain (with "fanny" being far, far less offensive, school-child version of both) however none of these words is considered as bad as it is in the U.S., where calling someone "female genitalia" is potentially grounds for divorce proceedings to take place.
** It's also worth mentioning that to twat something means to hit it extremely hard in some regions of the UK. Hence, all the original Series/RedDwarf videos were rated PG, except for series III part 1, which was rated 15. This was due to the episode ''Polymorph'' containing the line from a Lister temporarily devoid of fear, talking about an emotion-devouring shape-shifting monster, "Well I say, let's get out there and twat it!"
** For reference, the Oxford English Dictionary defines a 'twat' as a 'small gap or forest clearing'. So now you know. This is why it appears in some place names, much to the amusement of tourists.
*** Perhaps the [[http://oxforddictionaries.com/definition/english/twat entry for "twat" in Oxford's online dictionary]] is too abridged to mention that meaning. Or perhaps someone long ago confused it with "[[https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/thwaite thwaite]]".
** Note that it's usually pronounced to rhyme with 'hat', but can be pronounced to rhyme with 'hot'.
*** Pronouncing it to rhyme with "hot" would appear to be an American thing, from personal experience.
*** When it rhymes with "hot" in Britain it usually doesn't carry the same weight, like "fucking" and "frigging". Saying "You daft twot" is funny and/or affectionate. There is no way that "twat" itself could ever be either.
* "Fanny" in American English is an old-fashioned euphemism for "buttocks", and is generally not considered offensive at all. In British English, however, "fanny" is a crude term for female genitalia, it and words like it (minge and so forth) carry the same impact as "pussy" in American.
** In Australia "fanny" is the generally accepted word that children use for vagina, much like "willy" or "doodle" for a penis. The fact that it's offensive makes its use in Australia all the funnier.
** This led to a wonderful moment in the '90s when (then) Radio One DJ Steve Wright was forced to explain on his afternoon show that "in America 'fanny' means 'bottom'" after playing the radio edit of Ice Cube's "It Was a Good Day" (which, of course, contains the line "jumped on the big fat fanny" when Ice Cube is relating some "fun" he had with a girl).
** Bizarrely, the use in the TitleThemeTune for ''TheNanny'' was left uncensored in Australia. Of course, the mental images provoked by the line "out on her fanny" become fairly bizarre...
** Fanny was also at one time quite a popular name for girls and dogs. This has led to generations of juvenile sniggering when 'classic' literature comes up with lines like "Will no one come and play with my little Fanny?".
** Legend has it, that while making the JamesBond movie ''Goldfinger'', they ran into a cross-country kerfuffle when the team, mixed brits and americans, were discussing how much of Shirley Eatons fanny they could show.
* Fox Sports showed a lot of interest in British sports by being one of the first outlets to report on English footballer Wayne Rooney's plan to leave Manchester United. Just as impressive was their choice of article name - 'Later, wankers.' It was changed, but British papers and panel shows had a field day.
* Hebrew has rather few original common cursewords, often using loanwords from Russian and Arabic, and are perceived as far milder in Hebrew (actually, only elderly people in Israel would really frown upon cursewords nowadays). For instance, the common phrase ''kus emek'' (literally 'yo' mamma's cunt' in colloquial Arabic, used as a very strong version of 'fuck!' or 'fuck you!') could startle Arabs but is seen as a frequent term of displeasure for Hebrew, albeit somewhat crude (somewhat like 'damnit'). Similarily the most common Russian curseword in Hebrew, ''k yebyona mat'', literally meaning 'to the fucking mother', is pronounced ''kibinimat'' in Hebrew, with the vast majority of native Hebrew speakers entirely unaware of its meaning and using it as an equivalent of 'kus emek', or as the equivalent of English 'Hell' or 'to Hell' ("send them ''kibinimat''"/"to ''kibinimat''" is like a crude version of 'to Hell with them', and 'go ''kibinimat''' is, well, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin go to Hell]]).
** Israelis have also picked up on English swearwords, but they don't carry the same offensive connotation as they do in the United States or Canada. It's not uncommon to hear a little Israeli boy say "fuck" or "shit" with no one batting an eye.
** Other popular Arabic curses include 'In-al dinac' (curse your religion) and 'Tiz a nabi' (ass of the prophet). Both are offensive to Muslims and used by Jews without understanding the true meaning. In particular, the latter is used to denote a forsaken, far away place.
** Another pearl is the Latino/Spanish/Italian 'De mi culo' (literally 'my ass'). Israelis somehow decided this means corrupt/incompetent adjective. In one notable instance, a parliament member called her own party that...
** It's worth noting that the reverse also seems to be true. Looking at a list of Hebrew-to-English loanwords, it seems nearly half of the list is composed of obscene terms for genitalia that are totally innocent in English usage.
* In Germany, English curse words are used quite often and are usually considered to be less offensive than the German equivalent. So any German who visits the US should remember not to say shit or fuck as they're used to doing. Also Germany is in general more relaxed concerning swearing, so they will rarely be censored. The only place where this happens is on MTV when they show subbed American shows like PimpMyRide.
** Same goes for UsefulNotes/TheNetherlands; shit and fuck are thrown around willy nilly, but "Kut" which only ranks medium on the swear-O-meter, probably won't be said on a family show.
*** [[HehHehYouSaidX Hehe, Willy.]]
* In Switzerland, English curse words are used also quite often, but I wouldn't say that they're considered less offensive than german ones. It's just about the same, and nobody would consider them too offensive for TV or Radio anyway. Apart from the usual german ones such as "Scheiss" (shit), "Pisse" (piss), "Seckel" (scrotum) or "verfickt" (fucked) There are some words very specific to switzerland: "Huere" (Whore) which is used as intensifier as in "Huere Scheiss". Another intensifier is "Rüdig" (Scabietic). They can be used in positive context too: "Rüdig Geil" (And "Geil" of course literally means "Horny", but is used to mean "cool" or "grand").
* Apart from those sex-related ones, there's a plethora of religion-related ones like "Gopderdammi"/"Gottverdammt" (god damn me/god damned).
** US-American exchange students are often quite a bit baffled to hear things like "fucked up" in swiss lecture halls (used by the professor, of course).
* In general, most Europeans are more comfortable with swearing than Americans.
* In an accidental inversion of this trope, English-language works of fiction will often have a stereotypical French-speaking character shout "''Zut alors''!" What they don't realize is that this expression almost literally means....GoshDangItToHeck.
** "''Zut alors''!" is more of a cross between "''Oh Man''!" and "''I've had enough''!" and is the kind of profanity you would expect from first graders.
* In Norway, the word "skitt" is a slightly informal word for "dirt" (the verb form, "skitten" is the common term for "dirty"), but can also be used as an extremely mild expression of anger (we're talking about as offensive as saying "oh no" here), as well as a very mild insult typically directed at physical objects (around the level of calling something a "stupid thing"). The word is pronounced exactly the same way as the English "shit". Cue not-very-English-savvy Norwegians picking up the word "shit" from English television and movies and assuming it's as inoffensive as the Norwegian word, then trying to use it in English-speaking countries.
** Also, "homo" is a common shortform for the far more stiff "homofil" (homosexual), and also an informal, though not rude, word for "gay man". Assuming the same is the case in English-speaking countries is not good for your health.
* While the [[WardingGestures horns]] are used as a warding/cursing gesture in most Latin countries, in 'some' of them (mainly Brazil and Italy) they can also mean "your wife is cheating on you". Incidentally in some latin countries (mainly Brazil and Italy, notice a trend here?) "your wife is cheating" is considered one of the worst possible insults, and in the wrong company can easily get you stabbed for the trouble. (Which, in turn, makes the trope played quite literally).
** Sales of [[SpiderMan Spider-Man]] comics must be pretty dire in those countries.
* "Where the bloody hell are you?" Australian tourism ad. Banned in American (for hell) and Britain (for bloody).
* The N-word has made its way to Bosnia through rap videos on MTV where black people throw the term around casually as a term for friends. Cue Bosnian youths greeting each other with "Vatz-ap mah nigga" and some very pissed off tourists. Also South Slavic profanities are infamously crude, creative and ubiquitous, so most English swear-words are barely acknowledged as such.
** It ''really'' doesn't help that the word seems to have developed a meaning akin to "my brother" or "my friend" with no racial loading outside English-speaking areas. This can be extremely awkward...
* Romanian language has made (over centuries) the slang word for a Jew (''jidan'', borrowed from Slavs) to turn into a rather mild and acceptable insult, due to endless repetition in informal speech and jokes. It has similar meaning to the closely-related word ''yid'' as used in modern English language and [[DudeNotFunny it's just as offensive]].
** Yiddish word for "Jew:" ''Yid.'' Yiddish plural for them: ''Yidden.'' Number of times either word is used in religious [[AllJewsAreAshkenazi Ashkenazi]]speech or publications: beyond count.
* Many half-decent tries at imitating a Jamaican accent depend heavily on an irate tone and liberal uses of the word "ras claat" or "bombo claat" without the speaker actually understanding what they are saying. For all intents and purposes, the speaker is calling the object of their annoyance a used tampon. This insult is (for obvious reasons) hardly ever used on a daily basis, being reserved for the worst sort of people; by hilarious contrast, it most probably appears more times in imitations of Jamaican speech (because of how strange it sounds to outsiders) than in Jamaican speech itself.
* An American actor was being interviewed live on BBC Breakfast, and used the word 'Wanker', obviously oblivious to its actual meaning, presumably having heard it being used by the British actors/crew he was working with as a greeting.
* Used [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Brilliantly]] by an American prisoner of war in Vietnam to show his cruel treatment by the guards. They 'interviewed' him about conditions in his prisoner of war camp and made it very clear that if he didn't say he was well treated they would punish him. When they photographed him to send the photo along with his statement back to the US he gave the photographer a [[FlippingTheBird Double Middle Finger]]. The guards, not familiar with the meaning of the gesture sent the image back to the US. His middle fingers were airbrushed out and the image was used as on the front page of Time Magazine.
* This popped up in a summit between Spain and Argentina, where some Spanish politician used the word "coger". While in Spain it means just "take" or "pick", in Argentina it's [[ClusterFBomb something entirely different]].
* In American Sign Language, the sign for "vagina" is made by holding your hands flat, fingers together, thumbs extended, and the tips of the thumbs and forefingers touching. Now think of how many times you've seen a hearing person making that sign or a close variation of it when they don't know what else to do with their hands. Notable example: Michelle Obama on the cover of the Dec 2011/Jan 2012 ''Reader's Digest''.
* In Britain, BBC4 found it necessary to issue a warning that in one particular episode of Danish political drama ''{{Borgen}}'' that there would be "strong language". ''Borgen'' is subtitled rather than dubbed into English. While it is true that this particular episode contained a few "shit"s and the occasional "fuck" in the subtitling, what completely passed under the radar is that these words are not considered the strongest expletives in most Scandinavian languages, on a par with "bloody", "bugger" and "sod". Other episodes lacked no such prefatory warning at all, despite use of Danish terms roughly meaning "Go to Hell!" and related high-emotional damning, despite the fact that in Denmark, Sweden and Norway this is the worst possible "Fuck Off!" that you can say to somebody. Expat Danes in Britain might justifiably have wondered where their advisory warning was...
* Trope may even strike in a single country: In Bavarian dialect, you can say "Fotze" to mean the mouth (it's a bit rude, but no profanity). In the rest of Germany, you...better don't, it means another orifice. (Etymologically, both derive from a word meaning "bag".)
[[/folder]]

----