Ye olde insults
THIS week marks the 55th anniversary of the F- word being used on telly for the first time.
On November 13, 1965, theatre critic Kenneth Tynan said it while participating in a live BBC debate.
It caused a public outcry, with the broadcaster having to issue an apology and a debate even taking place in the House of Commons.
But while the F- word is fairly commonly used now, there are many English rude words that we no longer use.
Here, NATASHA WYNARCZYK takes a closer look at some of the juicier examples...
Meaning adulterer, this was invented by William Shakespeare in his play The Winter’s Tale.
Fustilarian: A time- waster, this was another invention of Shakespeare’s.
Beardsplitter: A Victorian word meaning “penis”.
Jobbernowl: A Medieval swear meaning “idiot”.
Rantallion: An unusual Victorian word meaning “one whose scrotum is longer than his penis”.
Blowsbella: An old English insult directed at an unkempt woman.
Bescumber: A word from the early 20th Century meaning “to spray poo upon”.
Addle Pate: This refers to a person who is inconsiderate and foolish, and is basically an Old English precursor to “jerk”.
Mumblecrust: A medieval insult, this comes from the name for a toothless late word beggar from a theatre comedy.
Rakefire: Meaning one who overstays their welcome, this term comes from the person who stays so late the host has to rake the coals to keep their fire going.
Anchovy: Not a fish... this was a very rude term for vagina which was used during the 18th Century.
Queynte: This is the oldfashioned word for c***, and is found in early medical text books.
Sard off: The Tudor equivalent medieval alent th the “F” word, which was extremely shocking at the time.
Varlet: Meaning somebody who is two- faced, the Bard used this insult 21 times in his plays and poems.
Cowson: An old Cockney term for “son of a bitch”. Chas and Dave almost got into hot water when they used it in their 1979 single Gertcha.
Yellowbelly: A term for “coward” that of dates from the late 18th Century, meaning somebody who slithers out of trouble like an eel or snake.
Fussock: Another old English slang term directed towards women, this relates to females that are fat, lazy or scruffy.
Princod: This Elizabethan word for a pincushion was also a rude way to describe a short, fat person.
Gamahuche: The Victorians were known for being
JIBE: John Skelton i ing prim and proper, proper but t this swear word referred to o oral sex.
Gnashgab: An 18th Century northern English word for that person who only ever seems to complain.
L Loiter- sack: This term for “slacker” came from the 17th Century, and translates as somebody who just wants to spend all day in bed.
Yaldson: A 15th Century word that literally means “the son of a prostitute”.
Bobolyne: This is a Tudor word meaning “fool”, which was invented by the poet John Skelton, who taught King Henry VIII.
Keffel: A 19th Century insult that was used to describe posh people with big teeth.
Sorner: Sorning was the 16th Century equivalent of sponging off other people, so a sorner was somebody who did exactly that.