Cultural differences re: swear word

lennatallo · Mar 9, 2010

Hi all,
Sorry if this is in the wrong spot.

Hoping people from America & UK might be able to help me out. I want to get some different ideas on the meanings of the word "bullshit".

An Australian linguist has stated that Anglo-Australians use the word bullshit to refer to; nonsense, lies, deception, empty talk & fancy words. He stated that in the US, it is more linked to time-wasting and the idea of something being useless. Could anyone verify this and give me some examples of when and how "bullshit" could be used?

I'm also interested in the British usage of the word- how does it differ from "bollocks"?

A thousand thank-yous in advance!

LT

alleycat · Mar 9, 2010

lennatallo said:
An Australian linguist has stated that Anglo-Australians use the word bullshit to refer to; nonsense, lies, deception, empty talk & fancy words.

This would be the far most common definition in the US as well.

He stated that in the US, it is more linked to time-wasting and the idea of something being useless.

Indirectly, it can mean this as well in the right context. It comes from what someone is saying or doing being bullshit (as in the first definition) and thereby a waste of time or useless.

CAWriter · Mar 9, 2010

hmmm...has your linguist friend spent much time listening to Americans use the word? Because while his definition can be true, I think the first terms you listed would more commonly apply. In other words, in my experience, the American usage of the word would be the same as the Anglo-Australian meanings you gave.

alleycat · Mar 9, 2010

I too was a little surprised that a linguist would give that as the more common definition in the US. This linguist must not be that familiar with English as used in the US.

lennatallo · Mar 9, 2010

The article is focussed on the Australian usage, & he states that further study needs to be done for the US, but he has the "impression" that it is more narrowly used to talk about things that are time wasting or useless.

alleycat · Mar 9, 2010

lennatallo said:
. . . but he has the "impression" that it is more narrowly used to talk about things that are time wasting or useless.

That's a bunch of bullshit.

;-)

lennatallo · Mar 9, 2010

Here are some example of Australian usage. Based on these- can you see any differences between the two meanings?

History has resounded with ceremony and ideology that has almost
always been 'bullshit '; in the end the common man copped the lot.
(Horne 1986: 43)

"That's total bullshit, " he said. [Swimming coach Scott Volkers,
confronted with allegations of sexual harrassment]

Australian audiences have a very low bullshit tolerance. There's not
much scope for lyrical or musical pretentiousness in Australia. (The Big
Australian Rock Book, quoted in Fiske, Hodge, and Turner 1987: 23)

lennatallo · Mar 9, 2010

ha ha ha Alleycat- I might just have to agree with you!

backslashbaby · Mar 9, 2010

Those all sound fine to my American ear.

Does this sound strange to y'all:

Why do we have to do these math questions again tonight? Such bullshit; we did them in class yesterday.

lennatallo · Mar 9, 2010

You know what!? It does sound odd to me but I think that's now because I've spent so much time thinking about it!

The example above does definitely narrow the use down to something being a waste of time/ useless. I don't actually think Aussie's would say that- I wouldn't.

Any more?????

Deleted member 42 · Mar 9, 2010

The linguist is an idiot. It's been studied; any decent linguist can look at the standard sources and find all sorts of references going back to Ben Franklin.

alleycat · Mar 9, 2010

Medievalist said:
The linguist is an idiot.

I started to say that . . .

Terie · Mar 9, 2010

As far as the part about 'bullshit' in the US and 'bollocks' in the UK, I can't answer definitively, but as an American who's lived in the UK for almost 10 years, I'd say that the two terms are used in pretty much the same ways.

'We were sitting around bullshitting' and 'we were just bollocksing around' (here's the time-wasting context)

'What a load of bullshit' and 'what a load of bollocks' (here's the nonsense and lies context)

Hope that helps.

lennatallo · Mar 9, 2010

I probably didn't explain his (the linguist's) ideas very well.

Thanks for all your input.

Would love some more examples of the word "bullshit" in every day use. I probably should have just asked that in the beginning!

Kateness · Mar 9, 2010

(US-er)

She told you she aced that test? Bullshit! (disbelief)

Deleted member 42 · Mar 10, 2010

Google is your friend. See also:

The American Heritage Dictionary

The Random House Dictionary of American Slang

DrZoidberg · Mar 10, 2010

For those who seriously want to know

http://press.princeton.edu/titles/7929.html

Albedo · Mar 10, 2010

I'm a fan of the rare "bullshite".

Ms Hollands · Mar 10, 2010

Terie said:
As far as the part about 'bullshit' in the US and 'bollocks' in the UK, I can't answer definitively, but as an American who's lived in the UK for almost 10 years, I'd say that the two terms are used in pretty much the same ways.

As an Aussie who lived in the UK for about five years, I'd say the same, except of course I'd be comparing it to the Aussie usage of 'bullshit'. I don't think I ever heard a Brit say 'bullshit', but 'bollocks' was very common. Oh, they can also say it to mean 'bugger' as we use it in Aus (eg, 'Oh, bollocks' after hitting the delete key by accident, or 'Bollocks to that' as in 'bugger that'), so it's a bit more wide-ranging.

Wayne K · Mar 10, 2010

I've heard it used different ways. "He's bullshitting you" as in he's lying to you, and "We were just bullshitting" as in meaningless conversation.

I'm sure there are few I'm missing, but those were at the top of my list

Priene · Mar 10, 2010

Two two are pretty close, but there are subtle differences in UK usage. Bullshit tends to mean something which has come from another person, especially nonsense talk and lying. Bollocks has a wider meaning of rubbish, which could include bullshit. So you could equally say

Cameron's speech was pure bullshit
Cameron's speech was pure bollocks

and you could say

Gunn's substitutions last night were bollocks

but you probably wouldn't say (although you might, as slang is pretty flexible)

Gunn's substitutions last night were bullshit

because they were rubbish, but not verbally.

shaldna · Mar 19, 2010

Bullshit, as I understand the term, refers more to lies and untruths, particulalry of the timewasting sort.

In Ireland we don't say bullshit very often, we would use Bull alot though. Or just plain 'Shit/e'

Fallen · Mar 19, 2010

That's a load of bullshit' is synonymous with 'that's a load of bollocks' over here in the (council end) of the UK.

Jamesaritchie · Mar 19, 2010

lennatallo said:
Hi all,
Sorry if this is in the wrong spot.

Hoping people from America & UK might be able to help me out. I want to get some different ideas on the meanings of the word "bullshit".

An Australian linguist has stated that Anglo-Australians use the word bullshit to refer to; nonsense, lies, deception, empty talk & fancy words. He stated that in the US, it is more linked to time-wasting and the idea of something being useless. Could anyone verify this and give me some examples of when and how "bullshit" could be used?

I'm also interested in the British usage of the word- how does it differ from "bollocks"?

A thousand thank-yous in advance!

LT

The Australian linguist should either find a new profession, or avoid making statements about the US.

The word means exactly the same thing here that it means everywhere else I've been, including Australia.

shaldna · Mar 19, 2010

Fallen said:
here in the (council end) of the UK.

Wow, cause that's not offensive at all.

Cultural differences re: swear word

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