Wanker

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This article is about the pejorative term. For other uses, see Wanker (disambiguation). Not to be confused with Wanka (disambiguation).

Graffiti calling a rival group "Wankers", in Bethnal Green, East London

Wanker is slang for "one who wanks (masturbates)", but is most often used as a general insult. It is a pejorative term of English origin common in Britain and other parts of the English-speaking world (mainly Commonwealth of nations), including Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. It is synonymous with the insult tosser.[1]

Meaning

"Wanker" hand gesture

The terms wank and wanker originated in British

egotistical and self-indulgent behaviour and this is the dominant meaning in Australia and New Zealand.[5]

Wanker may be indicated by a one-handed gesture,[6] usually to an audience out of hearing range.[4] It is performed by curling the fingers of the hand into a loose fist and moving the hand back and forth to mime male masturbation, which is equivalent to saying, "that person is a wanker".[7]

In the United States, the term is understood but rarely used.

Related are terms such as "wanker's colic", for an undiagnosed visceral pain, and "wanker's doom", for excessive masturbation, from slang used in the

British prisons since the 1920s.[2]

Differences in perceived levels of offensiveness

In December 2000, the

watershed.[9]

In Australia, it is considered mildly offensive but is widely accepted and used in the media.[10]

Mary Cresswell, an American

etymologist, describes "wanker" as "somewhat more offensive in British use than Americans typically realize".[11] The word was used twice to comic effect in The Simpsons episode "Trash of the Titans", which caused no offence to American audiences, but prompted complaints on occasions when the episode was broadcast unedited in the United Kingdom.[12]

In popular culture

"

UK charts. It was banned by BBC Radio 1 and every national radio and television service.[13]

Phil Collins used the word in his 1984 cameo appearance on Miami Vice and has sometimes been credited with introducing the word to America.[14]

In the film

David St. Hubbins and Nigel Tufnel both use the word out of earshot to describe fellow rock star Duke Fame after a chance encounter.[15]

On the American television show

Peggy Bundy
's maiden name is Wanker and her family is from the fictional Wanker County.

On the British television quiz show Countdown, contestants have to form the longest word possible from nine randomly selected letters. On one occasion, the letters permitted the spelling of "wanker" (or "wankers") and both contestants replied with the word, leading one to quip "we've got a pair of wankers". The sequence was edited out of the show (as is common with risqué words), but has been shown as an outtake on other shows.[16] However, on a later occasion, "wanker" was offered, and this instance was left in and broadcast unedited.

During the New Zealand national cricket team's tours of Australia in the mid-1980s, Australian crowds extensively chanted "Hadlee's a wanker" while New Zealand fast bowler Richard Hadlee was bowling, supported by hand-written banners. The reference even continued after Hadlee had retired, including a "Hadlee's a wanker" banner appearing at an Australia v Croatia soccer game during the 2006 World Cup finals.[17]

The comedy show Mork & Mindy featured a character named Mr. Wanker who was Mindy's landlord.[18] This was broadcast on American TV and later British TV.

Australian band

first single released from the album) and wankers. Its third single, "Whatareya?
", offers examples of differences between the types and tells the listener to decide which one he is.

Hard rock (formerly glam metal) band Vixen's 1998 album Tangerine contains a hidden instrumental track titled "Swatting Flies in Wanker County",[19] written by then-member Gina Stile.

In February 2009, U2 member Bono called Chris Martin a wanker live on air during Jo Whiley's Radio 1 show.[20]

During a live radio debate on 28 May 2010, the future President of Ireland, Michael D. Higgins, urged conservative American radio host Michael Graham to "be proud to be a decent American rather than being just a wanker whipping up fear."[21][22]

When acting as the ombudsman on

Red Eye w/Greg Gutfeld in 2011, Mike Baker presented a graph of the "wanker gap" for the first half of the program.[23]
Baker has never given an explanation of the meaning of the "wanker gap."

Jack Vance wrote a science fiction book entitled Servants of the Wankh in 1969. The title was changed to The Wannek due to its sounding like wanker.[24]

Iron Maiden's song "El Dorado" contains a veiled reference to the term in the line "I'm a clever banker's face, with just a letter out of place." In live performances, singer Bruce Dickinson would change to an explicit mention: "I'm a clever wanker's face, just a banker out of place."[25]

In January 2015 the then

jihadists as "pornography-obsessed inadequates who only turn to radical Islam when they fail to make it with girls...They are literally wankers".[26]

Cockney Wanker is a long running character in Viz, based on a stereotypical male Cockney.

Inspired by controversy about The White Stripes' 2003 song "Seven Nation Army" connected to Donald Trump's 2016 presidential campaign, the British composer Ben Comeau wrote, in the style of J. S. Bach, a four-part fugue on the riff of that song to the words "Donald Trump is a wanker."[27][28]

References

  1. ^ Words, Meaning And Vocabulary: An Introduction to Modern English Lexicology. Howard Jackson, Etienne Zé Amvela. Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000
  2. ^ a b A Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English: Colloquialisms and Catch Phrases, Fossilised Jokes and Puns, General Nicknames, Vulgarisms and Such Americanisms As Have Been Naturalised. Eric Partridge, Paul Beale. Routledge, 15 Nov 2002
  3. ^ wank. Online Etymology Dictionary.
  4. ^ a b Etherington, Mike: The very Best of British The American's guide to speaking British
  5. ^ Ludowyk, Frederick: Anatomy of Swearing
  6. ^ How to make a Wanker gesture and how not to make it
  7. ^ Rude Hand Gestures of the World: A Guide to Offending Without Words. Lefevre, Romana. Chronicle Books, 17 August 2011
  8. ^ "Delete expletives?". Advertising Standards Authority, accessed via Wayback Machine. Archived from the original (PDF) on 8 March 2012. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  9. ^ BBC – Editorial guidelines, definition of offensive language . Retrieved 20 January 2007. Archived 21 February 2007 at the Wayback Machine
  10. ^ Karen Stollznow, 2004. Whinger! Wowser! Wanker! Aussie English: Deprecatory language and the Australian ethos. In Christo Moskovsky (ed), Proceedings of the 2003 Conference of the Australian Linguistic Society
  11. ^ Cresswell, Mary. "Word Of The Day: November 19, 1996".
  12. ^ Dowell, Ben (9 June 2008). "The Simpsons: Channel 4 apologises for pre-watershed swearing". The Guardian. London. Retrieved 9 June 2008.
  13. ^ The Encyclopedia of Popular Music: Indexes, Volume 10. Colin Larkin. Oxford University Press, 2006
  14. ^ Phil Collins interview, Playboy magazine October 1986 Archived 6 February 2009 at the Wayback Machine
  15. Internet Movie Database
    . Retrieved 21 April 2013.
  16. ^ snopes.com: Countdown
  17. ^ "Richard Hadlee's a wanker chant: the inspiration for fans reaction. Australia v New Zealand cricket tour". Fox Sports. 4 November 2015. Retrieved 15 October 2020.
  18. ^ Mork & Mindy (TV). USA:
    Henderson Productions
    .
  19. ^ Tangerine (Media notes). Vixen. United States and United Kingdom: CMC International; Eagle Records. 1998.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  20. ^ "Bono Calls Chris Martin A Wanker". Music-News.com. Retrieved 1 March 2009.
  21. ^ "Michael Graham v Michael D." Newstalk.ie. 28 May 2010. 15 min 25 sec. Archived from the original on 27 February 2012.
  22. ^ Newstalk Radio debate "The fact of the matter is, look, young people from the United States are travelling all over the world again. They're welcome in Europe, they're backpackers in hostels, people are talking to them because the image of the United States – we've got away from this war mongering – is getting better. The many mistakes Obama is making...at least 47 million people that the likes of you condemn to no health care in a country that I was proud to work in – these people are going to have some health care, so this is the issue, so therefore be proud to be a decent American rather than being just a wanker whipping up fear."
  23. ^ "Halftime Report: 12/28/11". Fox News. 23 September 2010. Retrieved 29 December 2011.
  24. ^ "Wankh versus Wannek". Starling.us. Archived from the original on 13 April 2014. Retrieved 10 April 2014.
  25. ^ Iron Maiden (2012). En Vivo!. EMI.
  26. ^ Gardner, Bill (30 January 2015). "Boris Johnson: Porn-obsessed Isil jihadis are 'literally w***ers'". Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022. Retrieved 30 January 2015.
  27. ^ "Classical Anti-Trump protest song composer headed to Norwich" by Stacla Briggs, Eastern Daily Press, 28 November 2018
  28. YouTube

Further reading

External links

Look up wank or wanker in Wiktionary, the free dictionary.
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