Sunday, March 05, 2017

Twitter swearword ban has made swearing fun again

An amusing article on Vice laments the suppression of good old-fashioned Anglo-Saxon swearwords on platforms like Twitter, and welcomes some of the more inventive alternatives that have begun to take their place.
In an age where swearing and intimate anatomical terms are mentioned routinely on prime-time television, in comedy routines, and in every other YouTube video, Twitter has seen fit to issue a 12-hour time-out to users who bad-mouth famous personalities. In a predictably contentious move, Twitter's content filters will now look for patterns of abusive language aimed at certain verified celebrities and public figures, and temporarily block the perpetrators.
So, of course, the Internet, being nothing if not adaptable, has adapted by adopting a plethora of new portmanteau swearwords, many of them apparently combining traditional swearwords with cute little woodland creatures. Some of these new words, particularly the more English ones, are gems in their own right. Examples include:
  • Cockwomble
  • Dicklizard
  • Spunktrumpet
  • Arsebadger
  • Dickweasel
  • Otterbutt
  • Wanktrombone
  • Turdmongoose
  • Pissbollocks
  • Arsebiscuit
  • Shitpuffin
  • Fucktrumpet
  • Fannyspanner
  • Asshat
  • Jizzbulb
  • Twatbasket
How fun is that? And I'm sure you can find many more examples.

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