Informal NYer poll-offensive word

B

BillyP

dullard
#3
#3
Hardly. Seems to have fallen out of use, too -- I think first of a cop from the 80s using it earnestly and derisively to refer to low-level criminals. Not a friendly term, but I don't think anyone bats an eye at the word itself.
 
G

goldfish boy

Otium cum dignitate
#4
#4
I gather the "real" definition is a used prophylactic, but I just think of it as a slightly stronger synonym for "jerk." I don't find it offensive and I've never heard of anyone finding it offensive, though I don't doubt there are people who are offended by it.

Did someone from NYC tell you he or she found it offensive?
 
Gwyn

Gwyn

Old School
#5
#5
But you're not a native either, right, MJC?

Yes, someone did tell me that it seemed to be offensive particularly to NYers.
That's why I'm posting here, not in the General forum.
I've just heard this "real definition" myself, but I heard it as a USED prophylactic.
 
B

BillyP

dullard
#7
#7
Gwyn said:
Yes, someone did tell me that it seemed to be offensive particularly to NYers.
That's why I'm posting here, not in the General forum.
Click to expand...
--Fourteen of the nineteen 9/11 hijackers had the nickname "Scumbag" growing up.

--When Robert Moses wanted to have a Lower Manhattan expressway that ran straight through the Village, he was gonna call it "Scumbag Highway"

--John Lennon's last words after Mark David Chapman shot him were "Wow -- what a scumbag thing to do."
 
intelligentless

intelligentless

Andrew
#8
#8
The context would be more instructive as to the level of venom the utterer wishes to infuse into it. I think if I were in a heated argument and five minutes into the shouting, he calls me a scumbag, I may just be so ticked off to hit the guy. Similarly, if my friend and I are joking around and while cracking up, he calls me a fucking asshole, I wouldn't be incensed.

That being said, if a stranger called me a scumbag, it would definitely get the anger train rolling.

Choo, choo.
 
Masten

Masten

The verbal Herman Munster
#12
#12
I'm a local boy, and never known it to be an issue. But in blue collar parts of the Bronx, Staten Island, etc, maybe it's a different deal.

it's much MUCH more insulting to imply someone is a tourist.
 
Jenmac

Jenmac

Ok, ponies!
#13
#13
I've never thought of it as profane in the least, but for some reason when they show 'The Fugitive' on TBS/TNT, it's dubbed over.
 
Hal Phillips

Hal Phillips

I Am Hal Phillips
#15
#15
I don't know of any reason why it'd be more offensive to New Yorkers.

I'm kinda not sure what you're asking. It's obviously offensive, i.e. it's an insult. It's like "asshole" or "jerkwad". Not sure whether or not you can say it on network TV. If someone called me a scumbag, I'd take it the same way as if they called me an asshole.
 
D

d_chadwick

Damian
#17
#17
Gwyn said:
But you're not a native either, right, MJC?

Yes, someone did tell me that it seemed to be offensive particularly to NYers.
That's why I'm posting here, not in the General forum.
I've just heard this "real definition" myself, but I heard it as a USED prophylactic.
Click to expand...
This is probably more a generational thing. I bet if you asked New Yorkers over say, 50 or so, you'd find a lot more of them having a specific definition of "scumbag" as a used rubber.
 
C

Cindee

Butters Fitzpatrick
#18
#18
I can say, from personal experience, that parents are offended, AND they sure get embarassed when their 10 yr old daughter says it at a big family dinner.

30 years later,and I still wince when I hear the word.
 
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