Russisches Schwein!!!
I remember that from the movies I’d watched in my childhood and, of course, it sounded offensive, to say the least. Especially, taking into account what ‘the superior race’ has done in Russia during the war.
As I found out today, the Nazis really used this term, according to those Russians in the concentration camps and elsewhere. Yet, the most widespread was simply Iwan. In a negative way, of course. Sometimes they also used Untermensch. This sounds almost scientific, if Nazism is a science! I very much doubt it, though.
Anyway, I now think it is just a part of the World War II folklore and many other things have happened since then.
After February 2022, some people in the West say that there are the ‘good Russians’, those who don’t like Putin and the so-called SMO, and the ‘bad Russians’. Those are the folks who support him and what he does in Ukraine.
Some others simply say that for the above-mentioned reason, all Russians are ‘bad.’
Well, I suspect that no Russian, whether they support Putin or not, would like to be labeled as ‘bad.’
They will give you tons of reasons and, at least part of it, would be correct and rightful.
So, I believe, dividing Russians into ‘good’ and ‘bad’ is what would offend my people.
What offends my people?
By and large, us Brits are a pretty quiet mob. We’re generally reserved, don’t shout our mouths off (unless inebriated), and emotionally, as the whole world knows and expects, we tend to keep a “stiff upper lip”.
So, one of our major gripes is noise, especially from people who insist on shouting into their mobile phones, or, even worse, turn their speakers on. Or it may be a group of rowdy folk who enter a pub and decide to take over the airwaves.
I remember a few years back sitting with my family in a restaurant in Genoa, northern Italy. A group of American tourists arrived (I’m honestly not having a go at my co-blogger Dean) and literally took over the place with their vocal histrionics.
“Oh my God, darling, look, they have Chardonnay in Italy too!!!”
Incidentally, they left quite soon afterwards, because the wonderful pasta dishes they had ordered were not delivered at quite the same tempo as a McDonald’s takeaway. Anyway, I digress.
We also detest queue jumpers. We Brits are the best and most polite queuers in the world. We are so adept at it. It is one of our natural traits, so don’t go there; if there is such a thing as death by a thousand “tuts”, jumping an obvious queue will be the quickest way to achieve it.
We are also offended by those who dismiss the NHS, the monarchy, or Britain’s World War II legacy in flippant or contemptuous terms. How very dare you! Those subjects connect to pride, identity and, in some cases, sacrifice.
I have a particular dislike of misfiring humour. My countrymen and women tend to prize irony and understatement, so blatant, aggressive sarcasm or ridicule without any hint of irony can be judged as extremely poor taste.
Some cultures don’t use “please” and “thank you” quite as much as we do, but “Give me a coffee!” will immediately raise a few British eyebrows. “Could I have a coffee, please?” isn’t much more difficult, is it?
However, it must be said that us Brits are perfectly capable of offending others, particularly when abroad and overwhelmingly intoxicated. And that, I suspect, offends most right-thinking British people more than anything else.
Perhaps that is the great British secret: we can forgive almost anything, provided you don’t make too much noise, jump the queue, forget your please and thank you — and, above all, embarrass us in front of the foreigners.
And if you do offend us, don’t expect an argument. You’ll probably just get a very British “Oh, I say…” followed by a tut, a raised eyebrow, and a lifetime ban from our imaginary queue.
What offends my people?
Unfortunately, for the US this is not as easy a question as you would guess. The damage Rupert Murdoch has unleashed on English speaking democracies around the world is real. America and Australia are the most affected.
With this in mind, I will argue very little offends all Americans at the same time. Pick any topic, really, anything. Gaza comes to mind. The majority will say that the killing needs to stop. Trump’s third will say that Israel has every right to defend itself from terrorists.
OK, that’s a controversial subject. Let’s pick out something that should be boring: vaccines. Today, deadly childhood diseases that were wiped out a century ago are coming back. Millions of parents are not getting children vaccinated with predictable results.
The striking thing is how political-party-centric some of this is. For example: in areas of the US, 80% of those killed by Covid were Republicans. That’s a little secret Rupert didn’t share with FOX viewers. Donald was more than happy to amplify the lies and run on them.
There’s very little in America where you can say “this offends all my people”. I can only think of one topic: Jeffrey Epstein. Donald was Jeffrey’s BFF for years and years and today Trump protects Epstein with tenacity. Many speculate Trump is actually protecting himself. Melania Trump could also figure into this. Former associates have referred to her as one of Jeffrey’s escorts.
There’s also a possible Israeli angle to all this. Ironically, it’s the MAGAs who seem to keep this alive. Joe Rogan and Marjory Taylor-Greene are two high profile adherents to this conspiracy theory. Under this idea, Mossad bankrolled Epstein’s lavish lifestyle and in return was able to install cameras and microphones all over every property. It is known for a fact that there are missing videos.
Folks would accept Epstein’s offer to visit, and later, powerful men would be informed that the young ladies who gave them a massage were in fact underage girls and that the girls had secretly made videos. Of course, Jeffrey wants to help and will talk the young lady out of releasing the video. You know how all this ends.
So, the only topic that seems to offend all my people is securely locked away in an FBI office and will never be released if the President has any say. These things always come out in the end.