h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

this was a brilliant posting very very informative but i have one thing that you may want to add for w****r (youll have to excuse me i hate starring stuff out and dont if i can help it)

the word is not well known among americans but is used often among american guitarists

a w****r in america is some one who can play guitar with the best of them so

american guitarist number one:have you heard that slash

american guitarist number two: yeah hes an awesome w****r

i think the most obvious explanation is the word used in england means someone who masturbates which any self respecting male will know (or particularly cool females ) requires a lot of hand movement in the up and down kinda way whilst




so does shredding

KEEP ON ROCKING

This has been a public service anouncement from mungojerrie

How bloody marvellous!

I doubt that we will get the entry changed, but I for one am delighted to know that.



Ben

Glad i could be informative i do try

Glad i could be informative i do try

that was me btw h2 being a bit strange when im trying to log in as both himura and as the woteva team

I have heard that the word 'Wan*er' came from the American forces in the world war. When soldiers lay in bunk beds at night and thought of their loved ones, the noise of the bed springs was 'wan*, wan*, wan*', thus spawning the phrase 'He's a wan*er!'

Mmmmm. Interesting but unlikely. It is most definitely a British English word not an American English word. Unfortunately my Shorter Oxford is remarkably reticent with rude words, and doesn't include it, so I cannot find its first written citation.

However, googling for it, I get:

http://www.londonslang.com/db/w/ - "an old English word that is a very common term of abuse. A wanker is an idiot or an unpleasant person. From 19th century Yorkshire dialect meaning 'idiot'". It doesn't really sound Yorkshire to my admittedly very southern ear, so I am sceptical about that, too.

http://www.askthecouch.com/slang.asp says: "It seems to have entered the spoken language in the late 19th century, significantly at a time when the word Whang was emerging as a vulgar term for penis. Wank (earlier spelled 'whank') is probably derived from the same source 'whang' as a dialect word first meaning hit, beat or slap. Wank may be simply a variant pronunciation, or a development of the earlier word influenced by 'whack' and 'yank'". Now that combination and timing makes sense to me.

I also found this, about how the word is being devoloped in current speech, which is interesting and suggestive, though I think that wanksta is far more likely to be a portfolio of wank and gansta than whack and gansta:

wanksta n 1. someone who pretends to be a gangster. Contraction for "whack gangster." Submitted by Addrian, Cleveland, OH, USA, 31-12-2002.

Thanks for your post. I was lazy on the etymologies of the words in the entry, on the basis that most dictionaries give them, and I wanted the entry to be about usage not etymologies anyway. Of course, most dictionaries don't speculate and if the origin is unknown they tend to leave it at that.

Thanks again - I enjoyed my little forray into where wankers come from this morning, and I wouldn't have found out if it hadn't been for you.



B

My pleasure! I agree that the 'whang' explanation is more believable, it just sounds right. It's not as fun as my explanation though!

I have to agree with Himura Musashi about the Americans calling guitarists w*****s in the nicest possible way,of course.I forget which of his albums it was being reviewed,gut the guitarist Steve Vai was complemented on his "mastabatory fretwork"* skills on the album.

*That was the actual expression used in the article and not me being politically correct.