On 22 March 2007 Stephen Black wrote: >I'm not sure what Karl is alluding to here, but I certainly missed >another meaning for "tosser". When I checked, I learned that "toss off" >is British slang for masturbation and "tosser" is "a term of abuse for a >masturbator" [see: wanker]. Isn't TIPS educational?
There is, of course, an immense problem in 'translating' colloquial expressions for a 'foreign' culture. It is one thing to 'explain' the term, and sometimes quite another to appreciate how it is actually used currently. Nowadays neither "tosser" nor "wanker" is, strictly speaking, "a term of abuse for a masturbator", as the words have taken on a life of their own. As you can imagine it is incredibly difficult to catch the precise tone for someone who is not used to hearing (reading) the words in context. The nearest I can get to one common use of the words is that they describe someone whose opinion is really not worth having (something like that). Or someone whose behaviour is socially pitiful (in a non-tragic sense). Allen E. --- To make changes to your subscription go to: http://acsun.frostburg.edu/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=tips&text_mode=0&lang=english
