Question for showingup

[sabrinamari]

What's the difference between a tosser and a wanker? Inquiring minds want to know.

Torchwood, you see...

Comments

[glenmarshall.livejournal.com]

They are roughly synonymous. Both words refer to people who masturbate, the implication is that they are pretty useless.

[showingup.livejournal.com]

Spot on. For some reason, "wanker" seems even less polite than "tosser".

One of the biggest British comedy stars of the 30s-50s was Max Miller, who used to sail very close to the wind with his material, and one of his most famous jokes ran thus:

"I was on a narrow path on the side of a cliff, only room for one person to sidle along. And suddenly there's this beautiful woman coming the opposite way, and there was no way to get past. Beautiful? Cor blimey - being a gentleman, I didn't know whether to block her passage or toss myself off!"

Because back in The Good Old Days (TM), people were never rude or vulgar, and good taste and strict morals always triumphed. Not like today's society, which is Going To Hell In A Handbasket (TM) through being completely inferior in every way.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

This is really helpful. Thanks, dear!

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Thanks, Glen!

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

My xpat British friend D. went into that recently... I'll ask him.

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Please thank your British xpat friend...

[evcelt.livejournal.com]

Update from D.:

"There's a nuance: while both words connote grandiosity and contemptiblility in addition to the unfettered self-love, wankers are more pretentious and tossers are more pathetic... Put another way, being a wanker is the top limit of a tosser's aspirations."

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

Thank you. This is *exactly* the sort of nuance I was wondering about.

I love it when people answer my questions.

[showingup.livejournal.com]

Round our neck of the woods, being a bit of a tosser isn't as bad as being a total wanker.

Wonder if that's region or class?

[castalusoria.livejournal.com]

I'm going to suggest class, but sometimes that's a facet of region (e.g., city, neighborhood, etc). In my experience with the parlance, "wanker" was slightly more derogatory, where "tosser" was more generic, in also referring to hooligans, drunks, and generally-obnoxious sorts.