Sorry! The English and Their Manners

But dumping on a place because you have a personal beef with the chef (past, present, or otherwise)? Hell, the Times would fire your ass for that (or, at least, БЂњpromoteБЂ«you to the БЂњTБЂ«section). In the film Sexy Beast, Sir Ben KingsleyБЂ™s terrifyingly believable English gangster character frequently uses a pejorative common to the British Isles, a term that Americans must circumspectly refer to as the БЂњc-word.БЂ«The English and Irish bandy it about oftenБЂ”as, in their manner of usage and in their context, it does not refer hatefully or disparagingly to a part of the female anatomy. On the contrary, it is an unflattering (even, sometimes, an affectionately unflattering) noun describing a male personБЂ”often used in conjunction with the adjective БЂњsilly.БЂ«It implies someone slightly more odious than a twit, older and more substantial than a shithead, yet without the gravitas required to be called an asshole. So, maybe I got it wrong. Alan Richman is not a douchebag. HeБЂ™s a cunt. 15 БЂњI Lost on Top ChefБЂ«Erik hopfinger at thirty-eight, twenty years in the business, stood in front of the pass, a stack of dupes in his right hand, expediting to his cooks ...»