Comment: Why British politicians keep swearing on the campaign trail Published on: 30 May 2017 Writing for The Conversation, Dr Damien Hall discusses why politicians are using unparliamentary language during the general election campaign. , Sometimes it can be bloody difficult to make your point. It’s a daily problem for politicians, but the stakes change on the election campaign trail; and as the stakes change, so does the speech. The 2017 British general election race has brought out quite a bit of from people standing for election and the people supporting them. But these are rarely slips of the tongue. In fact, British politicians use risqué language for quite specific reasons, particularly ahead of an election. On May 2, Theresa May kicked off the swearing by saying that Jean-Claude Juncker would find her a “” in Brexit negotiations. “Bloody” is commonly considered a swear word, and its use is quite frequent in British English. Though it’s mild (at least as judged by linguist Tony McEnery in , and formerly by the BBC and the ), politicians still wouldn’t want to be caught saying it unscripted in public. But that’s just the thing here – May’s phrasing, though colloquial, was far from off the cuff. With “bloody difficult woman”, Britain’s prime minister was repurposing a phrase famously used to describe her by Ken Clarke, one of the heavyweight Conservative MPs of the late 20th century. Her use of the phrase therefore says: “If you want me to do the kind of thing that got me here, vote Conservative”. As it’s therefore effective to use bloody in a context where May might well want to imply that British identity, values and strength need to be protected and emphasised – such as Brexit. Being sincere A week after May outed herself as bloody difficult, actress Julie Hesmondhalgh was introducing Jeremy Corbyn at a rally in Manchester. She to voters to vote Labour for “a society that truly gives a toss about stuff”. She described Corbyn as “a man who has dedicated his life to giving a toss about other people”. This wasn’t the first time she had used the phrase, either. She spoke in the same terms at . Hesmondhalgh is most famous for a long run in Coronation Street, known for dealing with “real-life” and difficult situations, so many people would see her as someone who might swear in public if the occasion demanded it. Most respondents to my recent (unscientific, I admit) think of “toss” in “give/care a toss” as swearing: specifically, a euphemism for masturbation.
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