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I had an American friend who could only be described as a bad man. I remember the look of shock and horror on his face when I used the c-word. I think he actually gasped. I can only conclude that if he was shocked and horrified by the c-word 98-99% of Muricans must be too...
My only experience of Americans is through podcasts, if i can generalise from what i listen to then you'll be fine dropping as many f-bombs as you like.
[url= http://thechurchofwhatshappeningnow.libsyn.com ]Example here - Joey "coco" Diaz podcast[/url]
The last time I used the C word in a converstion, with an American at work, he was stunned into silence (I didn't call him it either) I had to stop and explain that in NE England it was perfectly OK to talk like that. He was one of a lot of people from the US I've met who never say anything worse than fricking or freaking and think that thats bad language.
Is there any truth in this? will I need to curtail my almost casual use of the F and C words?
Not really. You'll just appear ignorant and ill-mannered. Same as when you swear here.
I remember once sitting in a cafe in a town just outside of Washington. 3 young lads around 18 - 20yrs old came and sat down behind me. One of them swore in a mild way like saying damn or something and the other 2 just ripped him apart for being so rude. Really gave him a telling off. I just couldn't believe it.
I've been living here for nearly 10 yrs and my usage of the 'c' word dropped right off. At home it was used as a general greeting, here even my closest friends, who have a lot of experience with my sweary drunken ranting, get a little pale when I use it. On the west coast I would say f ing is generally ok, but I've met people who look at me like I just killed their cat for saying crap.
cpeanut
Wasn't that a film about a horse?
Some mercans chatting at work earlier....
My better half is American and she said when she first came to the UK it wasn't the swearing that surprised here but the way friends take the piss and call each other names without trying to offend.
She's white and strangely (to my mind) the casual racism surprised her as well, but then this is Cornwall, place is chock full of honkies..
friends take the piss and call each other names without trying to offend.
Surely this happens in loads of countries? If an Ozzie calls you a cpeanut (?what?) he's being friendly - if he calls you 'mate' then you might just be in trouble. 😆
I recently went to Greece, and 'yasu malaka' is about as bad an insult as you can give to a stranger, but is a regular greeting among friends. Well, the kind of people I make friends with. 
My better half is American and she said when she first came to the UK it wasn't the swearing that surprised here but the way friends take the piss and call each other names without trying to offend.
This. Even without the ribald p!ss taking. About 7 or 8 yrs ago we had a senior US colleague over to deliver a couple of days training. IIRC I think she was somewhere around / not much below VP level, and most of the audience were fairly senior. For the first day I think she was really troubled / didn't understand what the hell was going on. As she got her bearings she made reference that the language (normal banter, not swearing) really was a barrier - took her a while to work out that what we were saying wasn't anger, or disgust, or hostility - but just British joshing around, which she had taken literally.
And that word summed up a trip to N Carolina a few years ago. They really do tend to take things literally 🙄
I remember the look of shock and horror on his face when I used the c-word. I think he actually gasped. I can only conclude that if he was shocked and horrified by the c-word 98-99% of Muricans must be too...
The funny thing is - when americans do drop the C-bomb it sounds ridiculous - it just doesn't work with american vowels and intonation, They sound like they're trying to swallow the word back up before anyone hears it.
Twot amuses me no end.
We got some mileage out of it, believe me. (-:
when americans do drop the C-bomb it sounds ridiculous
I always find it strange / amusing delivered by Londoners. You can't what exactly?
They've never met Wayne kerr either
A word that was regularly used by Spike in Buffy The Vampire Slayer, in a pretty authentic Englisg accent, sort of Estuary rather tha Cockney, but it allowed them to get away with profanity that might have otherwise been censored.
Always made me chuckle, hearing w***er being casually thrown around in a prime-time American TV series.
The C-bomb got dropped in Deadwood a couple of times, by Calamity Jane, rather than by the appropriately-monikered Al Swearingen, stopped me in my tracks, I had to rewind it to prove to myself I'd actually heard what I thought I'd heard!
Agree with comments about C-word; just don't.
Apart from that, if you accentuate your English accent you'll be amazed at what you can get away with.
You could show some empathy with the cousins by using frickin'; no-one knows what it means and you will get brownie points.
Ah yes, comments above about fanny - same word, meanings just a small distance apart but.....be careful.
At least one American I've met when he is saying 't*at' made it sound like 'twot'. He did mean it in the same way though. Although when I told him to 't*at it' as in hit it hard, he didn't get it.