On ‘Radio Times’: That time the Scots cussed at Trump

Politicians have been known to use vulgar language, from FDR’s Vice President Garner saying the office “is not worth a bucket of warm piss” to President Obama’s foreign policy; “Don’t do stupid shit.” Oh, and there was also Vice President Biden’s many f-bombs. But the recent profane interview with Anthony Scaramucci took the degree of vulgarity to new heights, which not only included a string of curse words, but also sexually explicit descriptions. And President Trump himself has been on and off the record using a litany of “bad words.” 

It’s no secret that politicians are often on the receiving end of profanity-laced insults as well. When Trump went to Scotland while on the campaign trail following Brexit, he unknowingly insulted the Scots when he praised the British for voting to extract themselves from the EU. This led to what Radio Times guest and Wall Street Journal columnist Ben Zimmer called “the most wonderful cursing to address Mr. Trump.”

Zimmer went on to explain the Scottish form of swearing called “slyting” which he describes as “a kind of ritual exchange of insults” in which you try to “one-up each other with more and more colorful insults.”