American films curse a lot more than real Americans do. In real life most Americans I know almost never curse. They certainly curse a heck of a lot less than back home. They also consider words "swear words" that I would consider safe in UK. Using words like "hell, damn, and stupid" would get you detention in school. When my kids refer to the "s word" they're still referring to "stupid". There are some people that curse but it's much more heavily frowned upon here... of course that might be in part because this is the South. I did a quick poll of 3 coworkers (all I dared ask) if they knew or ever used the word twat. One said "of course I know that word that's what Monty python says". One said he knew the word but wouldn't use it unless he was imitating a British person. The third said he'd never heard of the word and was bemused why use that instead of ****.
They use the word cock. If course they use the word cock to mean rooster too (but say the word 'cockerel' and they've no idea what you're talking about). University of South Carolina's mascot is the Game Cocks. Naturally people have fun with this. Another school has the mascot called the Trojans. So when they came into town to play there were big banners up around the stadium saying "your Trojans can't hold our cocks."
Spunk is another word you can use in polite conversation without Americans knowing what you're talking about. Before Austin Powers they had no idea what Shag meant (they still don't use it... Or when they do they use it incorrectly). Not really curse words but they don't know what snog or bonk mean either.
When I was a kid we used the word sponk, not spunk. I did actually think of the word spunk as meaning courage. Don't know how it happened but over the years my sponk has fallen into disuse. **************** This conversation should be in the pub, really.
Joe Maguire joins L2 Leyton Orient on loan for a month. leyton orient taking a look before taking him for season probably
