Piss taking or ‘taking the piss’ often has
to do with demands for money or the cost of various comestibles. For example,
you go to a street market to buy a pound of bananas expecting to pay less than
a quid and the man selling them on the barrow says, “That’ll be ten! They’ve
gone up in the last few weeks because all the banana pickers in Jamaica have
gone on strike,” to which you reply angrily, “are you taking the piss.” “No
mate,” he says, “you go and ask Nick Clegg. He was responsible for it!” That
said you walk off angrily knowing he really is ‘taking the piss’
That then is what it’s all about. It’s
those Liberal Democrats! Up to no good all over again stuffing up part of your
supper. And you feel all bitter and twisted because you voted for them and yes,
the problem with the bananas is really all your own making!
Okay, this thing with the Liberal Democrats
has gone far enough! They’re really not such a bad bunch of bastards after all,
to extend the metaphor. Seriously though, these phrases have entered the common
vocabulary because they’re an entrenched part of the British national character
i.e. making a sick or sour joke at
someone else’s expense. And when the joke’s really bad you’d like to give the
perpetrator a good kicking for it but then you’re civilized, so you go and do
the same to someone else. Make a sour joke at their expense. Result? Basically it’s made the British a nation of
piss takers. “Hey, who won the Man United game last night? “What! Sunderland
beat us ten nil? Are you taking the piss?”
The last example perfectly illustrates this
fascinating aspect of British character and national identity, i.e. a very real
taste for outrageous impromptu absurdity. A kind of spontaneous and unexpected
departure from normality into a weird and humorous fantasy! There’s been no
serious scientific research on the subject, as to why people do it or what
factors initiate this kind of conduct. We only know that it happens with great
regularity, often centering on the kind of people mentioned above, but not
always. True, Liberal Democrats may have also become a regular target for piss
taking but likewise not always!
Piss taking may indeed be a mechanism for
humorous critique. The Italians may prefer writing an opera, the Americans having
fun blowing people to pieces, the Germans writing some philosophical treatise
about nothing, but the British are different. They prefer taking the piss. It’s
a kind of middle ground if you will for antagonistic impulse. Some people go in
for revolution. They don’t like the society they live in or those who run it so
they chop their heads off or shoot them. Others, like the Japanese or the
Indians are altogether more passive. More fatalistic. They don’t dance around
or cheer when some thieving political crook running their country and stealing
their taxes is diagnosed with terminal cancer. No, they just smile because they
know that when he dies he’ll come back in another life as a piece of shit they
can flush down the toilet. The British on the other hand don’t go in for
extremes. No, they prefer the middle way of doing things. Just like the energy
companies taking the piss out of their customers, getting together to raise
their energy prices every few months in response to which millions of people
are taking the piss out of the rascals who run the energy companies and banks. Yes,
we know what you’re like. You’re just a load of piss takers!
And while there is little that people can
do to make them pay for their vast legion of improper conduct, such as Members
of Parliament fiddling their claims for expenses or banking executives awarding
themselves huge bonuses in the face of massive financial losses, they can at
least generate their own widespread contempt with a piss taking humor, far more
powerful than anger or fury. Yes, the public are letting you know what they’re
thinking all right! You think you’ve been taking the piss, do you, you lying
scummy Liberal Democrats? Oh yeah! Just wait till the next General Election
comes around! Been taking the piss have you? Well soon it’ll be our turn!
Whether it’s impromptu dark humor or sheer
vengeful intention, taking the piss is distinctly British. A daily circumstance
of people’s lives. It has its light side and its heavy, more often than not
depending on whether you’re on the receiving side or the giving. It’s not
necessarily lit up with fun but also with malice. Alright, here’s a challenge.
Do you remember the 1980’s? The Thatcher years? A whole decade of the deadly
serious and mean! Well how many times did you see people laugh or have a really
good laugh yourself? It was a time when the nation was truly divided. You were
either with them or against. It was class war. No place to stand in the middle
because there was no middle ground. It was a time of no mirth. No laughter. I
remember it well. One of the great British virtues seemed to have gone down the
tubes. Vanished! And that was taking the piss. Everyone intent and intense.
Focusing on right or wrong, the good or the bad. There was nothing to
facilitate impromptu humor or spontaneous jokey verbosity. You either went
along with her and her crew or you suffered in silence. No, piss taking as a
general activity took a big dive in the eighties and only returned with John
Major, Michael Howard and William Hague. All perfect targets for piss taking!
That said let’s take a closer look at the subject.
There is a very real difference between piss taking and insult. Both can be
elevated to the status of art form though insult rarely is. It’s generally
cruder, rougher, ruder, nastier and less loquacious than piss taking. If it
hits a tender spot in the person its aimed at it might initiate some form of
retaliation, even violence. It’s much more personal in character. More
considered and direct. Generally undisguised. Piss taking however is altogether
more subtle. But while both are intentionally demeaning, the latter is always
more complex, more open to interpretation perhaps. Insult that is subtle, on
the other hand, can be all the more devastating. Indeed, the more understated
it is the more deadly its impact!
Having said this, it is also true to say
that understated insult at its most clever and best is not far removed from
piss taking which, while not always personally and purposefully mean, does have
the potentiality to be caustic. The understated insult on the other hand can be
devastating when its true character and purpose is grasped by the recipient.
One thing is clear though, as manifestations of British character, both piss
taking and insult are unpleasant. They are all too often symptoms of sublimated
anger, redirected from self onto others.
At this point I can hear voices! But
please, don’t get me wrong! They are from people saying, Hey, lighten up! Don’t start getting all analytical on the subject Mr
Freud Blogger! What that really means is don’t start getting so serious about it all. It’s an only too typical
response. A somewhat snide defence mechanism. It’s like saying that we should
be able to make unpleasant remarks to people because it’s part of our
tradition, our national character, without the recipients of such remarks being
permitted to complain or ask why. In other words accepting such things and not
taking them seriously because if you do you need to - in that singularly
strange phrase - lighten up. In short allow these things to be said to you and
just take it because actually that’s the British way.
Well actually it isn’t! I think back to a
time not so long ago when Hitler and the Nazis were doing some piss taking.
Dropping bombs all over our cities killing hundreds of thousands, mostly
civilians, after which we said, fuck you
Jack, we’ll give you the same ten times over!
Put simply, piss taking as a national habit has definite limits. People
don’t like piss takers and start standing up for themselves. So politicians,
bankers, energy companies, car repairers and landlords watch out. People have
limits and sooner or later they’ll start pissing on you!
PISS TAKING OR INSULT?
Having completed this post which I hope
you’ve enjoyed I now invite my readers to participate in a Quiz. Below is a list
of what I’d call ‘happenings’. I’d like
you to tell me whether in your opinion they fall into the category of Piss
Taking or whether you judge them to be an Insult.
1). The British Government operating a
listening/spying device on the roof of its Embassy in Berlin.
Piss Take or Insult?
2). The American National Security Agency
tapping the Mobile Phone of the German Chancellor Angela Merkel over many years
along with those of many other political leaders the world over.
Piss Take or Insult?
3). The Big Six British Energy Companies annually
increasing their charges to domestic consumers at three times the rate of
inflation in recent years.
Piss Take or Insult?
4). Police at Downing Street asking Andrew
Mitchell, Cabinet Member of the British Government at the time, to wheel his
bicycle through a side entrance rather than open the Main Gates to let him through.
Piss Take or Insult?
5). Gerry Adams, Belfast Commander of the
IRA, being awarded the Nobel Prize for Peace.
Piss Take or Insult?
6). The British Meat Industry manufacturing
and selling products made of horsemeat rather than beef as advertised on packaging?
Piss Take or Insult to consumers?
7). Saudi Arabia being offered a seat on
the United Nations Security Council despite its current laws permitting the
stoning to death of women for adultery and chopping off people’s limbs for
stealing; never having had an elected Government in its history and denying all
freedom of religious worship except Islam.
Piss Take or Insult?
8). Employment Agencies in Britain charging
their contract workers money for paying them their wages.
Piss Take or Insult?
9). Moneylenders describing themselves as
Payday Loan Companies
Piss Take or Insult to the poor?
10). The lawful practice of many large
British corporations registering themselves in overseas tax havens to avoid
paying a considerably greater tax liability in the United Kingdom.
Piss Take or Insult to most British
taxpayers?
Now I feel sure that there are many other
piss takes or calculated insults that readers may know of and wish to make me
aware. Possibly more spectacular than those I have mentioned above so please
send me details of any you know. The free exchange of views is always welcome.
No comments:
Post a Comment