An American friend of mine was talking about being able to communicate with the British. He said that he was doing OK until he found out that “bloody” was the British equivalent of the f-bomb.

This puzzled me because I was raised differently. I explained that “bloody” was pretty tame as far as bombs were concerned. Somewhere between “damn” and “darn” on the American scale. I added “The f-bomb is the British equivalent to the f-bomb.”

The only thing that I could think of that was worse was the c-bomb which brits use more frequently than Americans.

Of course, I was then asked “Which c-bomb?” Great. Because I really want to get into these details in mixed company.

I said “The one that refers to female anatomy.” Whew! Thank gosh that’s over.

Too soon. “What’s the other one?”

I fumbled. “A male hen.”

A memory floated down to me from over forty years. Dad had also used the same phrase. Back then, Dad corrected himself: “That can’t be right. A male hen would be either a lesbian or a transvestite.”

I repeated Dad’s words. They weren’t appreciated, but at least folks were inspired to change the subject.