UK's first swear map as public asked to share favourite bad words

UK's first swear map as public asked to share favourite bad wordsA prestigious university is creating the first ever national swear word census and asking the public to help out.CommentsNewsLucy Thornton News Reporter13:06, 15 Apr 2026View 3 ImagesThe UK is getting the first ever swear word census to keep an. honest record of language(Image: Getty Images)The UK’s first ever national swear word census has been launched to capture an 'honest' picture of how people really speak.‌Words such as ‘clarty’ meaning dirty or sticky, ‘nesh’ for those sensitive to the cold and ‘offcumden’ used in Yorkshire for people from outside the area, are among the unusual expressions to be considered.‌But other examples they are looking at are Mardy Arse in Yorkshire and the Midlands, Total Fanny Baws from Scotland, Mega Berk in the South East and Proper Radgie Ba**ard - North East‌Linguists at the University of Sheffield are creating the UK’s first-ever collection of regional swear words and want it to be “honest”. They are asking the public to contribute swear words and phrases they commonly use in their local areas so they can study how people really speak in everyday life across the country.READ MORE: American in the UK baffled by common 3-letter word with 'multiple meanings'READ MORE: Three in four Brits believe children’s vocabularies are shrinking as many blame screensView 3 ImagesThe public are being asked to submit their regional swear words.(Image: Getty Images)The “linguistic census” wants to save those regional dialect words which are disappearing for future researchers, historians, and linguists.‌The lead academic at Sheffield says that research shows there is a very strong age pattern, with older speakers using certain words that younger speakers often don’t recognise at all.They say many words are dying out, including crozzils (heavily burnt or shrivelled), and tew (‘to labour in vain’), which are largely unknown among younger speakers. While they h...