Gordon Barlow

I've been looking into Deepfakes, online. I can't for the life of me figure out how to avoid the danger of being falsely accused of being present, anywhere at all. A mugger's or burglar's face is replaced by my face; and his clothes are replaced by my clothes. How in God's name can I convince the police that it wasn't me - if I was at home by myself reading a book? Is there a way? I'm guessing that there is a way, but...! I mean, surely there's a way! Is there any techie here who can get me out of jail?

btar

Commonly known as "Spoofing" I think which has been going on for many years but now seems to be much more difficult to prove. It would seem to go back to the old chestnut of identity management i.e. the data must carry some feature which can be used to prove - and therefore trust - the validity. Blockchain seems to provide such a service but incorporating that type of feature into the ginormous heaps of data that AI uses would be problematic. And anyway, people want a useable feature not having to fiddle about proving validity.
President Biden is having a crack at it https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-67261284 but enforcing such measures on a global scale will take a bit of effort.

Gordon Barlow

Here's another shrimp to throw on the barbie: unusual usages of taboo- or cuss-words. One I had never heard before was posted recently on the "Australia's earliest settlers" thread - post #23: "Those who stir the ****pot should have to lick the spoon".

Very evocative. A trifle coarse, if the four asterisks represent the S-WORD - and extremely coarse if they stand for the C-WORD. A C-WORD-pot might seem unlikely, but I recall the use of the C-WORD from my school-days in Australia, in the expression "As useless as a C-WORD-ful of cold water!" So Sparky's use has a precedent, of sorts. The soft version, was "... a cup-ful of cold water" - which of course was utterly meaningless, and only used in mixed company.

I know that the word BERK is a kind of equivalent of the C-WORD in parts of England as a term of abuse, and there is a T-WORD that serves the same purpose these days. Are there any others of interest that the BE community would like to share with us?

Pollyana

I can assure you that there is absolutely no way that calling someone a Berk is the same as using the highly offensive C word. Its no worse than calling someone a fool.

Jerseygirl

Agreed.

Gordon Barlow

You may well be right, Polly, but most amateur etymologists - and many professional ones too - reckon that "berk" began as an abbreviation for Berkshire Hunt, which itself was rhyming slang for you-know-what.

On the same general theme... Once in my presence a female friend referred to somebody as the four-letter TW-WORD, which I'm not allowed to mention on BE but which I hope I can say ended in -AT. I was taken aback and said "Judy, you can't say that!" Why not, she asked. "Because it's a very rude word!" I said, and told her to ask her husband what it was. I assume he backed me up, because I never heard her say it again. It's become more common than it used to be, which is a sign of the times, I guess.

old.sparkles

Wouldn't a shortening of Berkshire hunt / Berkeley hunt give rise to bark not burk?

And the original comment related to stirring the sh**. If I wanted to say c***, I'd probably (and have done in the past) go with twunt (learned from the missed Sultan )

ETA - or ankle - someone lower than a c.

Pollyana

Personally I don't give a stuff about amateur or professional etymologists as I live in the real world, where we have called each other berks for more years than I can remember - in the UK at least. In Australia, I remember using it with other Expats often, the once that I used it by accident to an Aussie colleague I just got a blank stare. Its common usage in the UK for fool/idiot/twit/prat.

The other T word, and the C word are not ones that I give house-room too.

Rainydaze

I always assumed berk was a fairly benign expletive. Definitely not in the same league at the c-word.

I nominate skitter, a term used in Ireland to signify hot splattering cow poo at the moment of expulsion (once cooled, it’s a cow pat) but equally, a term for a naughty child or a blatant, devious, nuisance person. Or a cheeky chancer. All depends on context.

Gordon Barlow

My Grandma used to say, "I don't care a fig about (whatever)!" Did her "fig" have any relationship to the wicked F-WORD, do you think? I suspect it had the same origin, possibly religious. Worth chucking that on the barbie?.

Pollyana

Chuck it where you like but I do wonder about some of your ideas!
It is possible to use exclamations and phrases without resorting to swear words, both now & years ago! My Gran used to say it too, as did my Great-Gran, and they wouldn't have dreamt of using anything vaguely resembling swear words, that'd be a wash-your-mouth-out-with-soap-several-times incident. Figs to us were fruit that grew on trees in the garden. Maybe your upbringing was based in a more slangy atmosphere than mine!!

Gordon Barlow

Polly, you really do jump to some odd conclusions! How could you even think that I was accusing our sainted Grandmas of being aware of any connection between "fig" and some unspeakably wicked word? I asked if any BE reader might think there was a connection. Read my post again and you will (I hope) understand where you went wrong. I'm guessing that your upbringing was overly strict, enough to lead you to unreasonable suspicions! Yes?

Rainydaze

Why do you think so? I read that it’s come via an archaic Spanish gesture equivalent to the v-sign.

brits1

Berk in my part if the world means “daft,silly, etc” never in my life have I heard it mentioned in the content as the C word.

Pollyana

Overly strict? (thats me falling off the school bus drink at the age of 17........)
I just don't understand why you think these harmless slang terms which have been around since time immemorial have anything to do with swear words such as those you are hinting at. But then I don't get the point of much of the stuff you bang on about