Sorry I don't wish to turn your site into a discussion of the word shite or British swearing in general! But nevertheless I felt I would reply to you implied question regarding Black Adder and Red Dwarf. Also in the spirit of cultural understanding it is good to clear these things up (so to speak). For instance a friend of mine had someone from the US visiting recently and I got them to explain to me what a Twinky (spelling?) was as they seem to get mentioned continously in US films and TV.
Anyway in summary sod off is definately 'official' British swearing which everyone in the country will understand and use. Smeghead is an invention (or least I think it is happy to be proved wrong) by the Red Dwarf writers to get some swearing into their program under the radar. In someways a bit like Frak in Battlestar Galactica although as you say apparently the word smeg did previously exist it wasn't very well known and certainly not previously combined with 'head' as an insult.
Apologies again, my last word on the subject honest!
Sorry I don't wish to turn your site into a discussion of the word shite or British swearing in general! But nevertheless I felt I would reply to you implied question regarding Black Adder and Red Dwarf. Also in the spirit of cultural understanding it is good to clear these things up (so to speak). For instance a friend of mine had someone from the US visiting recently and I got them to explain to me what a Twinky (spelling?) was as they seem to get mentioned continously in US films and TV.
Anyway in summary sod off is definately 'official' British swearing which everyone in the country will understand and use. Smeghead is an invention (or least I think it is happy to be proved wrong) by the Red Dwarf writers to get some swearing into their program under the radar. In someways a bit like Frak in Battlestar Galactica although as you say apparently the word smeg did previously exist it wasn't very well known and certainly not previously combined with 'head' as an insult.
Apologies again, my last word on the subject honest!
Sorry just broke my promise. This link is to the urban dictionary which records definitions of all such interesting and colourful language. http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Shite
Right that really is it! No more ;)