Some of the world's best insults have been born here in the British Isles, but now some of the classics are apparently at risk of dying out.
Linguists have said that the days may be numbered for classic insults like pillock and plonker.
When was the last time you heard the word 'tosspot'? Can you remember when you last called somebody a 'prat', a 'git', or maybe a 'nitwit'? Or perhaps branded a clumsy or stupid person a 'lummox'?
Well, when it comes to Gen Z, there's a good chance the answer to all of those questions is 'never', The Manc reports.
That's because a new survey has discovered that a significant number of those born between 1997 and 2012 aren't familiar with a wide range of classic insults used by Brits.
Instead, Gen Z were found to be embracing newer insults such as 'Karen', 'simp', and 'basic'.
This shocking revelation comes after international research agency, Perspectus Global, recently carried out a survey asking 2,000 people which insults they recognised from a long list of words that are used both nationally across the UK and regionally too.
Loads of classic British insults like pillock and plonker are 'at risk of dying out' / Credit: Joshua Hoehne (via Unsplash)
Topping the list of insults that are at risk of dying out is the aforementioned 'lummox', with 62% of people surveyed under 28 years of age, and just over half of all those surveyed, being unfamiliar with the term - which is most commonly used in East Anglia.
'Bampot' was second on the list, with 60% being unfamiliar with the word, while 'blighter' was third, having stumped 54% of young people, and 'ninny' - which is a light-hearted word for a silly person - and 'cad', which is a word for a dishonest man, both rounding out the top five and flummoxing just over half of those surveyed.
'Numpty', 'scallywag', 'toe rag', and 'prat' are some of the other insults featured on the list.
Fans of the absolute classic British sitcom that is Only Fools And Horses might also be a bit miffed to find out that one of Del Boy's favourite insults to fire at his brother Rodney, 'plonker', was unknown by a quarter (25%) of Gen Z.
"Language changes, evolves and moves on," explained Harriet Scott, who is the CEO of Perspectus Global, as the shocking survey results were released.
"Our research shows that calling someone a plonker or a prat is no longer a fashionable way to insult them, and interestingly, the research highlights the extent to which Brits feel some of the more traditional jibes, feel softer and less severe, than some of today's more controversial ones."
The UK's worst cities for parcel theft have been revealed, with Leeds landing in the top five.
More packages were sent in the UK than ever before in 2025, according to recent data, with approximately 4.2 billion parcels being posted, but this has meant that doorstep deliveries have become part of daily life for many households.
As online shopping continues to grow, so too does the concern around so-called ‘porch piracy’, where parcels are stolen from doorsteps, porches, and communal delivery areas.
So, in a bid to reveal the UK cities that are most vulnerable to parcel theft, home and contents specialists at iSelect analysed cities across three key factors – local theft rates, working-from-home levels, and parcel theft-related search behaviour, and each city was then given an overall parcel theft risk score out of 100.
Image: Evri
The study found that Leeds, unfortunately, is the fourth city most at risk with an index score of 53.1 and 9.21 thefts per 1,000 people.
The study found that Manchester is, unfortunately, the UK city most at risk of parcel theft – with an index score of 91.43 out of 100.
Manchester recorded the highest theft rate in the study, with 13.52 thefts per 1,000 people, as well as one of the highest levels of parcel theft-related searches, at 161.6 searches per 100,000 people.
Experts at iSelect say this suggests that residents are not only more exposed to theft overall, but that concern around missing or stolen parcels is ‘particularly high’ in the city too.
Other northern cities featuring in the top five include Newcastle in second place, with a parcel theft risk score of 75.89 and Kingston upon Hull ranked fifth, scoring 48.48 out of 100.
Then into the top 10 is where you’ll find cities like Bradford, Birmingham, Nottingham, and of course, the English capital London.
At the other end of the ranking, Derby was named the safest UK city for parcel deliveries, with a score of 17.68 out of 100, and according to the research, the city benefited from a relatively high working-from-home rate of 28.9%, which reduces the likelihood of parcels being left unattended for long periods.
The Yorkshire designer who’s put together the official FIFA World Cup scarf collection
Danny Jones
A Yorkshire-born and bred artist and his creative team have earned the huge honour of creating the official FIFA scarf collection for this year's World Cup.
Nothing short of massive for anyone from our part of the world.
The local legend in question is Tom Pitts, who was born in Sheffield and is now based just beyond Leeds, leading the campaign right from the helm.
Hand Drawn Pixels is a graphic design and digital studio based in Otley, and while you'll see plenty of folks wearing football shirts and even the odd scarf on the town's famous pub crawl, these lot are venturing on an entirely different kind of run this summer.
In fact, the work has very much already started, with Tom and co. collaborating directly with FIFA and US manufacturers, Global Scarves, to create the World Cup collection.
With this year's tournament obviously taking place across America, Mexico and Canada, they've joined up with a big LLC, but they describe themselves as "a true English custom scarf company with American parents."
In their words, "We knit scarves for clients all over the world", with a presence both near Leeds and over in Seattle, Washington.
The fixtures themselves kick off next month (England's first game coming against Croatia on 17 June), and so Hand Drawn Pixels have been hard at work meeting the briefs for each of the nations taking part.
Here's a quick breakdown of how the opportunity came about, their vision for the project, and how everything starts for them as a whole process.
You can see more of their work HERE, but as the brand name would suggest, it's pretty simple to begin with: nothing more than a pencil.
It's worth noting that the 2026 World Cup also featured the largest number of teams in the competition's history: 48 qualified national squads, to be exact. So, technically, they've had even more designing to do than they theoretically would have in any of the previous years, too.
Tom confessed that winning this bid is obviously a big deal on its own and that seeing his creations being worn in person by supporters at the stadiums will be a "surreal" experience.
Speaking exclusively with The Hoot, he said: "It’s been an amazing creative challenge for us to truly reflect the individuality and diversity of the nations competing in this prestigious tournament on such an iconic product as the football scarf."
He went on to add that "the whole project has been a huge learning experience, gaining deeper cultural insight into every nation involved."
We can't wait to cast eyes upon a sea of colour and finely crafted fabric in unique but somehow universally familiar patterns, all designed right here in 'God's Own Country'.
Emily Sergeant -
14th May 2024 
