I lived in NZ for several years before I had the nerve to ask, "What's the difference between a wanker and a plonker and a tosser?" These are not nice things to call a person. I've never heard them applied to a woman. Oddly, I read the words mostly in newspaper accounts of the proceedings the NZ Parliament. Unlike the members of theUS Congress, who, until the last year or so, were overly polite to each other -- as in, "I yield to my distinguished colleague from the great state of West Virginia" -- in Parliament, they yell and call each other names, in the British tradition. Last year, somebody in Parliament called the Prime Minister "a rich prick." (Well, I know he IS rich.) Two years ago, a fist fight broke out on the floor and was broken up by the Maori translator. Anyway, they're always calling each other a plonker or a tosser or a wanker. Plonker suggests a worthless, shiftless person who doesn't work much. Plonk is cheap wine. (Etymology: Australian, probably a corruption of blanc in vin blanc.) Tosser and wanker both suggest that the person is a masturbator, but not literally. A wanker is someone who is self-promoting or self-important, and that is the word I hear more often. It really means a jerk. I might describe a former boyfriend as a wanker. (Origin unknown, 20th C.) A tosser is similar, only perhaps a bit worse. When I asked the difference, my friends suggested that it's a matter of degree. Also, if you don't care about something, you might say, "I don't give a toss." (Origin of toss in the sense of throw: Middle English tossen, possibly of Scandinavian origin.)
Comment from David: "Wank" and "jerk" are often used to reference auto-eroticism (a less emotive term). What are the societal implications of associating auto-eroticism and wine-drinking with low personal character?
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