Do you have 'gammon' as a pejorative term where you live?
It's English, dates back to the 17th century ...
By the beginning of the 19th century, the word (sometimes extended to the phrase "gammon and spinach") had come to mean "humbug, a ridiculous story, deceitful talk". Writers of the era who used the word or phrase include Charlotte Brontë, Charles Dickens and Anthony Trollope.
In its 19th Century usage it remains current in Australian Aboriginal English (without reference to race or skin colour, meaning 'lying' or 'inauthentic').
It's been popular in British culture since the 2010s. The term refers to the colour of a (white) person's flushed face when expressing strong opinions, purportedly resembling the type of pork of the same name – a florid complexion.
By 2018, the term had become the definition of right-wingers and Brexiteers, by majority affluent, entitled and opinionated white men of a certain age (with a few notable exceptions – Laurence Fox being one) who become increasingly agitated – if not outraged – by change.
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It is, of course, 'hate speech' and adds nothing to the dialogue, whereas 'woke' had an authentic origin – a commentary on the black experience of contemporary US politics – it is now also being used as hate speech by ... er ... gammons ...
In Brit culture the type is summed up by the idea of the 'Little Englander' (who naively believe the UK is still a power in global politics, and also the equality of the 'special relationship' with the US.)
Even moreso by the phrase "
Disgusted of Tunbridge Wells" to bring to mind a person with strongly conservative and reactionary views who writes letters to newspapers or the BBC to express their moral outrage. The author of such missives is a resident of the stereotypically middle-class town of Royal Tunbridge Wells, Kent, in southeast England.
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