'We're used to a bit of racket-bashing and umpire-lashing but NK ripped up the rule book'. Photo / Getty Images
'We're used to a bit of racket-bashing and umpire-lashing but NK ripped up the rule book'. Photo / Getty Images
OPINION:
Even if you didn't watch a single second of Wimbledon, you will be aware of Nasty Nick Kyrgios and the emergence of a new (to Centre Court) brand of rudeness.
We're talking about swearing (the F word!), ranting (much of it directed at himself or his team), as well as calling out the crowd (the one in the dress who "looks like she's had 700 drinks").
We're used to a bit of racket-bashing and umpire-lashing but NK ripped up the rule book and "ruded" his way to second place (this is exactly what Kate will have told George: winners keep their cool and are never rude; rude boys are always runners-up).
This is Wimbledon, a symbol of England's politely competitive spirit, old-school manners and rituals (bowing to the royal box, wearing whites, swaying along to Cliff Richard) carefully maintained out of goodwill and respect for the institution. So we can't say we were completely taken aback by the recent turn of events.
The rules of rude are changing fast. More old-fashioned outright rudeness is tolerated (imagine Boris Becker effing and blinding in front of an 8-year-old Prince William… just can't do it), and rude behaviour is on the rise.
Who could have predicted that visitors to Wimbledon this year would avail themselves of the quiet rooms set aside for overwhelmed old ladies for actual sex (very rude), or that the free food provided for the competitors would run out because some people were taking a lot more than their fair share (also rude). And these are just rudenesses that occurred at Wimbledon fortnight.
Things you may want to know about the new rudeness rules:
The "rude gesture" everyone's talking about this week is British education secretary Andrea Jenkyns' raised middle finger. Jenkyns defended flipping the bird outside Downing Street on the day of PM Boris Johnson's resignation as a human response to a baying mob, who were "insulting MPs … as is all too common", and we heard her, but it was still on the side of just-too-rude for comfort. Rude gestures are not unheard of in politics.
Who can forget 89-year-old Baroness Trumpington flicking a V sign at Lord King when he turned to her as he observed, "the survivors of World War II have started to look pretty old as well". The two-fingered salute is old school and somehow less hostile than the single "swivel on it" finger – and, delivered in a good-humoured "get stuffed" spirit, Jenkyns might well have got away with that.
Rude bodies
Only this week, we had a good example of the turnaround in rude body rules. A glimpse of nipple through sheer fabric used to be considered rude in the subversive, slightly-shocking-but-cool-if-it's-Kate-Moss kind of way. These days it's barely remarkable and what is rude is to have an opinion.
When Florence Pugh wore a sheer pink Valentino dress in the front row – nipples clearly visible – she called out the reaction on social media. "What's worrying is just how vulgar some of you men can be," she said. "I'm fully aware of my breast size and am not scared of it."
Florence Pugh at the Valentino fashion show in Rome, Italy. Photo / Getty
It's newly very rude to comment on a woman's figure or appearance (though you can say pretty much what you like about a man and hire a bunch of Chippendales for your Friday night delectation). However, it may be okay to talk about a woman looking like she has "had 700 drinks", which we all found funny, albeit rude, and may henceforth use ourselves as a chummy insult.
Dress code rude
Nasty Nick popping on his red baseball cap in defiance of Wimbledon's whites-only rule was a bit rude because most of us think that when in someone else's house, you abide by their rules so long as they're not offensive. Is wearing Kung Fu Panda heels like Angela Rayner's rude in the hallowed halls of the HOC? Is wilfully unbrushed hair like Boris Johnson's rude?
Is Boris Johnson's haircut unconventional or just plain rude? Photo / Getty Images
The new rude rule with all things appearance-related seems to be that if you're deliberately trying to annoy someone or go against the grain for reasons of self-aggrandisement, it's rude. So you decide.
PDAs
We've gone at lightning speed from any PDAs being slightly frowned on to more elaborate PDAs (nuzzling in the Wimbledon crowd) becoming perfectly normal, the sort of thing Zara and Peter Phillips might engage in. But a level of PDA beyond this is favoured by a certain sort of celebrity that almost everyone considers to be rude on the basis that it makes you want to retch and run for cover.
This is, of course, the forensic kiss. For this lot, mouth-munching is not enough; you must make sure everyone can see your tongues in action (here is my tongue – look at it and look where it's going). It sounds awful and looks much worse. If you're interested, Kourtney Kardashian and Travis Barker are gold medallists.
Swearing rules
Adele swears a lot on stage and yet is 100 per cent absolved on account of her swearing being punctuation rather than intended to cause offence. We also appreciate colourful swearing or silly swearing of the f***wittage variety, but context and execution are everything. When Madonna swears on stage, we feel like she is trying to prove something, and it feels rude and a bit childish. Which often happens with rudeness.
