to cringe at people who talk about "Boris"

[randomer]

Why do people continue to talk about him as if he was their mate?
Has he really succeeded in fooling so many?
It makes me cringe everytime people say it.

Lets see what Boris says
I'd like to meet up but it depends on Boris

on and on it goes.
The man is an embarassment.

He's the only Boris I know of except my neighbours huge badly behaved dog. His name is yelled numerous times an hour as he does what he shouldn't and has no recall.

@WhatWouldPhyllisCraneDo

I call him Boris because calling him "that colossal cunt" doesn't always go down well.

Although he lacks the warmth and depth to be a cunt, really.

What as strange take on it. No one thinks that he is a friend of theirs. It is used to show how little respect people have for him

This x100 ^

I think people call him it because he lacks the gravitas or requisite public respect to be called by his full name, or Mr Johnson.

@JesusInTheCabbageVan

Could we perhaps repurpose it?

For example: "I've been constipated for days, but last night I ate a bag of prunes and today I had an eye-watering Boris! Feel ten times better."

I agree - it makes him sound harmless, and BoJo makes him sound comical (and fun - not ridiculous).

Words are important.

I usually call him "johnson" but my heart is saying "that twat!"

@Muddledupme

He's the only Boris I know of except my neighbours huge badly behaved dog. His name is yelled numerous times an hour as he does what he shouldn't and has no recall.

I'll bet he has a better haircut, though.

Yanbu. It's a very clever publicity ploy. You never heard people chatting about Teresa, or David as if they were mates, but Boris is one of the boys don't you know, one of us. Wouldn't have the same effect as Alexander would it?

I've always thought it was a deliberate (and earned) mark of disrespect. To call someone in a senior position by his first name shows disrespect for his suitability.

Agree that Boris is his "brand", an attempt to make out he isn't part of the elite. I call him Johnson mostly as I don't want to go along with all that twaddle.

We call him Professor Wiff Waff.

I call him bloody Boris when referring to him. As in "I see bloody Boris" is giving a press conference later. Don't think anyone would assume I thought he was a mate?

Because we can't bring ourselves to call him 'the PM'....

I call him Boris, I certainly don't do it because I think he's my mate, I'd choose a better friend😅 oh and it's a lot politer than what I'd like to call him

Bloody hell people don't half get pissed off at weird things

Isn't it marvellous the whole nation can unite around their opinion of the PM and we have so many means by which we are the world's best?

@namechangefail2020

Bloody hell people don't half get pissed off at weird things

This.

I call him Boris, I think it's funny people get cross about things like this.

You're right OP, it IS cringe but I 'm guilty of doing it too so can't get too irritated about it.

Churchill was often spoken of as 'Winston' or even 'Winnie'.

Haven't RTFT but I totally agree. He has shafted the whole fucking country and he's no friend of mine.

I call him "that cunt"

@randomer

I agree its a brand he created. Brand Boris, the chappie on the zip wire, bit of a maverick, sticks up for us Brits, likes a pint, posh but not posh. Its not even his first name is it?

If I'm writing I refer to him as BJ or Mr Johnston, in speech ( very rarely) "the thing"

Thing is though you haven’t said what people should call him in speech. Other than the thing.

Boris is his brand. I don’t think using it signifies we think of him as a mate.

The pandemic has exposed what a terrible communicator he is. He can’t make hard decisions because of his need to be liked, and he clearly doesn’t do detail. I think most of the country can see he’s actually utterly appalling. People still use ‘Boris’ but it is now synonymous with ‘Buffoon’.

Is it not also because "Johnson" sounds a but rude all by itself and Boris Johnson is a mouthful?

@unmarkedbythat - we obviously move in very different circles; everybody I know called him 'Tone' - we despised him.

I think it's funny that people apparently don't understand the difference between something making people cringe and something making people cross 🤷‍♀️

I think he's a fucking arsehole who should be found guilty of treason and corporate manslaughter. I still call him Boris

I think maybe he is referred to in a more friendly way because he was famous and popular before entering politics. A lot of people did actually like him when he was just a celebrity because very few people get asked to do TV shows and journalism if everybody hates them. Perhaps it's a hangover from that.

Or because it is his name and quite rare (if you're outside of Russia) so everyone knows who you mean and most people tend towards being vocally simplistic (Dave/Chris/Mike/Su/hubby/crimbo/cuppa...etc).

You wouldn't have had 'Tony' being used in the same way, meaning Tony Blair, and same re 'Theresa' instead of Theresa May.

However - a lot of it is that he's probably the only Boris anyone knows. Whereas 'bloody Tony' would have had a lot of people going 'Which Tony?'

Of course, he likes it that way, which is why he calls himself Boris instead of Alexander or Alex.

If you wanted to annoy him, take away Brand Bozo and just call him Alex.