‘b … y furriners’

Abstract

When the Polish born, English language novelist Joseph Conrad referred to himself as a ‘b … y furriner’¹ he was satirising himself, his own pronunciation of English, censorship rules that frowned on the word ‘bloody’, and general British attitudes to foreigners. That was in 1898, at the height of the British Empire, when ‘bloody foreigners’ were considered a necessary nuisance in the world. Some people would argue that the same view existed in, and has continued since, 1960.