This is indeed a Great British tradition - and one you will not be surprised to hear is very much alive to this day. In fact, it is so ubiquitous that it is hardly worth passing comment.
Having known many of your countrymen, as well as your clever New Zealand cousins, we can say for sure that we are singing from the same hymnsheet when we are at our finest: insulting each other. This tradition is practiced in that very famous institution, The Pub. Outsiders may regard this as frivolous, but it is central to the way that the Old Merry defuses its miriad of social tensions.
Moreover, when a fellow "down the boozer" stops insulting another regular, it is usually considered a sign that something is wrong between the two; diplomacy will be enacted and after a round or two, the insults will flow once more - and all is well.
Indeed the hallmark of any lively debate between an Ozzy and a Pom is the finely crafted insult. For if we were to stop insulting each other, it would surely require shuttle diplomacy and several stiff drinks?
But, alas, my powers of relay are limited. Who better to present a critique about the heirs to "flyting" than Kate Fox.
All quotes are from:
http://www.sirc.org/publik/passport.pdf or html:
SIRC - Passport to the Pub
If a customer appears to be rude or sarcastic to the bar staff –making remarks such as "Anytime this year will do"” while waiting to be served, or “"Look at the state of these ashtrays, you slob!"” –- and receives similarly insulting comments in return, without any sign of real anger, you can safely conclude that he or she is a regular. This ritual exchange of mock insults and backchat is common practice between bar staff, publicans and regulars in many pubs, and is again a means of expressing intimacy.
The etiquette of pub-arguments reflects the principles enshrined in the unwritten ‘constitution’ governing all social interaction in the pub: theconstitution prescribes equality, reciprocity, the pursuit of intimacy and a tacit non-aggression pact. Any student of human relations will recognise these principles as the essential foundation of all social bonding, and social bonding is what pub-arguments are all about.
The pub-argument is an enjoyable game –- no strong views or deeply held convictions are necessary to engage in a lively dispute. Pub regulars will often start an argument about anything, just for the fun of it.
A bored regular will often deliberately spark off an argument by making an outrageous or extreme statement, and then sit back and wait for the inevitable cries of “Rubbish!” or something less polite. The initiator will then hotly defend his assertion (which he secretly knows to be indefensible), and counter-attack by accusing his opponents of stupidity, ignorance or worse. The exchange may continue in this fashion for some time, although the attacks and counter-attacks will often drift away from the original issue, moving on to other contentious subjects and eventually focusing almost entirely on the personal qualities of the participants.
Jokes, puns, teasing, wit, banter and backchat are all essential ingredients of pub-talk. In fact, you will notice that most pub-talk has an undercurrent of humour, never far below the surface.
Pub humour can sometimes be bold and bawdy, but the stereotype of loud, beer-bellied males exchanging dirty jokes is inaccurate and unfair. Most pub humour is quite subtle – occasionally to the point of obscurity –and some participants have a command of irony that would impress Jane Austen.
So we can see that at the core of things, all what appears to be the case often is not the case to the untrained eye.
There are therepeutic elements involved, of course. And many insults involve free association.
Free-association
Psychoanalysts often use a technique called free-association, which involves asking patients to say whatever comes into their mind in association with a particular word or phrase. Listen carefully, and you will realise that most pub-talk is also a form of free-association – which may help to explain its socially therapeutic effects. In the pub, the naturally reserved and cautious natives shed their inhibitions, and give voice to whatever passing thought happens to occur to them. You will notice that pub-conversations rarely progress in any kind of logical manner; they do not stick to the point, nor do they reach a conclusion.
Pub-talk moves in a mysterious way – mostly in apparently random sideways leaps. A remark about the weather triggers a prediction as to which horse will win the big race at Cheltenham, which triggers an argument about the merits of the National Lottery, which leads to a discussion of the latest political scandal, which provokes some banter about the sexual prowess of one of the regulars involved in the discussion, which is interrupted by another regular demanding assistance with a crossword clue, one element of which leads to a comment about a recent fatal traffic accident in the neighbourhood, which somehow turns into a discussion about the barman'’s new haircut and so on. There is a vague logic in some of the connections, but most changes of subject are triggered by participants ‘free-associating’ with a random word or phrase.
And finally:
Advice: Remember that native pubgoers are masters of irony, and particularly adept at maintaining a straight face while joking and teasing. Do not assume that they mean what they say, or take their words too literally. An apparently serious criticism or compliment about, say, your appearance, personal habits or national character, may well be intended as a joke. Never forget the First Commandment of Pub Law “Thou shalt not take things too seriously”.
Of course, things often go horribly wrong and a long-running feud may end up being sorted out in the pub car park, thus giving "the regulars" an amusing spectacle of a couple of drunks rolling about the gravel.
But of course here on the interwebs there is no "virtual pub car park", where matters can get out of hand.
So when I say to you that you are hidiously overweight and need to be thrown in a duckpond, no further explanation is necessary. You will merely emerge, covered in frogspawn and tell me that you've just had a sip of spring water.
