> Not British so genuinely asking - to what degree? Greater than "thing that bends"? I'm Irish, not British, but the slangs are similar. "Bender" (on it's own)

> Not British so genuinely asking - to what degree? Greater than "thing that bends"? I'm Irish, not British, but the slangs are similar. "Bender" (on it's own) would mean a gay man. "on a bender" would mean a drunken thing. I'm not sure if people ever need a word for "thing that bends", since that rarely comes up. People might say "bendy bus" for an articulated bus. As evidence, I give you Ofcom, the British state body which regulates things on TV & Radio. If you say offensive things on TV/Radio, they'll fine you. They did research in 2016 about offensive words[1][2] and have listed them and have advice. For "bender" they say class it as "Strong language, generally unacceptable. Seen as old-fashioned, but derogatory to gay men." [2]p10, and class it alongside: "dyke", "tranny", "homo", "lesbo", "muff diver", "he-she", "tranny", "carpet muncher" or "bum boy". That should give you an idea of whether it's acceptable to use it now. "Box" is not on that list, I don't know what that means. "Dick" is listed as "Strong language, generally unacceptable pre-watershed. Seen as vulgar and distasteful by many. Less problematic when used in a humorous context, and generally considered slightly milder than ‘cock’.", which is a similar classification to "bender", or "raghead", "negro", "kike", "slut", "cocksucker", etc [1] https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/91624/OfcomOffensiveLanguage.pdf https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/91624/O... [2] https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/91625/OfcomQRG-AOC.pdf https://www.ofcom.org.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0023/91625/O...