A British politician called Donald Trump a 'wazzock' and Americans are very, very confused

On Tuesday, MPs responded to a petition calling to ban Donald Trump from the UK on hate speech grounds.

During a three hour debate the Republican presidential hopeful was called him a “wazzock”, a “buffoon” and a “ridiculous individual”.

The petition launched last year by Suzanne Kelly of Aberdeen cited Trump’s likening of all Mexicans to rapists and his calls to register all Muslims in the US.

It gathered over 500,000 signatures, fivefold the number required for a Commons debate.

Some MPs such as Andrew Murrison, MP for South West Wiltshire, were reproachful of a total ban, but not of scorn:

We have to be alive to the possibility that this ridiculous individual – that is, Mr Trump – may be elected president of the United States.

A view shared by Victoria Atkins, MP for Louth and Horncastle, and supposedly her constituents. She said:

Watch the full video, below:

Her use of the word "wazzock" was a bit of a throwback - the word reached its peak popularity in the English language around 2004, according to Google's Ngram viewer.

Wazzock is listed in the Oxford English Dictionary as "a stupid or annoying person" and its earliest known use was in a 1976 recording by the British folk singer, author and broadcaster Mike Harding.

However, while recognisable to most in the UK, the use of the word has confused our friends across the Atlantic.

There was also this wonderful exchange on Reddit:

Divided by a common language...