Backed by academics, so it's definitely educational...

Cult cartoonists Modern Toss are to unveil a working prototype of what they say is the first interactive UK Swear Map next month.

The interactive artwork acts as a growing archive of regional swearing slang, with 12 buttons for visitors to press to hear multiple regional voices saying rude words. 

It draws on a swear census created with linguists at the University of Sheffield with such regional terms as ‘blert’ in Liverpool, ‘cheb’ in Sunderland, ‘ballix' in Belfast and more. The public are invited to add their own words and voices at tinyurl.com/swearmap.

Dr Chris Montgomery of the University of Sheffield said: ‘Swearing is a fundamental part of how everybody expresses emotion, identity, humour and social connection, yet it's so often excluded from formal records of language. At a time when some regional dialects might be disappearing, we wanted to document English as it's truly lived and spoken across the UK.’

Jon Link of Modern Toss said: ‘We've spent years turning filthy data into charts and daft interactive art, and this let us do it with proper academic rigour, yeah? Press a button, hear the country swearing back at you. It's a work in progress, so come and be part of it.’

The map will be on display at Modern Toss’s 21st anniversary show, Having An Exhibition Yeah?, at the Drawing Room in Southwark, South London, from August 14 to September 6.

It includes more than 100 works, including the F***yeux Tapestry, a 103-metre cartoon reimagining of the Bayeux Tapestry originally made with hundreds of participants at Somerset House, which is returning to London as the real thing goes on show at the British Museum. 

Other items on display include token-operated swearing machines, the Periodic Table of Swearing, big stone heads, a five-metre-wide ceiling mobile and a looped screening of 100 best cartoons and animations from the Modern Toss collection. 

Tickets are available now at drawingroom.org.uk

Published: 22 Jul 2026