heals

Contrary to some theories, this is not a British adaptation of the American pejorative cognomen heel. In the USA it means someone who is a bit of a petty jerkoff but in Britain it is applied to people who are total shits, the wasters, skates, snotrags and OICs who plague society like festering sores. The word is said to derive from the British upper class pronounciation of 'hole' (heale) an abbreviation of the word 'arsehole' (awseheale). It was first used by upper classes in the early twentieth century when it became fashionable for flappers to use ‘bad’ language. For a long time it was virtually unknown outside fashionable cliques like the Cliveden Set and was frequently used to describe people they didn't like. It wasn’t until comparatively recently that it became more widely known due to the internet and period dramas. More people began using it although there is still some confusion with the American insult heel. A rather snide use is to use it to refer to someone, knowing that they know what it means, or that it will get back to them, strangely it usually seems to be women who use it in this way.