Re: Offensiveness of "bugger all"

On Thu, 14 Feb 2008 19:39:18 +0000, Ian Noble
<fredd@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:

On Tue, 12 Feb 2008 21:34:48 +0100, Jeroen Mostert
<jmostert@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

I realize this is a tough one to answer with any precision, but how
offensive would you say the phrase "bugger all" (i.e. "nothing") is in
British English, relatively speaking? It's not polite language, but where it
matters I presume it would rank quite a bit below things like "shit" or even
"bugger off". Would you, say, look up if someone used it in an informal but
unfamiliar setting, or would you consider it unacceptable to use in front of
strangers even in an informal setting?

My interest is purely academic, mind you, I'm not going out to
systematically offend people in the interest of science... not today, at
least. And it probably goes without saying, but no, I'm not a native speaker.

When I was growing up in Yorkshire in the '50s/'60s, "bugger" (in all
its uses) was pretty mild. Vaguely "common", but no more than a tone
up from "blast". I'm not aware that's changed.

Well below "shit", too. That wasn't a word in common usage there (as
an epithet, that is; as a good, basic noun it was common as muck (in
both senses of the phrase). There's far more force in "SHIT!!!!" than
in a quiet, muttered "oh, bugger". As for "bugger all", "sod all" -
similar levels of strength. Slightly uncouth, but nothing more.

At the other end of the spectrum, mind - as I've discovered more than
once, my father-in-law (from, I think, Gloucestershire) clearly finds
the word far more offensive than do I.

Cheers - Ian
.

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