Re: Speaking of terms obscure to outsiders....

In message <f1qdh4$nuk$1$8302bc10@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>, Tim S <Tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> writes
Dorothy J Heydt wrote:
In article <f1o79i$jvi$1$830fa79f@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Tim S <Tim@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Buggery. There is no verb "to bug" (in this sense) in British English. (There is a verb "to bug" meaning "to spy on, or provide the means of spying on, by means of an electronic surveillance device" -- i.e. by means of a "bug".) For that matter, the noun "bug" in the sense "insect" is rather rare in British English. (Except in reference to members of the order Hemiptera, but I supect that that usage is confined almost entirely to entomologists.) And there's no "ladybug" -- it's always "ladybird".
"To bug [someone}" meaning "to annoy," not known in the UK at
all? Not even as a USian import?

Well, we understand it when Americans use it. And I can't swear that no British person ever uses it. But I can't recall ever having heard it used except maybe as quotes from American TV shows or films.

I noticed a friend used it today in the context of 'something was bugging me about X' - however, he is a musician and travels to the States to play on a regular basis.

Jacey
--
Jacey Bedford
jacey at artisan hyphen harmony dot com
posting via usenet and not googlegroups, ourdebate
or any other forum that reprints usenet posts as
though they were the forum's own

.

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