I was reading the other thread about burke and I thought of this
On some British shows, I’ve seen they use the word, bloody.
Like a bloody lot of good it does me. Or bleeding lot of good it does me
But other characters seem to say bleeding instead of bloody.
I take it, though I’m not sure, that bloody is a mild cuss word in the UK but is there a difference between the terms bleeding and bloody. Or are they interchangeable basically?
They’re interchangeable, but bloody is used a lot more often. ‘Bleeding’ is more often used in ‘bleeding hell.’
“Bleeding” is just a slightly old-fashioned euphemism for “bloody”, itself probably a euphemism originally, from the days when "bloody"was too strong for TV or polite society. Cf. “ruddy”, “blinking”, etc.
Yes, “bloody” is a euphemism for “by our Lady,” a religion related phrase which may have been blasphemous to use in public.
That’s one theory. Seems over-complicated to me, when “bloody” could simply be analagous to the many other visceral or scatalogical swear words that have been popular from time to time.
As you say, bloody is a very mild swear word in the UK - the sort of thing I’d be happy saying in front of my gran or my boss. And bleeding is basically the same, although I think there might be some class/regional connotations attached to it, maybe? I can’t think of a time when I’ve used bleeding as a swearword, personally, but I’ve heard it used, even on pre-watershed BBC, so it must be ok!
I always thought “bloody” referred to God’s blood. Sort of like “zounds” was short for God’s wounds, or “blimey” originally meaning “God blind me”. “By Our Lady” sounds a little tame to me compared to “God’s blood”.
Yes, apparently there are many theories. This one was told to me by my teacher in primary school (in the 70s), along with the “Cor, blimey” derivation.
Bleeding (or, in pronunciation, ‘bleedin’) is just a slightly milder form of bloody. Sounds pretty old-fashioned, the sort of thing my grandfather might say in front of the kids whilst attempting, and pretty much failing, to temper his language (as there’s not much difference between the two).
Bloody has apparently been covered in a staff report. They say that 'sblood (as in Hamlet’s, “'Sblood, do you think I am easier to be played on than a pipe?”) does come from “God’s blood”, but bloody has a different origin. The Word Detective says of the “By our lady” origin: “Almost certainly not.”
In TV or other media, there is a mild class distinction between the two. Upper class types may use ‘bloody’ but will never use ‘bleeding’. “I say, bloody good shot that man!”
Conversely ‘bleeding’ is more likely to be used by characters you are supposed to regard as not even working class, but ‘Low Class’ or borderline criminals. Imagine Delboy Trotter “Bleedin’ 'eck Rodders!”
In between those two steretypes it’s pretty much interchangeable, although it wouldn’t surprise me if there are regional variations. I live in the NE and ‘bleeding’ just doesn’t have as great an emphasis in our accents.
This reminds me of a slightly funny line in an old Lord Peter Wimsey TV episode I saw back in the 70s or 80s: “Now, let us have a look at those bloody footprints… By the way, that was an adjective!”
With all due disclaimers due to possibly failing memory on my side
You’d hear the Duke of Edinburgh say ‘bloody’ but you’ll never hear him say ‘bleeding’