RE: http://www.straightdope.com/mailbag/mbloody.html
My grandmother always taught me Bloody is so profane because it is an abbreviated version of:
By My (or Our) Lady (referring to the Virgin Mary)
and therfore taking the Virgin Mary’s name in vain!
Some think this is phoenitically implausible but I understand there is no hard evidence either way and Shakespeare uses “By’r Lady” a few times which looks like a suitable “missing link”.
There is more than a phonetic problem; there is also a grammatical one. “Bloody” is used as an adjective and as an adverb. “By our Lady!”, on the other hand, is a naked exclamation. Such transitions do occur (one might recall The Music Man’s “…we’re so by-God stubborn…”), but I don’t offhand recall “bloody” being used the other way. If you want to make an exclamation with “bloody” in it, you say “Bloody Hell!”.
Pardon a “tack on”, but did the word bloody used to be a lot more vulgar than it is today? It seems that now it’s old fashioned and somewhere between “very” and “damned” in its meaning (you’d use “bloody tired” or “bloody hungry” like you’d say “I’m wicked tired”), but in Pygmalion for instance the housekeeper is aghast when Eliza says it and can’t even bring herself to repeat it to Higgins (just tells him that Eliza uttered a word that begins with a ‘b’ and is six letter longs, or something similar that identifies it). I’ve wondered if the word was closer to the ‘f’ word or ‘g.d.’ at the time.
I thought bloody is still considered on the level of fuck or shit in the U.K.
What makes me laugh is the number of americans I know who say buggered. As in, “I’m buggered” in situations where they would never think to say, “I’m fucked.”
No, it’s much more mild than that. At least that’s how it is in New Zealand.
No … I think buggered is still a relatively mild expression. I think its probably used more by older people these days.
Again, talking about New Zealand, but the word “bugger”, as an expletive is considered pretty mild these days too thanks to Toyota. They had an ad on TV which used the word multiple times which draw a few complaints. The government advertising standards authority considered the complaints and decided that it was not offensive. Here’s the ad on YouTube
Grew up in Texas but got into the habit of saying it occasionally when I was a teenager. (For some reason.) My dad gave me a mild rebuke, saying it referred to the blood of Christ. I know the mailbag answer disagrees, but just relating my experience.
Funny that Americans think “buggered” is obscene, but use “shag” jokingly, as in “The Spy Who Shagged Me”. I believe the title had to be changed in Singapore, at least, on grounds of obscenity.
Mortimer Adler discussed the various theories of the origin of “Bloddy” as a swear word in one of his books. There are about seven different theories. His conclusion was that none of them stood out as particularly likely. I have to admit that the “By Our Lady” theory sounds pretty good, and more likely than most, but I’m not an etymologist. And it bothers me that such a mild oath as “By Our Lady” could come to be considered as offensive as “bloody” was (and apparently, still is) to the British – that’s a strike against that interpretation.
What could make the concept of “blood” so unacceptable in general society? Especially considering that, in all other uses, there’s no social taboo on the word? It’s enough to make me suspect a tie somehow to menstrual blood. THAT, I could understand as something not fit for polite conversation.
I’m not sure about the word itself, but I believe that contact with blood–menstrual or otherwise–is considered a source of ritual defilement in several traditional societies. So perhaps referring to something as “bloody” would be equivalent to cursing it as ritually defiled?
Just pulling this out of my ass, but might it be too Roman Catholic?
Some of the Plantaganets used “God’s blood!” as a swear word (though it probably would have been in Norman French). I wonder if that’s a connection (rather like “zounds” for “God’s wounds”).
The Online Etymology Dictionary sees it differently.
And for a time, there was a fad for substituting “Pygmalion”, as in “Not Pygmalion likely!”.
It was considered profane in Australia within my living memory (and I’m 38). I have seen it masked as “b****y” in print.
An earlier thread on the topic: Is "bloody" still regarded as a profanity in the UK? - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board
Oh, I know bugger is relatively mild. I just think it’s funny that a reference to sodomy is somehow more acceptable than just regular ol’ intercourse.
Cap’n Jack Sparrow said “Oh, bugger” in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest, and I don’t think anyone in the U.S. batted an eye. It was even in the previews, approved for all ages and audiences, IIRC.
Well, add in rum and the lash and a fella could have a pretty good time in Botany Bay.
And there was a famous instance of Hugh Grant uttering a series of “bugger” right before his wedding in Four Weddings and a Funeral that I suspect was largely ignored in the US.
My copy of FWaaF has him saying fuck, not bugger.
Ours definitley says “bugger,” repeatedly. The wife loves that movie, and we wore out the first videotape we had of it. That one was purchased in Thailand, but we bought a second one in the US, and it still said “bugger.” Maybe some have had “fuck” dubbed in? Although I find it odd that someone would think that better.