No. Although it may be a generational thing.
There’s a pretty good article explaining the current state of the term and if I could figure out how to include a link here, I could send you there and you could read it. Let’s see now…http://www.boston.com/news/globe/ideas/articles/2006/03/19/holidays_to_swear_by/
did that do it?
Standards have changed even in my lifetime. I got sent out of class in the 1980s for using the word “hell” during a lesson. “Bloody” was similarly problematic. But now, it’s commonplace, and while not necessarily used on children’s shows, is not the sort of thing that’s reserved for the “watershed” (the 9pm deadline on terrestrial TV before which “fuck” can’t be used, or tits-n-asses be shown).
Which is why I was so surprised about the whole kerfuffle regardin the Australian ad campaign. I liked the ad, though. Or rather, the chick in the bikini who says it.
Here’s the ad. Great URL, too!
Yep - although the disclaimer at the end of the article, that the adverts would end up being run after all, has come to pass 
Correct me if I’ve got the story wrong…but “Pygmalion” included the word (Eliza Doolittle says “not bloody likely”) which caused quite a stir – given that it’s still controversial, I can imagine that it was even more so, 100 years ago.
The film version of My Fair Lady doesn’t use the line, but strives for the same effect by having Eliza cheer her horse on with “move your bloomin’ arse”.
A common Shakespearean curse is s’blood, which is a contraction of By His Blood (He being Christ). I always considered ‘bloody’ to be derivative of that.
[Now upsetting family groups in the US, too.](http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/common/story_page/0,5744,18 576718%255E23109,00.html )
Bloody stupid.
Your link is broken, but I’ll take your word for it and add my two cents that this is the stupidest thing I’ve heard in a long time. I don’t know anyone who’s an American by birth that says “bloody” as the Brits do.
And another one: now the Canadians competing in the idiocy stakes. Not for the word “bloody” but for the reference to beer. :smack: Mooseheads.
Likely it’s the “hell” part they’re upset about. I was talking yesterday to an adult woman who actually said, “h-e-double hockey sticks” rather than utter the H-word.
I don’t know where I picked it up from - either from watching the BBC on PBS, or comics and other books, but I’ve used it ever since I found out its connotation as a teenager. It was a ‘safe’ way to swear in public.
I never had a complaint til my first year at college after high school, early '90’s. My algebra teacher was Indian via Britain. I made a comment on a paper, about what I can no longer remember, but used the word. He wrote a short note back for me to mind my language. Oops. No damage done really. I sensed he was more surprised to just see it (a good 3000 miles from the British Isles), then offended.
Ere now mind you dont tread on the bloody slaughterhouse floor
Where should I put this bloody murder weapon
How do you like your steak sir Bloody
This segues naturally into the story about the bishop who goes to a steakhouse and orders a rare steak. He is appalled to hear the waiter yell “One bloody steak!” in the direction of the kitchen, but he calms down when he hears that this is how rare steak is referred to in the trade.
So when he comes back a few days later with the curate, and is served by the same waiter, he roguishly orders “Two bloody steaks”. And as the waiter is writing it down, the curate adds “And get us some fucking chips as well!”.
The Pygmalion reference is right. And talking of “damn”, there was a mild kerfuffle when HMS Pinafore was first staged, because the plot hinges on Captain Corcoran saying “Damme!” at one point. The Revd Dodgson was quite upset, and produced a little monograph on the subject.
Royal use of “the B-vord” is nothing new. Princess Anne, who was quite the pottymouth in her youth, was famously quoted as saying it upwards of thirty years ago.
Here is a live link. Its the word “bloody” which is causing offence, not “hell”.
During the eighties, I worked with a young woman who had been raised in Hong Kong, mid-to-late twenties in age, I’d say. We got a new manager (American), and I remember her saying that she thought he was OK, but (in a very lowered voice just to me) “why does he keep using that awful word?” I can’t remember if I needed clarification or not, but the word she was objecting to was “bloody.” He’d picked if up from working with some British guys intensely earlier in his career. I had to explain to her that in the US, it wasn’t considered a swear word at all, but rather an innocuous substitute for one, like Darn or Drat. I disliked that manager intensely, but didn’t think it was fair to condemn him for that one.
I suppose it’s quite possible that Hong Kong is more straight-laced in that respect than Great Britain itself. I don’t know about Hong Kong per se, but the Asian societies I’ve been exposed to have been more community- and less individual-oriented than western societies, and thus more inclined to follow rules in such matters.
But…but…he *never * swears a big, big D. Well, hardly ever.
I always wondered if the "damme"in Pinafore was controversial. Thanks.
From the article, a representative of the American Family Association is quoted as saying: "“I guess they use it all the time in Australia, but it’s a foreign language here so I think it’ll have a negative impact rather than positive.”
Yup, different country so it must be a different language.
I’ve generally gathered that the etymology is a contraction of the common Catholic expression “by our Lady,” which is in some dispute, but then again after the Act of Supremacy was enacted and swiftly followed by the Treason Act it was probably not terribly politic (or smart, or conducive to continued existence) to use expressions which would mark one as a Catholic adherent.
Reasonably speaking, this etymology would give the word the emotional freighting necessary to keep it active as a rude expression, while not being a very strong or offensive word in and of itself.