# The Term "Bugging" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094 "2011-07-15T02:52:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/f04885/32.png) [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qin_Shi_Huangdi)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 2:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/1 "2011-07-15T02:52:09Z")
I mean the term as in “Stop bugging me”. 1. Did the term originate from the British term “buggering”? 2. Is the term “bugging” used in that sense in Britain, Canada, and Australia? ---
**Author:** ![Lamar\_Mundane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/85f322/32.png) [@Lamar\_Mundane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamar_Mundane)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/2 "2011-07-15T02:55:56Z")
I am quite sure there is no connection. “Bugging” is a synonym for “irritating” which indicates to me irritating bugs like mosquitoes and flies. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/3 "2011-07-15T02:57:02Z")
Think of a bug swarming around you… you swat but it won’t go away. It is really “bugging” you. ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/4 "2011-07-15T03:25:39Z")
1. It’s used in that sense in Australia. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/5 "2011-07-15T03:29:53Z")
Which naturally leads to the question of where bugger comes from. The [Online Etymology Dictionary](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bugger&searchmode=none) is your friend. > [@](#): > > bugger > > “sodomite,” 1550s, earlier “heretic” (mid-14c.), from M.L. Bulgarus “a Bulgarian” (see Bulgaria), so called from Catholic bigoted notions of the sex lives of Eastern Orthodox Christians or of the sect of heretics that was prominent there 11c. Bugging as in bothering is surprisingly recent, according to that page: > [@](#): > > The verb “to annoy, irritate” is first attested 1949, probably in allusion to insect pests, from bug (n.) ---
**Author:** ![tellyworth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/977dab/32.png) [@tellyworth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tellyworth)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 3:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/6 "2011-07-15T03:46:14Z")
Wait, I think I misunderstood you question, #2 is a bit ambiguous. “Stop bugging me” is used in Australia in the same sense as in the USA. It’s not used in a way that is related to the word “bugger”, which is commonly used mainly as an exclamation. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/7 "2011-07-15T03:51:48Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > The [Online Etymology Dictionary](http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=bugger&searchmode=none) is your friend. I’m amazed to see that the use of the word bug to mean recording something with a concealed microphone dates all the way back to 1919. Any idea when bug first began being used as a slang term for a crazy person? I remember it from back in the late sixties. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 8:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/8 "2011-07-15T20:17:52Z")
“Stop bugging me” and “stop buggering me” have two fairly distinct meanings, I’d say. ---
**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 8:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/9 "2011-07-15T20:36:50Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > “Stop bugging me” and “stop buggering me” have two fairly distinct meanings, I’d say. Who doesn’t like a good buggering? ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/10 "2011-07-15T20:44:35Z")
Why are you buggering us about this? Anyway, it is used in Britain, but was probably imported from America. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/11 "2011-07-15T21:15:49Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > “Stop bugging me” and “stop buggering me” have two fairly distinct meanings, I’d say. Don’t you think you’re being a little anal about this? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/12 "2011-07-15T21:25:36Z")
> [@Polycarp](#): > > Don’t you think you’re being a little anal about this? Hey, man, get off my ass! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/13 "2011-07-15T21:31:21Z")
The OP may not be aware that a more recent extension of the transitive “bothering” meaning is an intransitive sense which means “freaking out” or “reacting angrily”. "_Why are you bugging? It’s no big deal."_ It sounds California-surfer-1980s to my ears, but could have black urban origins, like its near-synoym\* trippin’\*. ---
**Author:** ![Rain\_Soaked](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19adc/32.png) [@Rain\_Soaked](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rain_Soaked)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/14 "2011-07-15T21:34:22Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > Hey, man, get off my ass! 😃 Oh, [bugger](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRxcGnBpvVs)! ---
**Author:** ![Spoons](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spoons/32/3141_2.png) [@Spoons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spoons)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/15 "2011-07-15T23:11:56Z")
> [@Qin\_Shi\_Huangdi](#): > > 1. Is the term “bugging” used in that sense in … Canada…? In Canada, the term is used synonymously with “bothering” or “irritating”; that is, “quit bugging me” means the same as “quit bothering me.” ---
**Author:** ![maggenpye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/ecc23a/32.png) [@maggenpye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/maggenpye)\ **Post date:** [July 15, 2011, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/16 "2011-07-15T23:21:01Z")
> [@Rain\_Soaked](#): > > Oh, [bugger](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nRxcGnBpvVs)! Loved that ad. When it first came out there was a big hooha (not in the vaginal sense, in the freaking out of the pubic sense) and it went to the Broadcasting Standards Authority who decreed that “Bugger” has changed it’s meaning so much from the initial sodomy root (heh) that it can’t be considered a swear word. Much to the joy of every schoolchild in the country. ---
**Author:** ![An\_Gadai](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d6d6ee/32.png) [@An\_Gadai](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/An_Gadai)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 1:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/17 "2011-07-16T13:52:21Z")
Buggerknuckles ---
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/18 "2011-07-16T18:01:21Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > “Stop bugging me” and “stop buggering me” have two fairly distinct meanings, I’d say. Wouldn’t it be more like"Stohuh huh huh huh buh buh buh gering me uh uh uh "? ---
**Author:** ![UncleRojelio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/unclerojelio/32/3160_2.png) [@UncleRojelio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleRojelio)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/19 "2011-07-16T18:12:23Z")
My own personal hypothesis is that it derives from the usage of the word ‘pest’. As in, “You are being a pest”. From which comes, “Stop pestering me”. Hence the progression to “bugging”. I could be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-term-bugging/589094/20 "2011-07-18T14:26:22Z")
**Rojelio** , it doesn’t even need to be that direct–it could just be a linguistic case of convergent evolution, rather than people deliberately substituting a synonym.