Talk:bugger

Australia

In Australia, bugger is most definitely not the slightest bit coarse.--Vladisdead 08:18, 29 Jun 2004 (UTC)

Sure it is. It loses more of its coarseness all the time, to the extent that it's on TV ads now. But that doesn't mean I'd use it with a nun or little old lady who I'd never met before. And just about everybody knows what it means literally which affects when & where they choose to use it. — Hippietrail 13:44, 29 Jun 2004 (UTC)

RARE!???

This word has the category "rare". How is bugger rare? -- Cimon Avaro 19:40, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

euphemism

BTW, I have heard people euphemize bugger as "sugar". Don't know the conventions of how to add it to the page. Heck, maybey I will have to see how other words do it. -- Cimon Avaro 19:42, 29 June 2007 (UTC)

I always understood sugar to be used as a euphemism for shit. The speaker starts to say sh... realises the social situation and completes the word by saying sugar. Jonathan Webley 15:42, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

See Wikipedia Article for Deletion

An article about this word in Wikipedia was flagged for deletion on 20 January 2009 on the basis that it discussed only the word history and usage. See this discussion. Some content from the Wikipedia article has been copied to this one. Editors are invited to

1. Clean up this entry (this editor is not expert on how to compose Wiktionary articles)
2. Contribute to the AfD debate on Wikipedia.

Thanks. Aymatth2 14:55, 22 January 2009 (UTC)

Better also link to booger

Better also link to booger as a See Also. In Chicago, we kids spelled boogers buggers. Jidanni 02:02, 20 January 2011 (UTC)

I noticed a grown man make the same mistake, I'd advise it linked as a "Not to be confused with", rather than a "See also". - Mr. Heretic 06:09, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

Interjection

Would suggest merging the two 'different' Interjective definitions of bugger, they're essentially identical. Only it's apparently fallen further from vulgarity and thus potency in the US (not that it's considered vulgar in NZ either). - Mr. Heretic 06:09, 10 December 2011 (UTC)

RFV discussion: December 2019–January 2020

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bugger

Intj sense 2: "(slang, US, euphemistic, rare) Cutesy expression of very mild annoyance." What is it a euphemism for? Can we do better than "cutesy"? Is it not covered by sense 1, by way of being a joky use of the British word by non-Brits? Equinox ◑ 11:25, 19 December 2019 (UTC)

I'm familiar with Americans using this more as a "cutesy" expression of annoyance (calling to mind Pooh saying "oh bother") rather than an expression that one is seriously pissed off, but like you say, this may just be sense 1 + some kind of context clues. I don't know. I notice that boo hiss, another word that often conveys that the speaker is being silly or cute rather than pissed off, gets by with a definition sense to sense 1 of bugger, i.e. one that only covers the denotative meaning and doesn't get into conotations. - -sche (discuss) 06:59, 21 December 2019 (UTC)

However, this does seem like it may be attestable as something other than an expression of real annoyance. Consider:

• 2012, Jerrica Knight-Catania, The Wary Widow, Second Wind Publishing (→ISBN), page 2:

  Andrew swept her a bow. “Lord Andrew Wetherby, at your service.

  ***

  Chloe swallowed hard as all the color drained from her cheeks. Oh, bugger! She stood and took a step toward him. “Lord Andrew, did you say?” she repeated. [...] He gave her a wry smile and Chloe felt the heat rush back to her cheeks. "I did," he finally answered. "Oh, well, it is a pleasure to make your acquaintance, my lord." [...] Lord Andrew looked at her, clearly perplexed, which made him look quite adorable.

And this seems like maybe an expression of sorrow(?—not sure):

• 2014, Yvonne Adhiambo Owuor, Dust, Vintage (→ISBN):

  Hugh came home hauling the tusks of four dead elephants. "Where's the baby? What is it?" "She died," Selene says. "Tea, dear?" "Thank you. Died? Oh, bugger!" For five seconds Selene hoped Hugh would cry. He wrestled a torment, which puffed and then deflated his face, and said, "Was looking forward to raising a real Kenya lad. Must not wallow, though."

- -sche (discuss) 23:39, 22 December 2019 (UTC)

Re 2012 citation: book is by Jerrica Knight-Catania (apparently an American) and "the story is about Chloe Hawthorne, cousin of Lady Elizabeth Crawley, chaperoning Elizabeth for a season in London". If Chloe is British then her "bugger" is not an "American bugger", but an American author's (probably inaccurate) idea of a "British bugger" — as though I were to write a badly-researched western and have the natives exclaiming "jumping Jehosphat" or something. Equinox ◑ 11:33, 23 December 2019 (UTC)

RFV-failed At best, this could take a usage note that it is used more mildly by non-UK speakers Kiwima (talk) 22:28, 19 January 2020 (UTC)

French: pronunciation in the conjugation table

It doesn't seem to be confirmed by the French Wiktionary. I guess there's a parameter missing. 89.64.70.103 16:55, 20 July 2022 (UTC)