Is bugger a swear word?

Question

I thought it was but it never gets edited. I know my @rse gets edited an I wouldn't consider that a swear word.

yep, it is painful when I my @rse gets edited and I do say bugger.
I know it's like an old fashioned word but the meaning is quite rude, involving willies too!! lol...I'm being daring now, see if these are edited.
bollox
dick
wanker
crap
I hope no kids are up = )

dick is a name I guess though.

I can't even spell my swear words now, bollocks I should say! I was tired last night

Answer 1

It used to be 50 years ago, but these days it's about as bad as bum or willy. Hehehe... willy... hehehe...

Answer 2

Depends on the context. As a noun descriptor of a man who engages in buggery it is not a swear word - although it is rather strong and colloquial. As a verb to describe the same practice it is similarly descriptive and accurate and not really bad language. As an expletive "Oh bugger" it is actually quite a mild swear word and not particularly shocking. Similarly the epithet "Silly Bugger" is not very strong or offensive.

Answer 3

Holy Cr**!!! I had no idea that's what it meant! You British are crazy nuts!! New respect all around. My friends and I were playing British at a bar last week and kept saying bugger. I can't wait to tell them what we were saying. Absolutely fantastic! And then yes- to answer your question. Most definitely a swear word. I'm still laughing. Fantastic!!

Answer 4

Now considered a mild swear word it's roots lie in a different direction altogether.
The Buggery Act 1533 (25 Hen. VIII c. 6) was a sodomy law adopted in England in 1533 during the reign of Henry VIII, and was the first civil legislation applicable against homosexuals in the country, such offences having previously been dealt with by ecclesiastical courts. The law defined buggery as an unnatural sexual act against the will of God and man. In practice, this has almost always been applied to anal sex sex between men, or its attempt.

Answer 5

It's not a swear word, it's an obscenity. The noun buggery is something which is a term of art in English law and which has its place in the statute books and is discussed in courts of law by respectable lawyers and judges. Strangely enough, a French word very similar to the word bugger and which it presumably came from, i.e. "bougre", isn't considered rude.

Answer 6

to young kids it is and i would never let any say it until being atleast 8 but no it isnt a swear word i dnt think well on tv they had the bugger ad for beer a few years ago

Answer 7

In my father's days, I am told that 'bugger' was used as an acceptable alternative for 'blackguard' !
According to dictionaries, it implies 'Someone who engages in anal copulation (especially a male who engages in anal copulation with another male)' ! As such, calling someone a 'bugger' could be deemed as an insulting swear word.
..But, since such acts are rated as perfectly 'normal' in today's highly permissive society, you are welcome to conclude that it is no longer a swear word !

Answer 8

A lot of meaningless words are used just to express ones self, and bugger is one of them, but the word buggery is different.Just look it up in the dictionary

Answer 9

it is if my kids say it i dont think its a swear word but its an old fashioned thing isnt it!

Answer 10

I think it is a swear word along with sodamy and gomorrowmy. Dun't stop me saying it though.

Answer 11

No, it is not a swear word. It is just not a nice word.