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Original poster

To believe we can retire the word "shagging"?

243 replies

ReplacementBusService · 13/10/2025 22:07

I was a teenager in the 90s, and the word for casual, semi casual, or run of the mill sexual congress was "shag", as in "shagging" "have a shag", "quick shag", and "shagged em".

I just think, this word has had its day. It has connotations with vintage rugs, thick carpets, unruly beards, and perhaps panting sheepdogs, that are uncomfortable. Other words exist. I don't want to be the self declared Word Police, and appreciate there will be other points of view on this very important topic, but please can we all consider never using it again?

OP posts:
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StrongLikeMamma · 14/10/2025 16:36

BauhausOfEliott · 14/10/2025 15:10

Yes, 'bonking' is one of those words I only really remember appearing in tabloid newspapers, rather than ever being heard in real life conversations. Along with 'love rat'.

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Bonking sounds really posh to me! 😆

StrongLikeMamma · 14/10/2025 16:35

Riding?

MagpiePi · 14/10/2025 16:34

ReplacementBusService · 14/10/2025 15:15

Maybe only if you say "making sweet lurve" in my opinion

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I always hear this in the voice of Cartman from South Park

Redpeach · 14/10/2025 15:48

I hate the term smash

Abhannmor · 14/10/2025 15:45

SprayWhiteDung · 14/10/2025 09:31

I blame the loose morals of the James Bond films for the big increase in British ruderies - it squarely put the idea in everybody's head to Roger more.

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My brother once attended a Roger Moore theme party as Sean Connery. That raised a few eyebrows I can tell you....

Original poster
ReplacementBusService · 14/10/2025 15:15

JohnTheRevelator · 14/10/2025 14:56

What should we replace it with? Making love? 🤣

Maybe only if you say "making sweet lurve" in my opinion

OP posts:
Original poster
ReplacementBusService · 14/10/2025 15:14

A lot of very thought provoking and important replies here and thank god this has been treated with the seriousness it deserves.

I had forgotten all about the terms bonking, or having it off. I favor these over anything involving Mrs Tiggywinkle, and I'll need to check HR guidance on anything involving porking.

OP posts:
BauhausOfEliott · 14/10/2025 15:10

Abhannmor · 14/10/2025 10:10

Bonking always reminds me of Sun headlines from the 80s for some reason. Banging isn't heard much lately.

Yes, 'bonking' is one of those words I only really remember appearing in tabloid newspapers, rather than ever being heard in real life conversations. Along with 'love rat'.

JohnTheRevelator · 14/10/2025 14:56

What should we replace it with? Making love? 🤣

Idontknowhatnametochoose · 14/10/2025 14:46

Roll in the hay!

ToadRage · 14/10/2025 14:34

Mango. It was a codeword my husband and i used in uni. Occasionally we still use it now for giggle but mostly we just say having sex or my husband wont use words at all and will just press his erection into me to say he wants it. I haven't said shag in years, it sounds, along with most euphemisms with the exception of fucking, very juvenile to me. My Mum still says bonking.

SpaceRaccoon · 14/10/2025 14:28

BlueJuniper94 · 13/10/2025 22:15

"Pumping"?

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Many women on here teach their children that term instead of "farting", which they apparently find too crude. So perhaps not.

I nominate "coitus".

PixieandMe · 14/10/2025 14:23

Zov · 13/10/2025 22:38

Nah, it's funny! 😆

Exactly this!

1dayatatime · 14/10/2025 14:22

Oooo another retro expression "rumpy pumpy"

Papergirl1968 · 14/10/2025 11:36

I haven’t read the full thread but a shag, was well as a bird, was the name of a movie in the late 80s. I think it was about dancing. I worked on a local newspaper and got sent a promotional T-shirt with Shag across the front. Never wore it 😂

OnlyFrench · 14/10/2025 11:25

@KimberleyClark i prefer bonking, it sounds more mutual than screwing!

friend's husband insists on saying “knobbing”

KimberleyClark · 14/10/2025 11:24

OnlyFrench · 13/10/2025 22:17

Bonking? 😂

Screwing?

BauhausOfEliott · 14/10/2025 11:22

Yamamm · 14/10/2025 05:56

Shagging is great and agree - very very British.
We do like to be a bit silly when referencing sex but it doesn’t mean we take it less seriously than other people. That’s nonsense. We just despise people who take themselves seriously. Like Sting and his wife who did sex properly and told everyone about it at great length. Bore off Sting and all your transcendent mates.

Agreed. Sex is probably my favourite thing in the world and it's really important to me. It actually really grates on me when people - by which I mean Mumsnet, really - imply that it's something a bit icky and gross, or that men enjoy it more than women, or say that they recoil at the notion of doing it without having a shower immediately prior etc etc.

However, the fact that it's important to me doesn't mean I have to be all serious and reverent about it. It's sex, not a sacred rite. I'm just not an earnest person about anything, really. I'm naturally flippant. I completely understand that a lot of people find that irritating, of course, and they're more than entitled to be annoyed by it, but it doesn't mean I'm embarrassed or uncomfortable about sex. At all.

Nourishinghandcream · 14/10/2025 11:21

Abhannmor · 14/10/2025 10:10

Bonking always reminds me of Sun headlines from the 80s for some reason. Banging isn't heard much lately.

First remember hearing the term "bonking" on OTT.

As I recall, it was a sketch about highbrow literature and Lenny Henry(????) was trying to read a passage from Lady Chaterly's Lover(?) but kept getting stopped as it was considered to be too "near the knuckle". He persevered and everyone settled into a false sense of security until he suddenly came out with the term "bonking" which threw the presenter into a frenzy.😆

As far as I am aware, that was the first time the term was used.

1dayatatime · 14/10/2025 10:38

i had completely forgotten about the term "shagging" but it's got a kind of retro 80s / 90s Brit culture ring to it which on reflection I find amusing.

StarlightLady · 14/10/2025 10:35

Abhannmor · 14/10/2025 10:10

Bonking always reminds me of Sun headlines from the 80s for some reason. Banging isn't heard much lately.

Maybe the neighbours have put some sponge behind the headboard 😀.

ClairDeLaLune · 14/10/2025 10:32

SprayWhiteDung · 14/10/2025 09:31

I blame the loose morals of the James Bond films for the big increase in British ruderies - it squarely put the idea in everybody's head to Roger more.

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😂 haha love a contrived pun! 👏

ErrolTheDragon · 14/10/2025 10:17

StarlightLady · 14/10/2025 10:07

And I was just about to reply not today, then I read the rest of your post. 😀

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It’s a bit early yet for elevenses.

Abhannmor · 14/10/2025 10:10

Bonking always reminds me of Sun headlines from the 80s for some reason. Banging isn't heard much lately.

StarlightLady · 14/10/2025 10:07

SprayWhiteDung · 14/10/2025 10:03

Have we actually had 'nookie' yet (in the course of this thread; not asking anybody personally)?!

The gag of 'Nookie Bear' - a supposedly family-friendly variety act with an in-your-face 'wink, wink' aspect for the grown-ups - went on for far too long.

And I was just about to reply not today, then I read the rest of your post. 😀