Do you class knackered as swearing?

I have never heard it as tired from sex, no wonder parents didn’t allow it.
In Ireland the knackers yard was where the travelling people lived, if you misbehaved you would be threatened with being sent to the knackers yard, so I assume that is why it is seen as a slur in Ireland.

I disagree as to me bollock can only ever refer to testicles where as knackered means like others have said the old tired horse going to the abattoir or ‘knacker’ which I think probably predates knackers used to describe testicles?!

I must admit I cringed hard when Keir Starmer said it today in pmq’s. Knackered and screwed, both felt like sexualised language or something and I don’t know , a bit ungentlemanly and unnecessary for a professional man amongst women in a work environment. I guess he is trying to show he has what Kemi Badenoch described as ‘the baubles’ but stooping to that level didn’t suit him too much. Disclaimer it’s a word I use all the time along with all the swear words , but… it suits me better 🤣
I did tell my own mother I was knackered lately and she recoiled.

You can say you’re knackered in the same company you can say you’ve been bollocked. They’re both referencing the same part of the anatomy but probably only recognised by older generations. It’s been used so much to mean ‘tired’ for tired alone— rather than from senselessly snagging—that it’s become its new mainstream meaning.

Agree. Not sure I would call it a swear word exactly but it had a sexual connotation so not something you’d say around your parents.

I used to think it was until John Noaks said it on his spin off series he did. He was rowing and said he was knackered, I remember thinking he had just sworn on children's tv and made me think maybe it's not a swear word lol

Wasnt told that was the meaning as child! I was told it was inappropriate and not use it at whatever age Id first said/heard it but later told that was why when I was older 😆.

It is tired after sex! My mum was told off for saying it when she was young and I was never allowed to say it either.

Not a swear word but quite crude. I remember hearing that only whores and horses get knackered (1970s- 1980s). People now are mostly unaware that this was the context in which it was commonly used, so would not be offended.

What? It means tired. When has it ever been a swear word?

Knackered" (meaning exhausted) originates from the term "knacker's yard," where old, worn-out horses were sent to be slaughtered for their hides and meat, essentially meaning they were "fit to be knackered" (killed/worn out). The word "knacker" originally referred to a tradesman who dealt with these animals, possibly evolving from an older word for harness-maker, and the term gained its modern sense of "tired" in the 19th century.

Core Meaning: To be knackered means to be utterly exhausted, worn out, or broken.

Nope.

Another one who grew up being told it meant tired after sex! 1980’s child, early childhood in the north (northern parents) and mid teens and above in the south

I'm late 60s and hadn't heard of the "tired after sex" interpretation until this thread. Nor of the association with the travelling community.

I wouldn't say it was a swear, exactly. It just.had a flavour of being slightly unpleasant because of the association with horses being slaughtered, but I suspect a lot of people don't know about that now.

One thing threads like this flag up to me is: unless you have positive evidence, don't assume that someone is saying something with intent to offend, nor that they "ought to have known" that a word or phrase is offensive. Because so often usage and knowledge of meanings is locally varied or varies over time

The knackers yard was where working horses were sent at end of working life to be slaughtered I believe. I definitely wouldn't say it is a terribly 'proper' way to say tired but I definitely do not class it as a swear word. It has no sexual connotations to us.

I’m from the north Midlands and I don’t understand why anyone would think it’s swearing. Also this thread is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say it’s related to sex!
If someone is looking particularly rough a common thing to say is “I’ll call the knacker man to come and collect you”.

Definitely not a swear word in my view born Surrey, childhood Kent..live in Yorkshire everyone I know uses it without afront. It just means tired or broken

Lancashire : Yes I'm sure I read that knackered meant 'sexually worn out' 🤭
Been at it all night etc.
Not sure where I came across that.
Growing up, I remember my older Sibling telling me off for saying it.

See also "crap" which I learned from the film 'Grease'

My relatives would use the term Bugger:
"Oh, you daft Bugger!"
I had no idea of it's real meaning until years later!

Why were such young children being told that knackered meant tired after sex? I didn’t even know what sex was until I was a teenager and I
certainly did not know that it made you knackered.

But I did know the term knackered - tired, exhausted.

In my, quite large, social group and with colleagues at work ‘shag’ is a term of endearment! ‘Heyup Shag’!

Similar age and location, never heard it associated with sex, just the knackers yard

Not even close to a swear word. For me swear words are swear words - go big or go home!

Knackered is either tired or a totally broken item ie chair leg falls off so it’s totally knackered.

Nowhere near a swear word. Bugger, a mild one. I remember a mum from DD’s school being horrified when she overheard her saying ‘damn it’ in a jolly way when losing a game. Not worth horror at age 10 I thought!

I think it was just a dumb teenager thing, I don’t think it’s universal!