To say the word knackered around children?

[Kayano]

I'm at my mums for Sunday dinner. Big family event this week as extended family ill so have a house full of kids and mothers and fathers etc.

I'm 8 months pregnant and watching Cats with DNeice who is 6. She yawned then I did and I informed her I was knackered.

Cue my mother literally running in the room and saying that is inappropriate to use the word knackered around children and I need to speak properly before the baby is born!

Now if I had said I was bloody knackered I would understand but I didn't and when I asked she clarified that it was the word knackered she objected to!

We are Geordies and we say this word all the time so I am actually now very confused!

Who is BU?!

I agree with Sardine - it's a coarse phrase (and a great one :) ). There are plenty of situations in which I wouldn't use it.

I'm Irish too and to my mind the word knacker is used as a pejorative term for Travellers and the working class (so closer to chav than pikey).

It's really offensive to call a Traveller a knacker. Way worse than tinker.

I didn't think there was anything wrong with it, certainly no one I've come across has ever had a problem with it. Both my dds say knackered all the time, but then they both say crap too. Bad mummy alert.

In every day chat/talk (in Ireland) "Knackered" and "a Knacker" have two totally different meanings as others have said.

Knackered= tired (not offensive)
A Knacker= slang name for a traveller (offensive)

Yes, knackered means "shagged out" to me - so although it's not offensive, I wouldn't use it in a formal situation. Don't care if children say it, as long as they know it's not a polite word and use appropriately.

Ah well, you learn something new every day...

I too was told as a child that it wasn't polite and not to use it.

The reference to knackers yard illustrated by 'Black Beauty' was the reason given. I'm now generally wary of a using it to adults of my parents generation. They are in their early 60s.

Exhausted, Really tired or Pooped are good alternatives depending on the formality of the situation. Pooped (ghastly americanism) is rather hilariously deemed more acceptable by my Mother!

I use the word all the time - nothing wrong with it at all in my opinion but my nan (79) is a geordie and can't stand it. Tells me off all the time!!

It's not a very nice word.

If your mother doesn't like it then you shouldn't say it.

DH just asked me if I was KNACKERED and winked!!!

I was not with him when this convo happened so I think I have been outed of my MN username!!! He knows! Grr argh!

Grrrrr

Foaming and knackered!!!

Lol, we (me and DD age 6) say knackered, and crap, and arse, but she tells me off when I say shit, or the f-word

She did the whole 'whatever, loser' thing (with actions) to my mum the other day (in a jokey way, they were playing a game) and my mum tut tutted, and said she must have picked it up from school, when dd piped up,
'No, Mummy taught me!!!'
Seriously bad mum alert !

Maybe just dont say it in front of the older generation if they are offended by it but I have never known it to be offensive, my grandparents are not offended by it.

I have used knackered all my life to mean being tired, in all situations including business ones

I had absolutely no idea it was considered so rude. I am now retrospectively cringing even though I can't remember specifically who I have said it to. Bosses, in-laws, new acquaintances...Aaaagh. I thought it was at most a bit cheekily informal, like putting "Cheers" at the end of an email instead of "Best regards".

I also thought "jog on" was OK to say, because it was in an advert, but DH says it is sweary rude. And my mum got cross with me once (when I was about 28!) for saying someone looked "pissed off", which again I didn't think was swearing.

knacker = chav in parts of Ireland

or testicles

.. but chav said in a really venomous way IYKWIM

I got told off the one time I said it when I was little and thought it was on a par with swearing, but never, ever managed to ascertain why it was bad

This is from Collins English dictionary;

knackered (?næk?d Pronunciation for knackered )

Definitions;

adjective

(British, slang)
exhausted; tired out; worn out; no longer working, esp after long or hard use

Synonyms

View thesaurus entry;

= exhausted, worn out, tired out, drained, beat, done in, all in, buggered, debilitated, prostrated, enervated, ready to drop, dog-tired, zonked, dead tired, dead beat
= broken, not working, out of order, not functioning, done in, ruined, buggered, worn out, on the blink, on its last legs
knacker (?næk? Pronunciation for knacker ) (British)

Definitions;

noun

a person who buys up old horses for slaughter
a person who buys up old buildings and breaks them up for scrap
(usually plural) (slang) another word for testicle
(Irish, slang) a despicable person
verb
(transitive; usually passive) (slang) to exhaust; tire

Word Origin;

C16: probably from nacker saddler, probably of Scandinavian origin; compare Old Norse hnakkur saddle

Hope this helps alleviate any concerns that anyone has ??

I remembered using this word in y7 at school and my form tutor being horrified, to her it meant being really tired from too much sex!!!

I think everyone's got over the outrage, the thread is over 2 years old.

I do not like the word knackered at all, wouldn't use it in front of a child and would hate to hear a child say it. I am in my mid-30s.

So it is wiggles. Oops.

I also thought it was tired from sex! :)

Ah read the whole thing before I realized it was a zombie thread!

I always used it meaning tired but have stopped now as as I work with some Irish travellers and would hate to hurt their feelings.

Tinker is not the same as knacker. Knacker is very derogatory, whereas tinker is just someone who mends tin items.

My mum still tells me off if I say the word knackered!

And yes, she thinks it means tired from too much sex.