Is this a swear word?

[phi40]

Is fanny a swear word in the UK? I said to me kids yesterday, stop fannying around and get on with,...blah blah And they were HORRIFIED that I had said a swear word. Help! I have definitely said that phrase in the office in the past.

Crab clapping, now what on earth is that?!!

"Stop fannying around" has been used for years, at least a century and has no sexual/genital connotations at all. It's a perfectly acceptable term amongst older people.

I would say that "fanny" was rude and NSFW but "fannying around" is fine. I accept that that is completely illogical.

Re 'crab' and 'clapping' I assume they just mean crap? Sounds like the sort of round about way my kids would say it.

I just want to know the crabs answer

I use fannying around to mean messing about.
Never thought about it being a swear word

Me too bronze

I also want to know what crab clapping is - luckily never said THAT in the office.

As I wouldn't say bollocks (another glorious English swear word IMO) in the office, I'll cease and desist from saying fannying.

Please don't OP! Go and say it to an octogenarian - they'll know what you mean. :)

As you're forrin and all that , this might amuse and guide you - www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml

C'mon, c'mon, what's crab clapping?

I don't like it, but tha tis because one of my friends uses it as an add on to my first name - it rhymes.....

I wouldn't want the children to say it - I think it means vagina. So - not really suitable. May as well say something to do with cocks? Dunno?

The Fanny Pack thing makes me larrfff tho!

Maybe this depends a bit on how visually you think. As a word fannying may not have a lot to do with fannies - don't know its origin - but it may conjure a related image. To me it looks more like fanning, so lots of flapping of hands.

Similarly I overheard a group of teenage girls in a cafe discussing whether frigging was a swear word and had to restrain myself momentarily from leaning across and saying 'never mind the categorisation, do you know what it means? Is that an image you want people to associate with you?'

WenTheEternallySurprised - thank you for the link - and guess what I found..

Faff - To faff is to dither or to fanny around. If we procrastinated when getting ready for bed, as kids, our Dad use tell us we were faffing around.

So poop and bollocks to my DS because 'fannying is NOT a swear word!

:o

where would you stands on the term " fart-arseing around" ?

Fannying is fine imo, fanny is a bit yeurgh!

My girls have a habit of saying "oh Sugar Honey Iced Tea" and then dissolving into giggles because Mummy doesnt know they are swearing (DD is 10 and a bad influence on her 7 year old sister!). I let it go in the desperate hope that they dont catch on to "see you next Tuesday" :o

Oh and I first heard the US version of fanny in a Sue Grafton book. She was describing a man who had interesting sexual preferences. She didnt like imagining him "having his fanny spanked" I was for quite a while because of the picture it put in my head :o

I use Fart-Arsing too!

Teenagers are so judgmental of their old fart parents! Aah for the days when I was cool. Mine would fall on the floor laughing to think I was ever cool but I was I tell you i was. Sadly the old photos don't help - but poodle perms were the thing!!

I use that too bogey

It used to be a swear word now its a not to polite word i dont like it wont let my kids say it and i dont use . although my favourtie swearword is FUD its the scottish fanny

I'm maybe really naive, but what is 'see you next Tuesday'?

oh, oh, oh, I've just worked it out!

My grandmother was very keen on the expression "stop fannying around". Since she was a woman almost entirely in denial about the existence of her own vagina and rarely tested its capabilities, she'd never have associated "fanny" with the place Unsuitable to Refer To.

I'm always amused that such a thing as a fanny pack exists in the US. Especially transatlantic piano legs are covered at the mere mention of having a fag.

This reminds me of a few years ago when I was on an archaeological dig. We were a mixed bunch of English and Americans. One of the American women made it clear that she was quite upset about our casual use of words like bloody and bugger.
Imagine our hilarity when she turned up one morning asking if she could take photos of our fannies for a collage of photos she was making.

I'm maybe really naive, but what is 'see you next Tuesday'?

C (see)
U (you)
N (next)

the day after Monday.

Fanny Craddock, Sweet Fanny Adams...