AIBU to think that 'bloody' isn't a proper swearword?

[HamsterToast]

Should you get in trouble for saying bloody at work or at school? Same as if you said f*ck or something?

Nope. I say it all the time and not intended as a wear word at all

Very mild swear

I love the idea of the pp who only swears "in emergencies"

It was seen as a swear word. I don’t think it is any more.

"By one theory, "Bloody" in this context is a contraction for "by our lady", essentially swearing by the Virgin Mary (Bloody in Wikipedia). Other similar oaths include "blimey" (God blind me) and "gadzooks" (by God's hooks (hands))"

This was what I and another poster above meant (and what my parents told me).
I certainly wouldn't use it anyway as I don't really swear ever. No need.

Whilst on what's rude and what's not, can I ask if it's really rude, in the north, to call another woman a cow? Down here, a friend might say 'cant believe you've done that again you silly cow' if I'd made a minor mistake. No big deal. My sister who lived in the north for many years insists that its an extremely offensive and insulting thing to say. Obviously is not a compliment but is it really so bad?

The “by our lady” derivation of bloody doesn’t make much sense to me. It’s used as an adjective. Shut the by your lady door doesn’t make sense? Neither does saying “bloody” as an exclamation?

I understood it came from "Christ's blood". This was later abbreviated to " 's blood" (see iago's first line in Othello) and then later to "bloody".

Wow I always thought it came from Bloody Mary. As in QE 1's sister who killed all the Protestants.

It's a mild swear in the UK. In Australia it's not a swear word at all!!

By our lady was a common mild oath prior to England losing Roman Catholicism. Discouraged from calling on RC iconography, it metamorphosed into bloody.

I live in the north and everyone uses it who I know.

But isn't bloody always teamed with - hell as in "bloody hell" which is pretty self-explanatory.

*Imagine you are giving a public talk in front of a crowd in a formal setting- a presentation at work say. Would the word be appropriate in the talk?

If not, it’s a swear, however mild*

Awful lot of words that fit this description that arent swear words!

I don’t think of bloody as a swear word - don’t think it’s remotely offensive and if it did once stand for ‘by our lady’ that is so far removed from how people use it as to be meaningless.

'Bloody' is way down on the offensive swear list but it's still a swear word. For me, it would go:

Arse,
Bloody,
Shit,
Fuck,
Twat,
Cunt.

Cunt is at the very top of offensiveness.

At the moment, going on explanations given BlackLambAndGreyFalcon Christ's blood metamorphosis seems way understandable or logic than the 'by our lady' metamorphosis because of discouragement.

How did it metamorph?

by our lady > b'lardy (particular accent; so will be time dependant) > bloody?

Oxford dictionary explanation is interesting:

^Origin
Mid 17th century: from bloody. The use of bloody to add emphasis to an expression is of uncertain origin, but is thought to have a connection with the ‘bloods’ (aristocratic rowdies) of the late 17th and early 18th centuries; hence the phrase bloody drunk (= as drunk as a blood) meant ‘very drunk indeed’. After the mid 18th century until quite recently bloody used as a swear word was regarded as unprintable, probably from the mistaken belief that it implied a blasphemous reference to the blood of Christ, or that the word was an alteration of ‘by Our Lady’; hence a widespread caution in using the term even in phrases, such as bloody battle, merely referring to bloodshed.^

Thanks stripy. I stand corrected. Thanks sneaky, I always suspected it was a lot less dire than she claimed.

It is a swear word but a bloody good one

[grin

It's a swear word in our house. Grandad often says it, as he doesn't consider it wrong. DS has taken great pleasure in telling him off over the years.

Depends. I took my year 3 class to the tower of London which of course included the bloody tower. They found it hilarious and very risky getting to say the name!

I was shocked when they used it several times in succession in Shrek 2. Not on for a cert U children's film IMO.

As a person who chooses not to use (what I consider to be) swear words, I have no problem saying bloody, but wouldn't use it in a formal situation

It's a swear word. Even if you don't know what it means, it's a swear word. I'm very careful about swearing as I absolutely cannot swear at work but my DS (6) must have heard me saying bloody.

He asked me for another go on a ride at the fair. I said no. He whinged, I said stop making a scene look the little babies are looking at you. He looked up at me, right in the eye and said "I'll say bloody".

it was hard not to laugh but he still didn't get another go, and he didn't say bloody.

It was also hard to explain why George Ezra gets to say it in Paradise.

Interested to know what it means?