To believe we can retire the word "shagging"?

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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?

Exactly the same with boffing to many of us!

If you boffed or pumped in front of your intended before the act, that could indeed be the deal-breaker that meant it would not transpire at all

Argh, that would have me running for the hills 😂.

Cringe 🙉

Having a rumble or a tumble? Or does the latter bring unhelpful images of CBeebies to mind and kill the mood?

So what term would you use?

I’ve never liked the word shagging, I tend to stick with doing it.

'Let Mrs Tiggywinkle consort with Jeremy Fisher' is a mature, simple, factual description.

Well yes of course it was. He was the ‘swinging 60s’ spy who found himself unfrozen in the more staid late 90s.

apparently its etymology is older, deriving from Middle English ‘shag’ meaning shake or waggle.😂

https://www.etymonline.com/word/shag

That’s never going to work. Poor Mr Fisher!
(how do hedgehogs mate? …. Consensually)

🤣🤣

🤣

Sorry, there just isn't an adequate replacement. Shagging has to stay.
Making love is just vomitous, fucking is way harsh, but occasionally very suitable and bumping uglies is comical.
I also like the Britpop sound to shagging, although I have a juvenile snicker at shag pile carpets.

Depends on the context.

I wouldn’t say ‘shagging’ in any actual bedroom situation. I’d just call it fucking.

Neither would I say it in a serious conversation about the subject of sex. I’d just say ‘having sex’.

In an irreverent / flippant / sarcastic / jokey conversation, I’d probably use the word shagging.

The terms that really, really make me cringe are ‘lovemaking’ and ‘intimacy’ - eg when someone on Mumsnet says something “My DH said something insensitive during intimacy last night” or “I stayed over on Tuesday night but we weren’t intimate”. It sounds so coy and euphemistic and prissy.

I'm a 'have it off' sort of person as in the old and silly-but-funny sitcom'The High Life' where they suggested the following entry for the Eurovision song contest.
Pif paf pof, my heart goes pif paf pof,
Pif paf pof, I want to have it off,
Pif paf pof, my heart goes pif paf pof
I want to have it off til I cough.

@tartyflette I still have that song from The High Life stuck in my head on a regular basis despite it being decades since I saw it 🤣

Also due to The High Life, if I hear anyone say “Can I be blunt?” I always immediately think “If I can be Philby, and he can be Burgess”

What is actually wrong with it? so its dated, and?

I don't use any "term" for it, because I'm never referring to it in casual conversation.

That doesn't make me a prude - FAR from it, I have a very healthy approach to the subject and the activity - but since when am I constantly referring to the sexual act?

No. Doesn't happen.

So yeah, good luck to everyone who is constantly chatting about "shagging", sounds great, but I don't really get the conversations you lot have, and why.

I don't know why people are linking it to the 90s. It was a word bandied about a lot when I was at school, late 60s early 70s. As far as its history goes, it's an ancient word and has been in use for centuries. Not a pretty word but it has staying power.

I think Austin Powers gave it a bit of a resurgence, although it obviously wasn't set in the 90s.

I utterly detest the word and all words pertaining to it, because I just think of it as a way of describing what dogs do and can’t get that picture out of my head.

I am a bit Jane Austen though!

Samuel Pepys used the word "towsing" (or tousing, spellings were approximate then as now) where we'd say "shagging" He toused a lot, did Sam, all over the shop.

He also said "pleasure" but I got very annoyed when he "pleasured" a maid when it was obvious he raped the poor girl. It was his pleasure to lie to himself, I guess 😡

Otherwise, he euphemised very liberally in a mixture of French and English with a bit of Latin thrown in. He sometimes "occupied" a woman. He was a right creep!

On reflection, I don't think towse is any better than shag. I merely offer it as an alternative of attested historical authenticity.

A good rogering.

For @JacquesHarlow: I have, at least once but I hope more often, told a friend I went for a shag and got a transcendental experience 😊 This may come closer to your requirements, but I truly can't imagine telling anyone I fancy a transcendental sexual experience! It's a bit ... much, don't you think?

Oh lord no, that's wrong on too many levels. My Dad is called Roger.

There's quite a bit of space between 'never' and 'constantly', and I expect that's the space most people inhabit.

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.