Do you class knackered as swearing?

[DisappointedD]

I have always thought of it as a mild swear word. A word I wouldn’t want my younger children using but wouldn’t be too bothered by a teen (but not to their grandparents) type word.

There is a current radio ad using the word which made me think about it earlier. I was surprised when I heard it and didn’t think it was a word I’d heard used in ad’s before.

It really doesn’t seem to mean that to a majority of people.

I have never thought it was a swear word, vulgar or unpleasant it’s just an everyday word to me like shoe or door or bus.

Never saw it as a swear word but then English is not my first language so there’s that. Now that I think about it, I’ve only ever seen it used on mumsnet and not in real life.

To clarity, I am not in the slightest offended. I don’t have any issue with swearing at all. Was just surprised to hear it on the radio and the person I was with agreed with the majority here that it’s not a swear word.

"Knackers" meaning testicles, could be thought of as a mild swear word.

"Knackered" meaning worn out, as in fit for the knacker's yard (where a knacker, in this context, means a dealer in dead animals, someone who would dispose of horses in days gone by) is a colloquial expression rather than a swear word.

No it didn’t! It comes from the knacker’s yard, where old worm out horses are shot and turned into dog meat (historically).

Do some people think the word comes from testicles? 🤣

I think knackered isn't a swear word but it's vulgar and certainly shouldn't be used by children. I wouldn't use it in polite company. I'm in my sixties and understand it originally to mean exhausted as in after sex, so quite a rude word.

Bugger is definitely a swear word. Certainly not to be used by or in front of children. It's a horrible word, it means putting a penis in someone else's anus, so is pretty disgusting.

Sod is an abbreviation for sodomy, the same meaning as bugger, so again pretty rude. Children shouldn't be using it.

Crap/shit/turd are rude and children shouldn't hear or use.

I always think that any words you wouldn't use in a formal letter or essay type of thing or use in front of a class of children should be considered as rude.

My dad used to tell me off for saying it! I don't personally consider it a swear word but clearly some people do.

I seem to remember when I was a child there was a big fuss because Prince Charles said it, possibly after a polo match. I'd never heard it before so assumed it was a "bad" word but I use it all the time and don't think of it as a swear word.

That said. I wouldn't say it in a work meeting.

I use it. I associate it with the knackers yard i.e., I feel like a very old horse that needs to be made into glue at this point in the day.

My nearly 5 year old says Arse sometimes 🙈
That's probably worse 😂

Funny I don’t allow my children to use it and I always say because it’s a swear word. That only came about as when i was younger I said it in class and got into trouble. My parents gave me a lecture (I am 46) about its a word that people use after sex. So they don’t want me to say this as a young girl 🤣 I’d have been maybe 15 when I got into trouble from the teacher. It always stuck with me 🤣

I think it’s like crap, not really swearing but not for children or formal conversation.

It's informal, but not swearing. It means exhausted, or worn out through overwork. Like a horse fit only for the knacker's yard.

When I was about ten my friend told me it meant tired after sex and I've believed it ever since. I am an older British person 😂

From Wiktionary:
Usage notes
edit

• Formerly considered a rude word – possibly implying that the subject was exhausted from having sex, perhaps due to conflation with knackers^^(“testicles”) – and still considered offensive by some (primarily older British people).

I do say it - I’m northern and it does mean tired to me - but I’m aware it’s seen as uncouth elsewhere or in different times.

When I say I'm knackered I'm truly shattered. As in ready for the knackers yard.

Are you joking? A swear word to me is fuck, cunt, shit, motherfucker. I have never heard of the word knackered being referred to a swear word. But then again people consider dam to be a swear word as well, so who knows.

It used to mean tired from sex. It doesn’t have that connotation anymore. Very few people even know it once meant that. I don’t think it’s a swear word. It probably was 50 years ago.

I don’t like it and don’t use it or expect my dc to use it but wouldn’t consider it swearing.

I do love swearing though.

It was used to describe feeling really tired, now it is a slur against the travelling community so it isn’t socially acceptable, similarly to chav, yet people still use them frequently.
My mistake it isn’t the full word. 🥶 just the short version with a very different meaning.

Damn is definitely a swear word. It’s blasphemy traditionally

I file it under "not really swearing but not exactly a nice word". I wouldn't want my 7 yr old using it but I wouldn't blink if a teen did or I heard it in a work setting etc.

I was told not to say it as a child as I was told it meant tired after sex.

That said I was also told that twat meant a pregnant fairy.🤣😂

I really think this must be it. People who don’t know what the knacker’s yard is have misunderstood the expression as referring to post-sex exhaustion (although that is a pretty awkward linguistic stretch, tbh). And then because of general British prudishness and overexcitement, that misunderstanding has become established — not enough to overtake the original meaning, but enough to get little pockets of people all worked up about a completely innocent word.