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.

news to me too.

Always thought it described just being so tired out that you were only fit for the knackers yard. One of our teachers used to say "Would you say that to The Queen?" Probably not as she was very fond of horses.

"I'm cream crackered Ma'am." would probably be acceptable I guess.

Never heard that. I've always known it to be rude in a mild way and to come from the knacker ie the person/ industry which kills and repurposes old useless animals.
Learned it from Animal Farm when Boxer (RIP Boxer) is taken away in the knackers van and sold for glue to buy whiskey for the pigs. #spoiler 😂

I love the way people are posting up definitions off the Internet as if that is somehow more authoritative than actual people who've spoken the language all their lives.

Knackered, as has been said, is from knacker’s yard where old and worn out horses were sent before going off for pet food and the glue factory. It has nothing to do with sex, I have no clue where that weird idea must have come from.
This all reminds me of my rather religious BIL and his wife, very down on swearing but will happily use ‘blimey’, ‘crikey’ and other oldskool exclamations without seemingly realising their blasphemous origins but won’t tolerate the robust, but once upon a time perfectly acceptable in polite company, Anglo Saxon and Middle English that’s evolved into many of our current swear words, and no, I haven’t told them because it amuses me.
I do wish people would look into the etymological roots of words before they get their knickers in a knot about them, though.

Yes, knackered has nothing to do with sex and never did. It relates to knacker’s yard.

@DuckbilledSplatterPuff “I'm cream crackered….”, my SIL actually says this to me when he pops in for a cup of tea after a hard days work.

He considers me a bit prim, but I do like a bit of the cockney rhyming!

When I was younger it was commonly accepted to mean tired from having sex. I don’t think it’s a swear word, but I wouldn’t want my kids using it for this reason - though I don’t think that meaning is widespread!

I actually feel in my heart 😄 that it’s a moderate swear word, but I know that not everyone does.

I always feel a bit shocked when I hear it. I wouldn’t want my teen to use it.

You’d hate my house 😆

When i was growing up it was considered rude rather than swearing. I don't like hearing children say it.
I was surprised to hear Starmer saying it today and saying the country was screwed by the torys. Came across as uncouth and like a child that had just discovered the word fuck.

It’s funny isn’t it. We attach different meanings to words based on our lived experience. I’m in my 30s in the south and it was definitely considered rude growing up. But other words mentioned on this thread are just used in everyday language.

I’ve lived down south my entire life and it’s never been a swear word where I am

That doesn't make it a swear word though

Yeah I used to get told off for saying it.

This was a primary school rumour!

No it's not a swear word and I wouldn't care about a child saying it.

Wow ive been using this my whole life and never knew this 😬

No it's not it's slang but not a swear word. Swear words are offensive I would say I'm knackered around DC than I'm fucked.

I worked alongside a nun who frequently used it . I’m sure she’d never heard that it meant tired after sex and I’d never heard of that connotation till this thread 🤷‍♀️

I was told off at uni for using knackered, due to the apparent sex connotations. My husband also told me off for saying crud (as a noun), don't know why.

I still use both words.

It has nothing to do with sex, I have no clue where that weird idea must have come from.

Etymology is one way of exploring language, but so is usage.

If a number of people tell you that they use/have used/have heard the use of knackered to mean "tired after sex", then the fact you don't know the origin of that meaning is irrelevant.

It does mean "tired after sex" if some people understand that meaning. That's all language is

If he were using proper CRS (where you drop the rhyming bit eg "have a butcher's" for butchers hook/look) he might say "I'm creamed" but... I can see why he doesn't😂

It specifically came from taking worn out horses to the knackers, so your meaning is only one that’s arisen and not the main one. Thats like saying smoking a cigarette means you just had sex. Knackered isn’t a swear word.

I used to think the word Berk just meant the same as silly idiot but not as offensive, until I was told that it's the short form of Berkshire Hunt.

It’s got bugger all to do with sex. A lame/ old horse is knackered/ sent to the knackers yard and that’s where it came from.

We got told off for saying it for the same reason we got told off for saying ‘naw’ or ‘wit’ instead of ‘no’ or ‘what’ as kids - it’s just not proper English. I think that generally isn’t considered to be such an issue by so many people now

Half a dozen people on here have proven you wrong on this thread