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.

If that were true wouldn't it be pronounced differently? Bark as in Berkshire, rather than berk?

Where abouts are you from??
As a Geordie knackered is part of my daily vocabulary. Patients often come to me and say ‘Eeee I’m knackered!’ 🤣

I don't class it as swearing but my gran certainly did!

What!! I have never ever heard of it being even mildly offensive!

I know I say it at work all of the time and I said it in a recent interview and probably other interviews, doctors appointments etc.

I would never think anything of children saying it.

Turd and bugger I wouldn’t say in professional settings/want kids to say it.

Berkeley Hunt, I thought... not sure if that's pronounced Berk-ley or Bark-ley, though, so your point may still stand...

Yes, you would... but I'm pretty sure its the sort of thing Ronnie Barker used to say in sitcoms and pronounced it Berk.

just googled and apparently it could be the Berkeley Hunt, the oldest hunt in England. 😂

Yes and I think this is where the "tired after sex" meaning/variation came in. I'm from Kent though and definitely in the 80s that meaning was banded about. More explicitly referred to a man emptying his knackers i.e. ejaculating, hence tired after sex.

That seems to have died out now and my kids think of that word as mild slang for tired. We did explain the 80s meaning to our eldest once and he just looked appalled.

Vulgar, sexual connotations, either castration, specifically agricultural, or post coital fatigue.

Along with bollocks absolutely on the forbidden list in my northern rural 1960s childhood.

Not ‘swearing’ but vulgar. Not what PLU say.

I now use both. A bit. But try to judge situation, maybe not to my grandchildren or the vicar

Yeah, it's a slur against Irish travellers in Ireland, or Dublin at least.

Was a hugely common slur when I was growing up in dublin in the 90s, don't hear it used much in that context anymore. Perhaps as Irish people have become ever so slightly less bigoted against the travelling community.

But I would still use it often just to mean I'm tired.

I was told of for using it at a child (ie 50 years ago) but I think now that it was because it was considered vulgar/lower class, rather than because it was crude or swearing. It’s commonly used now.

Also a lot of patients say ‘I’m ready for the knackers yard’

its got nothing to do with sex here in Gateshead/Newcastle. Thats a brand new thing I’ve just learned 1 min ago……and think ‘hadaway and shite to that!’ 🤣

Swear words usually relate to something rude. I can’t think of any swear word examples where their main meaning is some like being tired.

I only learnt of the origin of the word a few weeks ago so it’s interesting that it came up here as I’d never heard of a Knacker’s yard before. It was a podcast about Jack the Ripper. There was a knacker’s yard near the murder sites and one theory is he worked there.

My mum always told me it was a bit rude. Not sure why though. I don’t think it is.

He does actually! OMG, he is full of it! He does it because he does like to hear his MIL LOL!

I was told the same. I’m in my mid-40s in the South, maybe it’s a regional thing?

No 🤣

Yes in the sense that I would not like to hear my child saying it. That said, while I would pick my kids up on it, I wouldn't be clamping down too hard. I would put words like arse and bloody in the same category.

I would consider them quite mild from an adult though. There are definitely other words that are worse.

Not a swear word as such but a bit vulgar? So not polite language for a kid to use

It probably depends of the posh ness of your accent maybe?😂

It means tired after sex, I remember teachers being horrified when someone in primary school (1980s) said it. Over the years though it’s just commonly used for tired / exhausted.

I was also told as a child that it meant tired after sex. We were not allowed to say it.

Also bollocks down south (UK), possibly from the term gubernaculum. Knackered similarly used for tired or decrepit, though not specifically after sex (and I'm old enough to remember knackers yards). Both slang, vulgar or coarse language, not polite enough for formal settings.

Knackered no!
Fucking knackered yes !

Tried? Not a swear word.

I don't consider it swearing but when my 5 year old son's friend started saying it all the time I didn't really like it. It's an adult word IMO but I don't really know why I think that.