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.

No, I was an adult when I learnt that some people think it means ‘tired from sex’ 🤢

My friend uses ‘shagged’ to mean tired….. now that’s worse, surely.

My parents would have told me off for saying it. (See also ‘bloody’- my brother once had his mouth washed with soap for saying that!) But these days it seems very mild to me. I wouldn’t class it as polite and wouldn’t use it in a formal setting, but not really swearing in my eyes.

I'm old. Knackered to me always meant you were ready for the knacker's yard (where old horses went) because you were so tired. I never saw it as a swear word until one day someone pulled my up for saying it in front of the vicar. I asked why, he said "it's rude" I said, quite genuinely innocently, "no it's not, it means I'm ready for the knacker's yard" ... the convo stopped there...

Wow, bloody! I never understood why that was bad - it was explained to me that it’s short for ‘by our lady’, but why is that offensive…. some form of blasphemy I’m sure!

I remember my Nan giving me a massive telling off for using this as a kid. I never understood why it was a bad thing to say.

I’m 45 and from the Midlands.

It's the only time I have been told off by my mum for swearing - I said it when I was about 12 and never ever swore in front of my mum again. I'm now nearly 47 🤣

I've never heard of knackered as a swear word. And definitely not turd. Although saying that I grew up with kids being called, buggerluggs/ it was a term for a cheeky or mischievous child.

When I was younger my Aunt scolded me for saying it... I only used it as I'm tired!

Now as a non swearer, I have been known to use the word bloody (and don’t consider it
in the category of profane), when I am really angry, but have been censored by my 14 year old DGD; huge gasp “grandma you just said a bad word”.

No

A five year old child at the school I work at said motherfucker today. I could not get worked up about anyone saying knackered 🤣

I was a kids in the 1980s - it meant tired from sex. We weren’t allowed to say it.

I don’t think it means that any more but I wouldn’t say it in formal settings because of this connotation.

Mid 40s, North West England, and was taught it meant, as my mother put it 'sexually exhausted'. Followed by 'I don't care if you use it at school, but not in my house thank you very much!'. I have a vivid memory of my mum ironing as she told me off.

My grandparents wouldnt have like me using it.
Generally it means tired/exhausted but i was told when i was younger it meant being tired through having sex! Not sure if this is true origin or not but its why it was a bit frowned upon saying it when i was younger.
However havent heard anyone make that connection for a while so.i wouldnt say its a swear word just a slang word for tired.

I think it was just a dumb teenager thing, I don’t think it’s universal!

Nowhere near a swear word. Bugger, a mild one. I remember a mum from DD’s school being horrified when she overheard her saying ‘damn it’ in a jolly way when losing a game. Not worth horror at age 10 I thought!

Not even close to a swear word. For me swear words are swear words - go big or go home!

Knackered is either tired or a totally broken item ie chair leg falls off so it’s totally knackered.

Similar age and location, never heard it associated with sex, just the knackers yard

In my, quite large, social group and with colleagues at work ‘shag’ is a term of endearment! ‘Heyup Shag’!

Why were such young children being told that knackered meant tired after sex? I didn’t even know what sex was until I was a teenager and I
certainly did not know that it made you knackered.

But I did know the term knackered - tired, exhausted.

Lancashire : Yes I'm sure I read that knackered meant 'sexually worn out' 🤭
Been at it all night etc.
Not sure where I came across that.
Growing up, I remember my older Sibling telling me off for saying it.

See also "crap" which I learned from the film 'Grease'

My relatives would use the term Bugger:
"Oh, you daft Bugger!"
I had no idea of it's real meaning until years later!

Definitely not a swear word in my view born Surrey, childhood Kent..live in Yorkshire everyone I know uses it without afront. It just means tired or broken

I’m from the north Midlands and I don’t understand why anyone would think it’s swearing. Also this thread is the first time I’ve ever heard anyone say it’s related to sex!
If someone is looking particularly rough a common thing to say is “I’ll call the knacker man to come and collect you”.

The knackers yard was where working horses were sent at end of working life to be slaughtered I believe. I definitely wouldn't say it is a terribly 'proper' way to say tired but I definitely do not class it as a swear word. It has no sexual connotations to us.

I'm late 60s and hadn't heard of the "tired after sex" interpretation until this thread. Nor of the association with the travelling community.

I wouldn't say it was a swear, exactly. It just.had a flavour of being slightly unpleasant because of the association with horses being slaughtered, but I suspect a lot of people don't know about that now.

One thing threads like this flag up to me is: unless you have positive evidence, don't assume that someone is saying something with intent to offend, nor that they "ought to have known" that a word or phrase is offensive. Because so often usage and knowledge of meanings is locally varied or varies over time