At 02:06 AM 5/10/2006, John Francis wrote: >On Wed, Oct 04, 2006 at 11:52:20AM +0100, Godfrey DiGiorgi wrote: > > I don't know what the issue is other than prudishness. > > > > To bugger someone means to have anal intercourse with them. Seems to > > be this parlance that is more British English than American English, > >Quite. I'm often amused when a TV character with a British accent >(such as Spike, in "Buffy the Vampire Slayer") says "Bugger off", >or the like - it appears to be a loophole in the great American >puritanical broadcast TV vocabulary rules. > >. . . > > > I was curious so I looked up the word in the OED: > > ---- > > bugger > . . . > > penetrate the anus of (someone) during sexual intercourse; sodomize. > >Note, too, the difference in meaning of "sodomize". In British >English sodomy is pretty much synonomous with buggery; in American >usage it means just about any variation on sexual activity apart >from the most rudimentary forms. Oral sex, for example, is often >described as sodomy (especially in American news reporting).
So calling someone a "miserable sod", for example, is the same as calling them a "miserable bugger". I hadn't given the word "sod" much thought until now. Dave -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
