I ask because I played a couple of rounds of tennis last Saturday with my girlfriend. Anyway, I hit one ball too hard and it went over the fence and into the wooded area by the court, where I knew we couldn't find it. The agony of losing a new tennis ball caused me to yell BUGGER at the top of my voice. My girlfriend told me not to shout swear words because their were kids near by. I told her that I thought bugger was not a swear word and it was fine to yell out. Anyway, we agreed to disagree, later she looked it up in the dictionary and showed me and the dictionary said it was a taboo word like C**t or F**K.

Anyway, I asked some people at work and they all agree, bugger is a swear word. I have been using this word in everyday conversation since I was like 5. Have I been swearing all this time?

Only time I ever hear people say is if that say something like, "Look at the little bugger" - and it is actually refering to a smaller person. The word alone doesn't seem bad at all.

until just now I didn't even know it was a word.  I can't recall ever hearing anyone say it.

I would only place it on par with " shit" , not so much as bad as cunt or fuck...

(funny by the way, cunt in dutch would be " kut" which would roughly translate to fuck aswell.)

Ow yeah this thread should come with a disclaimer.

If you don't know what the word means, perhaps you should find out before you use it in everyday speech.

Heres what wiki says

Bugger is a vulgar word used in vernacular British English, Irish English, Australian English, New Zealand English, South African English, Indian English, and occasionally also in Malaysian English. Today, the term is a general-purpose expletive, used to imply dissatisfaction (bugger, I've missed the bus [i.e. Darn it, I've missed the bus!], or used to describe someone whose behaviour is in some way displeasing (the bugger's given me the wrong change).

History

Etymologically, a "Bugger" was a "Bulgre" (French Bougre). Originally, it was derived from the French word "Bougge­rie" ("of Bulgaria"), meaning the medieval Bulgarian clerical sect of the Bogomils, which facing severe persecution in Bulgaria spread into Western Europe and was branded by the established church as particularly devoted to the practice of sodomy.^[1]

Today, the term is a general-purpose expletive, used to imply dissatisfaction (bugger, I've missed the bus [i.e. Darn it, I've missed the bus!], or used to describe someone whose behaviour is in some way displeasing (the bugger's given me the wrong change).

The word is also used amongst friends in an affectionate way (you old bugger) and is used as a noun in Welsh English vernacular to imply that one is very fond of something (I'm a bugger for Welsh cakes). It can also imply a negative tendency (He's a silly bugger for losing his keys) [i.e He's a fool for losing his keys often].

A colloquial phrase in the north of England (and often in New Zealand and Australia as well) to denote or faint surprise at an unexpected (or possibly unwanted) occurrence is "Bugger me, here's my bus".

In colloquial use it can also indicate the state of being tired, such as "I'm buggered."

I've always used it thinking it meant inconvenience or disatisfaction. I have used it in that way for years.

bugger is generally considered a swear word. It's fairly commonly used in Australia and we're generally fairly liberal when it comes to swearing on television but the "bugger" ads (which I believe were for Ford cars) could only be played after 9.30 due to foul language.

No. It's used in everyday speech in Cornwall.

It used to be fairly obscene, but not so much anymore. Like the Wiki article says, buggery used to refer to anal sex, the verb being to bugger, and the word for one doing it bugger. The act is considered only mildly kinky nowadays, but used to be a serious crime with major jail sentences and such.

I'm not a native speaker, and things like this are different in different countries, but I'd rate it somewhere near damn and shit in severity.