Some say it may be derived from the phrase "by Our Lady", a sacrilegious invocation of the Virgin Mary. The abbreviated form "By'r Lady" is common in Shakespeare's plays around the turn of the 17th century, and interestingly Jonathan Swift about 100 years later writes both "it grows by'r Lady cold" and "it was bloody hot walking to-day" [1] suggesting that a transition from one to the other could have been under way. Others regard this explanation as dubious. Eric Partridge, in Words, Words, Words (Methuen, 1933), describes this as "phonetically implausible". Geoffrey Hughes in Swearing: A social history of foul language, oaths and profanity in English (Blackwell, 1991), points out that "by my lady" is not an adjective whereas "bloody" is, and suggests that the slang use of the term started with "bloody drunk" meaning "fired up and ready for a fight".
Another theory is that it simply comes from a reference to blood, a view that Partridge prefers. However, this overlooks the considerable strength of social and religious pressure in past centuries to avoid profanity. This resulted in the appearance of words that in some cases appear to bear little relation to their source: "Gee" for "Jesus"; "Heck" for "Hell"; "Gosh" for "God"; "dash", "dang" or "darn" for "damn"; "sprinkles" or "shoot" for "sh!t"; "fick" or "fiddlesticks" for "f@ck"; "witch" for "bitch"; "ninja" for "n@gger". These, too, might be considered implausible etymologies if looked at only from the point of view of phonetics. Given the context in which it is used, as well as the evidence of Swift's writing, the possibility that "bloody" is also a minced oath cannot be lightly dismissed. The suggestion that it originated as a reference to Jesus "bleeding" on the cross is compelling for it's shock value, callousness and sacriligeous intent.
Although in the 1600s the word appeared to be relatively innocuous, after about 1750 the word assumed more profane connotations in the UK and Commonwealth. The use of bloody in adult UK broadcasting aroused controversy in the 1960s and 1970s but is now unremarkable (as can be seen by the fact that in the Harry Potter movies, which are geared toward children, the character Ron says "bloody hell" many times in all four movies).
The origins of the United Kingdom's objection to "bloody" may be in part due to the connotations of Bloody Mary, most commonly referring to a particularly divisive queen of England notorious for her violent suppression of anti-Catholic views.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody
"This bloody town's a bloody cuss
No bloody trains, no bloody bus
And no one thinks of bloody us
In bloody Orkney.
The bloody folk are bloody mad
The bloody roads are bloody bad
Good night the bright is bloody sad
In bloody Orkney.
Oh bloody crows, Oh bloody rain
No bloody kerbs, no bloody drains
The council's got no bloody brains
In bloody Orkney.
The bloody things are bloody dear
A bloody bob for a bloody beer
And is it good? No bloody fear
In bloody Orkney.
The bloody dances make you smile
The bloody bands are bloody vile
It only cramps your bloody style
In bloody Orkney.
The bloody flicks are bloody old
The bloody seats are bloody cold,
You can't get in for bloody gold
In bloody Orkney.
No bloody fun, no bloody games
No bloody times. The bloody dames
Won't even give their bloody names
In bloody Orkney.
There's nothing greets your bloody eye
But bloody sea and bloody sky
Roll on the mob! we bloody cry
In bloody Orkney."
Originally posted by ark13Bloody is a great word. Very bloody expressive.
It's not as if what they're describing actually is bloody. And I don't really think being called "bloody awful" is any worse than being called "awful." Since it's not an insult, nor does it help in descriptions, what is the point? I suppose it's a synonym of the word "really" or "very."
Regardless, I can see it causing some trouble.
Let's set the ...[text shortened]... murder, more innocent people could be killed before the night ends.
I prefer it to the American equivalent:
'like'.
e.g. {assume whiny nasal tone} 'Very, like, ex-per-ess-sive, and stuff, or something' {complement with rising intonation towards end of sentence}.
Bloody gets there quicker, and is bloody less annoying. 😉
Originally posted by sjegLike you don't know what you're talking about.
Bloody is a great word. Very bloody expressive.
I prefer it to the American equivalent:
'like'.
e.g. {assume whiny nasal tone} 'Very, like, ex-per-ess-sive, and stuff, or something' {complement with rising intonation towards end of sentence}.
Bloody gets there quicker, and is bloody less annoying. 😉
Bloody you don't know what you're talkin' 'bout.
That doesn't work.
The American equivalent would get you modded.
Originally posted by MixoSpot on.
It doesn't help when TV shows in the US have characters trying English accents who just speak like cockneys did 100 years ago.
Whenever I see American shows😞 like this, I can never understand a word of the so-called "English" characters. Yankees believe we talk with a mouthful of marbles.
Originally posted by MixoWorse -- in many movies, all foreigners speak with a British accent no matter where they're from. If the characters are supposed to be German or Russian or Norwegian, why do they have a British accent?????
It doesn't help when TV shows in the US have characters trying English accents who just speak like cockneys did 100 years ago. Presumably Brits talking American sound fake too? How does "House" (Hugh Laurie) sound to the home audience?