The Great Knackered Debate (or I'm home from San Francisco)

I spent 2 months in England and have lived in Europe for 20 years (surrounded by Brit-speak) and I have never heard Kate's definition of knackered.

The American's Guide to Speaking British (http://www.effingpot.com/slang.shtml) defines knackered as follows:

Knackered -
The morning after twenty pints and the curry, you'd probably feel
knackered. Another way to describe it is to say you feel shagged.
Basically worn out, good for nothing, tired out, knackered.

So, I have to conclude, with Biddy, that Kate (the prim) Walker does indeed have a very dirty mind.

I do not have a dirty mind!

I have a very  very lively, lovely mind  and one that isn't even grubby.

But Miss Biddy is trying to dodge the issue . . I quote from the English-to-American Dicitonary:

 knackered adj very tired; beat. It has a slightly more dodgy meaning as it technically describes being exhausted after sex. You can get away with it in everyday conversation but bear in mind that everyone knows the true meaning too. The “knacker's yard” was once a place where old horses were converted into glue. Where the sexual connotations came from is anyone's guess.

and Wikipedia:

 A knacker is a person in the trade of  rendering animals that are unfit for human consumption, such as ]horses that can no longer work. This leads to the slang expression "knackered" meaning very tired, or "ready for the knacker’s yard", where old horses are slaughtered and made into dog food and glue. A knacker's yard or knackery is the place this takes place, as opposed to a slaughterhouse  where animals are slaughtered for human food. It can also be used to refer to tiredness after sexual intercourse.

 The Urban Dictionary also has some rather less polite definitions too,

 I rest my case.

Holly it was so lovely to see you. You really must come to England - and we won;t mind what you say or how you say it!

 And Rae I missed you too. It's been too long since I heard your unique laugh!

Kate who has only just arrived home after a 21 hour journey from SF and so is - a trifle fatigued herself!

Holly - I'd watch those signs and the pointing also.....they could get you in trouble as well.

On the whole 'knackered' debate, I agree that the original use of the word was as Kate said... HOWEVER it is now perfectly allowable to be used as to just mean tired. This was the way I used it when talking with the lovely Ms Jacobs. In fact until the great debate was started I hadn't heard 'knackered' being used in that way since I was a child. 

My dad, being from Liverpool and having a fine use of British slang, has always used it to mean 'tired' so I am merely a product of my upbringing!

The use of 'shagged' to mean tired is also allowed but personally I'd go with knackered.  

I have a very  very lively, lovely mind  and one that isn't even grubby.

Sure you do, Kate.  We believe you! Right ladies?

Hmm. This is fascinating. I remember when my boys found out what Ron Weasley meant when he mentioned "snogging." Lots of disgusted eye rolling that their man Ron was interested in chicks.

I love that in Erie, Pennsylvania there is someone cultivating a British lifestyle. That's such a lovely little concept to contemplate. I'll imagine Holly at the Whippy Dip excusing herself to go to the loo. 

My critique partner is British so I'll have to throw in a "knackered" and see what she thinks.

Ellen

and as we inherited lots of our things from the Motherland that is GB I say knackered a lot - but not in Kate's sense! We have a rhyming version actually which I say more often and that's:

'I'm cream crackered'

Congrats on the 25 pin Holly!

~Natalie

Oooo!  I've got 2, but this may be somewhat 'off color' to you, so I hope no one will be offended by the following:

I remember that in UK, s.t. meant sanitary towel (which is sanitary napkins here in US) .  I remember when I first came to the States, I asked my college roommate where I could go to buy s.t. & then had to further explain what I meant  ( that's almost thirty years ago ).

For the older Chinese generations (my great grandma time), during 'the time of the month' or 'periods', they would say to their husbands: "I am busy, my Eldest Auntie is visiting".  Then, in my teen years, almost every teens quote that grandma's sayings as a crude joke , when the girls were moody or didn't want to go out. That phrase is still being used/quoted nowadays.

Orchid

...while chortling to myself.  I'm learning British slang that I've not heard of before.  Holly, the 'Knackered' story is hilarious, written vividly enough that I can well imagine the scenario in my mind!  Love it!

What fun Holly. And Kate and Biddy, you're precious! Lol

As for the loo- my dad always told us he had to go see a man about a horse/dog. I remember at first I'd get excited that we were getting another dog, or even better- a horse! Until Mom finally explained it to me. As a child, I think that had to be one of the worst days of my life. So many promises broken. lol

Um- Rae- 'can't take the mick'? Translation, please.

Actually, Holly, I wouldn't be so confident about "chuffed".  Have you ever heard the expression "tighter than a gnat's chuff"?

Which I believe is very rude indeed.  

Wish I could have been there in SF! 

Hello, just entering the knackered debate, here in Australia knackered can mean the following: tired; tired after a hard days work; tired after hot sex; or to cut the testes off an animal such as a horse or calf. Hope this helps.

Nat

What's a Britishism for laughing so hard I'm going to wet my pants? Because that's what I'm doing right now.

Oh, I love you guys. The only trouble is that now, I'm missing you all way too much. Seriously... we all need to get cracking on that multimillionaire thing so we can all afford to meet up more often.

I'd forgotten about chuffed, over here it can also mean smoking marijuana, 'chuffing up a storm'      

we also have 'buggered' - can mean tired, but its foundations are in buggery, and 'friggin' is a word often used here in rural Queensland, its origin was from masturbation (sorry for the tech terms people), but it's used as an everyday word now, 20 years ago you didn't hear it much.  Ah well they say the language evolves with the society... that's not looking too healthy for the future really is it?

Oh my, you Americans say some things that make us Aussie cringe, because here they mean something totally different... for example:

Rooting - American for cheering/barracking

             - Australian for having sex

Fanny - American bottom

           - Australian vagina

Bum   - American hobbo

          - Aussie bottom/arse

oh the list goes on.....

Imagine: a group of English speaking people (who haven't attended Professors Holly Jacobs' & Kate Walker's & NatalieH's continue education classes blogs), and they are from UK, US & Australia, .... , talking, signing, ordering food, etc ...

Well, use your imagination!

she lives near Horsham in the south of Australia ... she was telling me how she had to take her dog in for the "big chop" and that he wasn't very happy about it  ... and then she elaborated by saying "you know to be denackered ... he has been itted"  .... I roared and told her about this blog and all the confusion over "knackered"  ... we had a great chuckle

btw, she agrees with Prof. Kate ... and said it's been so long she could barely remember how it felt to be "knackered" .... which lead into even more sputters and chokes