A linguistic question for our British contingent...

[picker]

In reading books with British characters, and songs and movies and such, I have come across the phrases "sod it","you poor old sod", and "this sodding(fill in the blank) and I am curious what it means exactly. From context, I get the impression that "sod it" means "forget it" or even "screw it" or "f--k it". Over here, "sod" is dirt with grass growing in it. What does it mean over there?

[Guitarzan]

up here in Canada if we want to say F--k it we say "F@CK IT!". not that we would say that , we are too polite

[Funk Jazz]

www.m-w.com says

 

Main Entry: 3 sod

Function: noun

Etymology: short for sodomite

 

chiefly British : BUGGER

[The Geoff]

Damn - another double post.

[The Geoff]

The Collins Shorter English Dictionary sort of agrees with that:

 

Sod - a person considered to be obnoxious - a jocular word for a person - 'sod all' nothing at all - a strong exclamation of annoyance (shortened SODOMITE).

 

I think it's fair to say it's interchangeable with f*** in some contexts.

 

Geoff

[musicalhair]

Wow, that's interesting. Thanks for asking this, Picker. And thanks for the answers guys.

[Phillydor]

I may be a mere colonial, but here in Oz most slang from the UK is still used. Sod off is a polite way to say F@#* off, and few users would be aware of any connection with sodomy.(I always assumed it came from cockney rhyming slang) Same with bugger off, it's acceptable to say it, but it depends HOW you say it. Someone can be referred to as an 'old bugger' without causing any insult, again it depends how you say it. Ditto calling someone a bastard.

I looked up the etymology of

'geezer' a while back, because Americans use it in a different way to the Poms...sorry...Brits. Americans mean someone old, and to the rest of us, a bloke is a geezer whether he's young or old. I found out that it has been in America almost from the beginning, and simply followed a different path than the same word in England, so both interpretations are valid.