Wednesday, 7 July 2021
Bugs Context
Today, I toy with how immigrants and bugs in Australia have transmuted a word initially thought of as rude into something less insidious.
Many, many years ago, when I was about 22 and an office secretary, I worked beneath the Sydney Harbour Bridge for a company in an office on the fourth floor. It was summer, it was hot, and the lift (elevator) was out of order.
One of my jobs was to put a note on the lift doors on the ground floor to let staff know they would need to use the stairs. The business I worked for received many courier deliveries, and it was expecting the stationery order.
The sign I put up said in large print, “Welcome to work! The lift is out of order, so you’ll need to use the stairs.” In small print, I added, and I intended to let couriers know we understood their plight, “If it will make you feel better, be glad you’re not the poor bugger who has to make deliveries to us.”.
When the admin head, Marge, arrived and saw the note, she kindly asked me to reword it to exclude the word bugger. A little shocked to be asked to remove, to my mind, a harmless and frequently used term. After all, a TV ad had a dog use it (the word forced the ad’s removal). Marge explained the technical meaning, and it mortified me because it certainly wasn’t my intention to use it like that!
Over the years, I’ve often thought about that incident when the word arose in everyday conversation by others. Again, if I mentioned to them what it meant – they too were horrified. This disconnect between what we thought we were saying to what we were meaning kept my thoughts going.
The Dawning of Bugs
It wasn’t until my trip through southeast Africa that I stumbled across how Australians might interpret the word. On the Africa trip were a couple of Danes. By the way, Danes or Scandinavians always seem to be my trips. As we headed off for the day, the truck had a flat tyre in the early morning. One of the Dane’s made an innocent comment that it was the first “punctuation” we’d had on the trip.
The native English speakers, looking at the flat tyre, got the meaning and context of the word ‘punctuation’. It was also the incorrect word. It made sense even if it wasn’t the word puncture. However, if the Dane’s used punctuation out of context to describe a flat tyre, it might leave the recipient scratching their head.
Africa, like Australia, is not without its flies, bugs or bees. Once we fixed the puncture, we all assumed our seats; a couple of us took a turn in the ‘dog box’ and drove until lunch. After lunch, I sat in the back of the truck, and unluckily for the Danes, they chose the dog box. Don’t get me wrong, the dog box is fantastic, but it was unlucky because the truck had driven through a swarm of bees, and they got stung. To this, one of the Dane’s commented they didn’t like being ‘buggered’, meaning having been attacked by bugs. Everyone laughed, but for me, the penny dropped as to how Australians might have adopted the term.
Adoption of Bugger for Bugs
Australians are used to a variety of insects, in particular flies. Flies come in all sorts of types; according to the CSIRO, about 400 species of the March fly exist in Australia! They’re also known as horse flies. Not to mention the blue house fly or bluebottle fly. A phrase you might hear uttered by an Australian is, “I was running around like a blue house fly” (which translates to fast and all over the place).
Australia is also home to immigrants who aren’t from English speaking backgrounds, and the use of the word ‘bugger’ and bugs are a logical association. Hence, I think this is how it became part of the Australian vernacular.
It also explains why I didn’t find it offensive, having parents with strong European accents who used the word all the time. Possibly from some of the outback trips, we’d taken as children.
The majority of Australians wouldn’t know why they use it and would be upset if you mentioned its source word. You see, it seems like a made-up word, and it makes sense in Australia to apply it to the constant onslaught of pesky critters.
Bugger, its Forms, and Possible Uses
Following are derivatives of the word bugger and how I think their origins began with bugs or flies:
Buggered off – slang short for ‘couldn’t be bothered giving it any attention, so just kept moving’. Every time someone does an Australian salute – a quick wave of the hand to shoo flies – and the flies leave you alone, the flies have “buggered off”. If you go somewhere and don’t care for the place and leave, you’ve buggered off.
Buggered equals exhausted. It applies when a person in Australia says they’re “buggered”. Simply it means, they’re “exhausted from fighting”, and what’s unsaid, “off flies, insects or pests. If you come home from a long day at work, or you’ve been as busy as a blue house fly, you’d be correct in saying you were buggered. It has become synonymous with exhaustion.
Bugger! Massive frustration, and again, if you apply it to the number of flies or bugs around. The word is an accurate reflection of the mounting frustration that finally cracks your self-control.
If something’s a bugger, it’s because it’s annoying, like a fly constantly buzzing around you. A phrase like, “well, that’s a bugger, isn’t it” translates to “well that’s annoying, isn’t it”.
Oh, bugger! Like “oh, shit!” are sometimes expressed instead of the “shit” word to avoid swearing. This word replacement also makes sense if you’re referring to flies that fly about, and or you happen to swallow a fly!
So, getting back to my story with Marge and how I referred to the delivery drivers and the couriers as “poor buggers”. Quite simply, their job, by nature and necessity, is to interrupt your daily flow, which is annoying. So, they are people who “bug” you like bugs do, aka annoy you.
Bugs with Cuteness
Sometimes you could hear bugger used with gruff affection, like, “he’s a cute little bugger”, or “come here you rascally bugger”, or “he’s a cheeky bugger”. Usually, the gruff affectionate form will have another adjective added before it to show its light-hearted intent.
When applying this light-hearted version, it could mean that the person is annoying and endearing simultaneously. Like toward your child, who you have caught being mischievous with their hand in the cookie jar. It’s important to listen for the tone of voice.
The phrase “come here, you bugger” could work on many levels, from the angry to the affectionate. However, there’s always a slight insinuation of annoying. For instance, saying Neil’s a smart bugger could mean someone clever, but his cleverness can be annoying, or he’s both intelligent, and he’s annoying.
Look at that; I’ve come to the end of the page – bugger!
Today's Cards
The Cards - Analysis
Carryover Cards
Only one card carried over from yesterday; Suppression, and it stayed in the Goal position.
Cross
Playfulness is in the Distant Past, and it a point to which I like to return, or should I say awaken anew. In the more Recent Past, I’ve felt that I’m just going through the motions at work (Control).
The Control has felt necessary if I’m to suppress, and Suppression has been the Goal for two days, where I’m finding my sense of fun. Work isn’t horrible; the people are “nice”; it’s just not fun or playful.
Today it’s me in the process of Letting Go of emotions and the Stress from yesterday. New Vision influenced today’s playful interpretation of the word ‘bugger’.
By Letting Go of stress and, to some extent, control over the environment, a Rebirth of Playfulness can occur.
Base
My Feelings on Letting Go is that I need to simply Trust. The card’s image is a person diving off an invisible diving board into an open sky; Trust is Letting Go!
Others’ Views is that I’m using Creativity or that I’m creative. As I’ve mentioned on a couple of occasions, knowing how others perceive you when you’re not engaging with them is difficult; it’s tricky to read your cards because you’re not necessarily objective.
Hopes & Fears has the card of Flowering. Flowering is about being at home with yourself, your sex. I hope I can embrace Letting Go but fear it’s going to be challenging to do so.
Finally, it’s Intensity in the Outcome position. Intensity is like a bushfire, wild and multi-directional, which is what Letting Go might do according to the cards.
Well, we come to the end of the day’s with bugs and bugger forming a peculiar relationship which strangely makes sense. Now, I appreciate this is probably not how the word bugs transmuted into bugger, but it was a fun exercise to see how applicable I could make it.
References
- Osho, Osho Zen Tarot – The Transcendental Game of Zen, St Martin’s Press, ISBN 0-312-11733-7
