different between whippersnapper vs bugger

English

Alternative forms

• whipper-snapper
• whipper snapper

Etymology

Extension of *whip-snapper (“a cracker of whips”), or perhaps from snipper-snapper. Compare also whipperginnie (“term of abuse for a woman”), late 16th c.

Pronunciation

• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?w?p??snæp?/
• (US) IPA^(key): /???p???snæp??/

Noun

whippersnapper (plural whippersnappers)

1. (colloquial) A young and cheeky or presumptuous person. [from 1670s]
   • 2004: Chris Wallace, Character: Profiles in Presidential Courage

     Eisenhower thought that the President-elect, his junior by over 25 years, was merely a "young whippersnapper."

Synonyms

• upstart

Translations

References

English

Pronunciation

• (General American) IPA^(key): /?b???/
• (Received Pronunciation) IPA^(key): /?b???/
• Rhymes: -???(?)

Etymology 1

From Middle English bougre (“heretic”), from Old French bougre, from Medieval Latin Bulgarus (“Bulgar”), used in designation of heretics (especially the Bogomils, who arose around the 10th century AD in the First Bulgarian Empire), to whom various unnatural practices and perversions such as sodomy were ascribed. Doublet of Bulgar.

Noun

bugger (plural buggers)

1. (obsolete) A heretic.
2. (Britain law) Someone who commits buggery; a sodomite.

3. (slang, derogatory, Britain, Australia, New Zealand) A foolish or worthless person or thing; a despicable person.
   • 1928, Frank Parker Day, Rockbound, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0500721h,

     “I’ll take it out on dat young bugger,” he thought viciously.

   • 1947, James Hilton, So Well Remembered, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0600371h,

     Here the cheers and shouts of the gallery were interrupted by a shabby little man in the back row who yelled out with piercing distinctness: “Don't matter what you call ’im now, George. The bugger’s dead.”

4. (slang, Britain, Australia, New Zealand) A situation that causes dismay.

5. (slang, Britain, Australia, New Zealand) Someone viewed with affection; a chap.
   • 1946, Olaf Stapledon, Arms Out of Hand, in Collected Stories, Gutenberg Australia eBook #0601341,

     Good luck, you old bugger!

   • 1953 February-March, Henry Beam Piper, John Joseph McGuire, Null-ABC, in Astounding Science Fiction, Gutenberg eBook #18346,

     “And if Pelton found out that his kids are Literates—Woooo!” Cardon grimaced. “Or what we've been doing to him. I hope I’m not around when that happens. I’m beginning to like the cantankerous old bugger.”

6. (slang, dated) A damn, anything at all.

7. (slang, Britain) Someone who is very fond of something

8. (slang, US) A whippersnapper, a tyke.

Synonyms

• (sodomite): See Thesaurus:male homosexual and Thesaurus:fudge packer

Derived terms

• bugger factor

Translations

Verb

bugger (third-person singular simple present buggers, present participle buggering, simple past and past participle buggered)

1. (vulgar, Britain) To have anal sex with, sodomize.

   To be buggered sore like a hobo's whore (Attributed to Harry Mclintock's 1920s era Big Rock Candy Mountain)

2. (slang, vulgar in Britain) To break or ruin.

3. (slang, Britain, Australia, New Zealand) To be surprised.

4. (slang, Britain, Australia, New Zealand) To feel contempt for some person or thing.

   Bugger Bognor. (Alleged to be the last words of King George V of the United Kingdom in response to a suggestion that he might recover from his illness and visit Bognor Regis.)

5. (slang, Britain, Australia, New Zealand) To feel frustration with something, or to consider that something is futile.

6. (slang, Britain, Australia, New Zealand) To be fatigued.

Derived terms

Translations

Interjection

bugger

1. (slang, Britain, Australia, New Zealand, vulgar) An expression of annoyance or displeasure.

Synonyms

• bummer
• damn
• whoops
• See also Thesaurus:dammit

Translations

Further reading

• The Origins and Common Usage of British swear-words

Etymology 2

From bug (noun) +? -er.

Noun

bugger (plural buggers)

1. One who sets a bug (surveillance device); one who bugs.

Related terms

• buggee

French

Alternative forms

• beuguer

Etymology

bug +? -er

Pronunciation

• IPA^(key): /bœ.?e/

Verb

bugger

1. (computing, also figuratively) to malfunction, to glitch

Conjugation

This is a regular -er verb, but the stem is written bugge- before endings that begin with -a- or -o- (to indicate that the -g- is a “soft” /?/ and not a “hard” /?/). This spelling-change occurs in all verbs in -ger, such as neiger and manger.