[Ads-l] "Bugger"

[Yagoda, Ben]

Does anyone have any insight, citations, or data concerning American non-profane use of “bugger” (noun), as a mildly affectionate, mildly derisive diminutive, term, something like “rascal”? It goes pretty far back. In The American Language, (I’m quoting from 4th edition, 1936), Mencken writes, “When I was a small boy my father used it often, as an affectionate term for any young male, and if it shows any flavor of impropriety today, the fact must be due to British influence.”

In Edward Albee’s play Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962), George and Martha’s never-seen child is often referred to as “the bugger” or “the little bugger.”

Ben


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