Bloody swear word?

[Caius Marcius]

--- In HPFGU-OTChatter at yahoogroups.com, "kelleyaynn" <kelleyaynn at y...> 
wrote:
>
> I've been reading some fanfics, and it appears that the word "bloody" 
> is actually a swear word in British English. ??????  As an American, 
I 
> have no clue. It sounds like a fairly innocuous word. Along the lines 
> of "blasted fool" and "bloody fool" meaning essentially the same 
> thing. It seems odd that a word could be completely innocent in one 
> context ("bloody bandages" or "a bloody cut") yet offensive in 
another 
> ("bloody git"). 
> 
> Can anyone clarify this for me?
 
According to most scholars, it's a corruption of "By Our Lady," which 
was considered a profane appeal to the Virgin Mary. Here's a link from 
Wikipedia that gives some more background:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody

Another site I checked stated that Americans should avoid using the word
when traveling in Britain, since it makes them sound ridiculous.

   - CMC