Sodding

Part of speech: verb

Definitions

1. Referring to something that causes annoyance or frustration
2. used as an intensifier to express contempt or frustration
3. related to the act of turfing an area with grass or sod

Etymology: The verb "sod" itself is old and humble: it appears in the mid-15th century meaning a piece of turf, the grassy top layer of earth, and its relatives in Dutch, German and Frisian share the same sense. Its ultimate origin is unclear. "Sodding" is simply the present participle of "sod", and the modern British slang sense, a mild curse for something infuriating, is a different route entirely. The euphemism came from a euphemistic shortening of "sodomite" or "sodomize", which let speakers swear without naming the taboo word outright. Its ancestry is blurred further by a second possibility. Some dictionaries trace the verb back to the Old English past tense "sēoden" of "sēothan", "to seethe", which is where the word "sodden" also comes from. The idea is that a form like "sod" once described something soaked or boiled and later took on the sense of a turf-covered mess. Because this line of descent is not firmly established, the sense of "sod" as "to cover with turf" remains the safest anchor for the word's history.

Synonyms: turfing, sodded