What does a "knacker" in Ireland mean?

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dollymix (now geeky for a month)

Knacker either means
A member of the traveling community. The term is a very demeaning one and should not be used. Example~ Those knackers trashed the field the other day.
Or
A slut/ tart/ someone who hangs around with orange make up, with no reason for hanging round whatsoever. Found mostly in towns or shopping centres. Most are very rough. Example~ Mary: Do ya see that knacker over there? State of her! Ellen: Ssshhh!!! Be quite! She would probably burst ya if she heard you!

AveMariaX

A CROSS BETWEEN A GYPSY AND A CHAV.
THE UNDESIRABLES IN OUR SOCIETY WHO LIVE IN TRAILERS.

agooddub

In Dublin, a knacker is an Itinerant.
You would not say it directly to an itinerant for fear of been beaten up on the spot. So your friend said it to someone who clearly was not an itinerant but was perceived to be acting like one.
It's not a nice thing to call someone and is probably the equivalent of using the N word to describe a person of African/ American origin.

sandra

it means that theyre dirty tinkers

Leave this place, run

6 meanings so far:
a) Someone who slaughters really old animals
b) Really tired "I am knackered!" (ready for the knacker man presumably)
c) Testicles
d) "A knacker" = Â£1
e) Offensive slang word for a member of the travelling community in Ireland. 'Irish travellers and not gypsies(romni people) although the two communities do mix and travel with each other. Knackers are from indigenous people of Ireland who have just chosen to live a nomadic life style.
f) Anyone regardless of race who is lazy, self centred and sponging or a thief, a vandal or delinquent e.g. "..and already theyâ€™re knackers. Their father is probably eighteen, and a knacker. Their grandfather might be thirty-two, a knacker and a thug..." and "Some knacker smashed up the bus stop last night"

Jo D

A Traveler is called a knacker.

But We'd say it if somebody dressed scruffy or did something rude/gross...like belch or fart "aw ya knacker!!"

Priscilla Duck

'Knacker' is most commonly used as an insult in Ireland. It was originally used to describe the occupation of some Travellers who would collect old and sick horses and slaughter them for glue and other products.

In more recent years, some people in Ireland use it as a racist term to describe all members of the Travelling community, who are generally stereotyped as being thieves and deviants. As with any stereotype, this is not true. All sections of society have deviant elements, but for some reason it seems to be perfectly acceptable for settled Irish people to tar all members of the Travelling community with the same brush. Plenty of Travellers work (and pay taxes) as tradespeople, health workers, in community development and as merchants. Ignorant people use the word 'knacker' to describe anyone they see displaying rough or disgusting behaviour, demonstrating the disgust which those people hold for Ireland's most discriminated against ethnic minority. It is a word as derogatory as the 'n' word as used by racist white people against blacks.

Tid

Knacker is basically a term used for the travelling community. They have 'unusual' tendencies, i.e. using a dug hole in the ground for a toilet, burning rubbish, hanging their delicates out for all passing motorist to see. Horses left loose to eat any grass, and they usually come in caravan loads....and are usually found at roundabouts.

Meg C

it's the travellers or gypsies. the poor people who live in caravans and move about. they're usually really rough. they do illegal stuff. not good people to hang around with

reginaldstower

Knacker
Usually this word describes a member of the traveling community. It is definitely insulting.

Louise L

A knacker means a traveller / someone who lives in a caravan

Psychic H

The best way I think and the easiest way to understand what the word 'knacker' means in Ireland is to give you an example of it being used in a sentence. So here is a few example:

1. Two Irish girls/guys say to each other after what's happened to me today, I feel like I am fit for nothing but the 'knackers' yard? What the word 'knackers' describes is that the individual has been through so much that they feel rotten, rough, like they have no more to give. Knacker's yard as someone else said 'knackers' referred to glue making as in old horses that are so run down they have nothing left. So their owners would take them to the 'knackers yard'. A place where horses where killed and parts where used to make glue.

2. Another example of the word 'knacker' can describe an Irish person saying to a family member or friend that 'they feel knackered'. Which can in this instance mean that they feel exhausted, or feel like they don't have any energy after having a hard day at work or school.

I hope these samples have helped you to understand the Irish meaning of the word 'knacker'.

boofuswoolie

Oh better wash yer mouth an gie up dat aul talk

Misty Blue

Traveller or ne'r do well.

citeog

Pikey....nuff said.

Orla C

In Ireland, calling someone a 'knacker' is really insulting. Far more insulting than calling them a 'bastard'.

Unfortunately, the expression 'knacker' has become synonymous with the Travelling community, the Irish sub-culture previously known as 'Tinkers', particularly in the south-west of Ireland. While unfortunate, this new symantic serves to illustrate how once again a few bad characters can taint a whole community.

MacOda

The word is derived from the old Irish word for a horse - pronouced a nack. A British term also means old or worn.

PrEgNaNt WiTh #2! KaTiE 2 iN MaY

knacker means traveller, or if some one does some thing..say..disgusting, then they are are a knacker!

Guitar Lady

It is someone a bit rough, basically.

Luke P

Gone a-knacker/ knackered = busted
Knackers = bollocks
Knackers yard = place where horses are slaughtered for glue making

Alex

In "Animal Farm" it was a glue-maker

BODGE IT AND SCARPER

In England - 'knacker' meat is horse meat, and when a horse gets old, it's taken to the 'knacker's yard' for slaughter.

Can't see it meaning anything different in Ireland somehow.

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