It's not a swear word, really, but it is a naughty one. :-) When I'm bored, I like to substitute one word in a song title with "wank." You know, Wank Like an Egyptian.
That why I used the 'quote marks' re:swear :-)
I personally don't considering it too bad a word- but know others who do. I thought it hilarious more than anything else.
it definitely made me lol. in the UK we use "wank", "wanker" and "wanking" a lot.
but its how language works :) sometimes stuff is offensive to some and not others.
My username is usually sn1gger [from the word snigger] which Americans always think is a racial slur of some kind, when its basically the same as the word snicker.
I'm an american who lives in the UK. I knew it was a naughty word but I did have to ask my husband at one point HOW naughty it is, like... can you say it at dinner with your parents? What about in front of a teacher? At a party with friends?
We have a lot of interesting discussions like this.
I use the urbandictionary.com when I am not sure what something means, especially 'new-fangled' meanings (like the last 25 years). It does a great job of giving lots of slang and British/American/Australian variants.
I would not use 'wank' at a dinner with straight-laced folks, your pastor, etc.
I would be very careful with sn1gger, which is a perfectly good word. But some folks do not take kindly to the 'other' meanings that have become attached to it. Esp. if they do not know what snigger means. A great shame really, because sniggering is a very useful talent: 'like a snickering laugh, only evil.'