They're also a type of bug that likely plague people everywhere, and would be similar to calling someone by the name of a pest of nuisance.

fiender66 wrote: »

All clear now. My curiosity is satisfied. Thanks you all.

Let me ask, besides: is it more British slang or US?

I don't think it's used anywhere in real life any more.

Aside from the Urban Dictionary definition quoted above I can't even find many mentions online of fetcher as an insult which aren't directly related to the Elder Scrolls series and I can't remember hearing anyone say it, either in Britain or America (or anywhere else in the world). I've also found it listed on a few websites as a purely fictional swear word made up for the Elder Scrolls.

fiender66 wrote: »

Let me ask, besides: is it more British slang or US?

It's from Morrowind TES III

etchedpixels wrote: »

It's an American game. They can't use the word she'd actually use for cultural reasons.

That's a big part of it, but I think in fantasy it can also help with world building. Aside from references to sex or defecating (which are fairly universal, although there are exceptions) swear words are often very cultural, so in a fantasy world with different cultures, history and religion it makes sense they'd use different swear words.

In this case I think 'fetcher' is almost certainly a reference to fetcher flies, which are incredibly annoying. (Although I like a suggestion I read that it's analogous to the British insult 'tosser', partially because the literal meanings are opposites but as an insult it could mean the same thing.)

It's a common problem when translating between real-life languages as well. I read a very interesting article a while ago about a comment made by a US politician about people from some other countries, and how that was translated by journalists reporting on it in other languages. A literal translation would often be nonsense, or at least not remotely offensive. Some explained it, some used an analogy to get the general meaning across and some substituted another insult. (My favourite of those was "places unfit to be manure".)

(Even going between variations of English it can be a problem, I've had American friends pick up on British swear words they think are funny or even 'cute' and I've had to warn them to be very careful who they say it around and especially who they say it to because in the wrong circumstances it would be extremely offensive.)