What's mildly irritating you today?

[Carruthers]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

Embuggerance? What a lovely word.

Originally Posted by lumberjim

Sounds like a synonym for fuckery.

I, too, am pleased

I've used it from time to time, to describe occasions when the fates seemed to have conspired to put an obstacle in my way or cause other burdens to be visited upon me.

A bit of digging around suggests that it is/was military slang dating from about 1950. It gained greater prominence back in 2007 when the author Terry Pratchett was diagnosed as having Alzheimer's Disease.

The English language is remarkably flexible and I always think that it is a bit like Linux, available to all to adopt and adapt to their own requirements.

World Wide Words: Embuggerance.

Terry Pratchett

[xoxoxoBruce]

Flexible, very.
Wikitionary says, UK military meaning an obstacle.
Urban Dictionary says, a very minor problem.
Collins English Dictionary says, A niggling and irritating barrier or obstacle encountered when attempting to resolve a problem.
The English Project says Terry Pratchett made is popular but "the term is thought to have been coined by a Ministry of Defence official during the Falklands War to describe his frustrations".