Euphemisms Are Just Like Curse Words

[moodygirl86]

I like bloody - as a corruption of ' by our lady'- nice medieval oath there, not swearing at all

but theres nothing wrong with fuck, its one of the most useful words in the english language

as long as its not used ad-fucking-nauseam :whistle:

Abso-fucking-lutely!

[E Street Fan]

Dysfundamental,

Swamp Yankees aren't the only one to say "I swan" or "I swannie". My mom said that and so does Clairee Belcher in Steel Magnolias. "I swannie! I don't see how M'Lynn puts up with that."

I also found out what a swamp Yankee is, too.

Alchemy, what you wrote about your sister and the "See you next Tuesday" word was hilarious!

I thought Miss Clairee did say "I swear," pronounced "Ah swayre." At least in the film version.

[PennySycamore]

I thought Miss Clairee did say "I swear," pronounced "Ah swayre." At least in the film version.

I'd listen to the line, but, alas, Steel Magnolias is one movie I do not have. I've got Fried Green Tomatoes, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, Gremlins, Erin Brockovich and Mona Lisa Smile along with a lot of other movies, but not that one. If I ever see for 4 or 5 bucks at Target, I'll pick it up.

[fullmetalheart]

I was raised that words like "gosh", "darn", "golly" and "drat" were bad. But "merciful heavens"? That was okay. "Good grief" was okay too.

Yeah, this is how I was raised too.

[Kailash]

Yeah, this is how I was raised too.

I was raised with this too. The F word in our house was fart. We had to say passed gas. We also never swore, even in court. We "affirmed" instead. (Adoption hearing.)

[Miggy]

Dysfundamental,

Swamp Yankees aren't the only one to say "I swan" or "I swannie". My mom said that and so does Clairee Belcher in Steel Magnolias. "I swannie! I don't see how M'Lynn puts up with that."

I also found out what a swamp Yankee is, too.

Alchemy, what you wrote about your sister and the "See you next Tuesday" word was hilarious!

Ah, the education one acquires on FJ. I have also just found out what a Swamp Yankee is! Isn't google useful.

In my community Yank or Yankee is used to refer to all Americans, just as Pom/Pommy refers to all English, Frog refers to all French and Kiwi refers to all New Zealanders. I was well into my teens before I learnt how Americans use the term.

[Savoring Samsara]

What would these folks think of Quebec cursing? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quebec_French_profanity

Essentially, religious words, like "holy", "tabernacle," "host," "virgin," "chalice" are the absolutely foulest things you can say, worse than fuck and it's friends. We human beings have funny ways of tabooing language :) One thing I always wondered is if it seems weird hearing them during a real church service. Any Quebecers here who know? Does it sound like the priest is cursing?

Profanity in Spain is much the same. The religiously based words are the really taboo ones and I heard the equivalent of "fuck" (joder) quite frequently. My favorite really dirty Spanish expression is "me cago en la ostia." :D

[Black Aliss]

Yeah, this is how I was raised too.

Not in my fundie home. The original "good grief" was the death of Jesus, so We Do Not Use That Phrase. Anything that began with "merciful" was bad because only God can grant mercy. I forget why "son of a gun" was bad but I remember the whupping I got when I tried it out once. Also on the forbidden list, along with the ones mentioned above, were "egad", "cheese-it". For some reason "My sore foot!" was an acceptable exclamation, even though I would have thought it was a reference to the nail that pierced Jesus's feet on the cross. . .

[lemonhead]

I'm surprised to read here that my parents were actually more lenient than others in this--that doesn't happen often :D

I was allowed to say "gosh" and "darn" but those were the strongest words I could use. When I was about 13, I got a severe scolding for saying "jeez" and had I been a bit younger I'm sure my mother would have brought out the paddle/belt/spatula/instrument of torture du jour.

As a child I once witnessed our pastor as he reacted to getting a severe burn on his hand (as a result of doing something very stupid, I might add): he jumped up and shouted, "PRAISE JESUS!" instead of swearing. I had to give him props for staying in character even under extreme duress.

[twinmama]

Then I'll just stick to "jesus fucking christ" as my go to phrase.

My grandmother used to say "what in sam hill" instead of hell. I always thought that was the funniest and dumbest euphemism ever.

[NoneandDoneinCali]

So ... what, exactly, is the point of trying to clean up our language, then? I'm going to say SOMETHING (it's called an expletive for a reason) when I stub my toe, drop my lunch, or am just generally fed up with my stupid (aka beloved) Labrador Retriever yanking my arm off on a walk, particularly when I almost eat shite every time he sees a squirrel. I prefer to say "Mother of Pearl!" or "Jeebus!" so as not to offend my more conservative-leaning friends and neighbors (I really don't go out of my way to make people uncomfortable or to be disrespectful). And here, I've been trying to get my 3 year old niece to say "SASSAFRASS!" instead of "SHIT!" like a sucker.

Coincidentally, have you ever heard a young 3 year old say sassafrass? It's ... hilarious. "Frackasass!" "Sackafrack!" etc. She also calls the elevator an alligator ... why, just today, I took a minute at the library (we weren't in a hurry) and asked her to look at my face and mimic Auntie - "Elll" "ahhh" "vayyy" "torrr". Perfectly copied. "Baby, do you want to push the button on the elevator?" "Yes! I push buttons on the Alligator!" Haha.

Really, though, is there ANYTHING these crazy fundamentalists can't find fault with? I'd think keeping sweet allows for a human component ....

[Arete]

My late grandmothers, of eternal memory, considered swearing to be a sign of ill breeding. I have honestly never heard my mother even come close to a curse.

My dad and his siblings, despite regular applications of soap, all learned to swear like truck drivers. It has been described as my grandmother Madame AreteJo losing a long a protracted guerrilla war. "You will not swear!" became "You will not swear in this house!" to finally a negotiated cold peace of "Do not take the name of The Lord in vain in my presence."

Dad could not even be assed to police our language on the principle of attempting to make well bred young ladies of us.

[Arete]

Profanity in Spain is much the same. The religiously based words are the really taboo ones and I heard the equivalent of "fuck" (joder) quite frequently. My favorite really dirty Spanish expression is "me cago en la ostia." :D

Greek cursing works on the same principle. "Fuck" and "wanker" are the mild end of the spectrum. It's when you start bringing in saints and sacred objects that really is considered using foul language.

[Rescinded and Mended]

I was also raised not to use any curse words whatsoever, at least up until a certain age. The words "fart" and "crap" were also off limits. My mother, on the other hand, swore like a sailor for most of my childhood. Strangely, she only ever used the worst of her swear words in front of me, regardless of what age I was, and never in front of other adults. I eventually eventually tired of the hypocrisy and swore pretty regularly as a teenager. She finally gave her full permission for me to say "shit," "hell" and "damn," but none of the others. Language-wise, it was an odd way to grow up.

I don't really know why, but I have issues with "fart" and "crap" and I don't like my kid to use them. But I let him say the word "sucks" all the time (the way I was raised, it was considered vulgar), mostly because I use it so often myself. I'm reasonably good about not swearing in front of my son, with the exceptions of using "hell" and "damn." I think it's mainly because I don't feel either word is bad enough to boycott from my vocabulary. Hey, they're both in the Bible, right?

If I want to say something worse and I'm talking to people who might be offended by swearing, I've found that "Oh, Snap!" makes a nice substitute phrase.

[salex]

I have not heard my mother swear, so far-- and I'm 55. My dad, occasionally, but very rarely.

A cousin of mine said she realized a certain woman was beyond any hope when my mother referred to her as a bitch... (she was the second wife of an uncle of mine, and she was indeed a crazy bitch). Using such language so rarely made the impact of it greater. I on the other hand swear often and with great vigor---but not in front of my mother.

I also remember when I was in elementary school.. either second or third grade, I was forbidden to sing "Dang me, Dang me, they ought to take a rope and hang me." as my parents found it inappropriate for an 8 year old girl to sing. Of course, the only words I knew were to the chorus....

[debrand]

I have not heard my mother swear, so far-- and I'm 55. My dad, occasionally, but very rarely.

A cousin of mine said she realized a certain woman was beyond any hope when my mother referred to her as a bitch... (she was the second wife of an uncle of mine, and she was indeed a crazy bitch). Using such language so rarely made the impact of it greater. I on the other hand swear often and with great vigor---but not in front of my mother.

I also remember when I was in elementary school.. either second or third grade, I was forbidden to sing "Dang me, Dang me, they ought to take a rope and hang me." as my parents found it inappropriate for an 8 year old girl to sing. Of course, the only words I knew were to the chorus....

My mother used to sing just the chorus. Recently, I asked my husband and a few friends if they knew song but no one did. It is one of those annoying songs that get stuck in your head.

[feministxtian]

My parents didn't cuss...I learned how to cuss fluently in my Catholic high school (I also learned how to roll joints there). I then married a sailor so my vocabulary went in the toilet. Later, I worked at a large shipyard that worked exclusively on Naval contracts so my vocabulary got expanded even more...however "fuck" is my favorite word. It's just so useful...I've managed to use it 45 times in the 8 page letter I have written to my idiot fucking fuck up husband who's currently in a locked psych ward.

[danvillebelle]

Well, I swear and use euphemisms both, all the time, so I guess I have all the bases covered.

I don't say anything worse than shit, damn or hell in front of my kids. As a family we are inordinately fond of Frank Barone's "Holy Crap!" We also quote from the Sifl & Olly show, as in "Dude, you have some serious ass (insert word here) ass problems."

Alone with husband, extremely close friends, therapist or online, all bets are off.

My most frequently used blasphemous ones are "Good Gracious Almighty", "Sweet Baby Jesus", and "Jesus, Mary and Holy St. Joseph".

I'm also partial to "God's Teeth!", which was a favorite of Queen Elizabeth I.

[uber frau]

I grew up in a house were swearing was not done. My father very occasionally used the word "shit" but anything even slightly related to Christian religion (even Catholicism, and we all know Catholics aren't real Christians), was considered taking the Lord's name in vain and pretty much asking for God to push the smite button.

Now that I'm all grown up, I swear like a pirate and so does my husband. I don't use religious epithets though, they still feel wrong even though I'm a non-believing heathen. The odd thing is that none of the kids do. It's not like they aren't exposed to it, they just don't. Maybe there's something to that theory about forbidden fruit.

[Arete]

One day my grandma, my uncle, and I were in the car and Uncle Trot needed to stop short. My 3 year old self yelled "Wanker!" from the backseat, before he even had a chance to give the other driver a piece of his mind. When grandma had recovered herself, she turned and asked me very calmly where I had learned that word. So I answered "Daddy and Uncle Trot always say that to bad cars!" My uncle, who is in his 70s, can still describe the death glare his mother gave him, along with a "You and your brother are a disgrace!" for good measure. :mrgreen:

[smittykins]

When I was about 7, I remember saying "pissed off" in front of my mother and (Presbyterian, non-swearing, had a "Jesus is the Lord of humanity, not a word for profanity" refrigerator magnet)grandmother. I wasn't yelled at or spanked, but I was made to understand, in no uncertain terms, that I was never to use that phrase ever again.

Now, thanks in large part to my champion-swearer husband, I have quite the potty mouth, though I still won't drop an F-bomb in front of my mom.

[PurpleSheepleEater]

When I was a student at Bob Jones University they had a dorm meeting where they read off a list of words that would be treated as swears and get demerits as such. I'll never ever forget that. Gosh, darn, crap, suck and a slang word for homosexual that I won't repeat. That was the list. So of course we said them all as a string from thereafter. We also used fubar a lot. And I learned to swear in spanish there from the foreign students and missionary kids. Ah, memories.

[LilMissMetaphor]

Neither of my parents swore or cursed. We were brought up understanding there was a distinct difference. Cursing involved God, damn, or anything religious, while swearing was just plain "bad" language. So, "holy fuck" is combining the two. We never cursed, growing up. I never heard a bad word other than "shit" out of my father and even then it wasn't used when he was mad, just "oh look, a cat shit in the garden again last night." My mother favored things like "bloody blue blazes" when she was really ticked.

Now, I swear like a motherfucking sailor, but I don't curse. Well, I do say holy fuck, but not around just anyone.

[PennySycamore]

When I was a student at Bob Jones University they had a dorm meeting where they read off a list of words that would be treated as swears and get demerits as such. I'll never ever forget that. Gosh, darn, crap, suck and a slang word for homosexual that I won't repeat. That was the list. So of course we said them all as a string from thereafter. We also used fubar a lot. And I learned to swear in spanish there from the foreign students and missionary kids. Ah, memories.

I was watching Saving Private Ryan this afternoon and they kept saying things were FUBAR. One of the soldiers didn't know what it meant and they told him that it was a German word and that he should look it up in his phrase book. I loved that!