The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #167564 Message #4043723
Posted By: Doug Chadwick
03-Apr-20 - 01:58 AM
Thread Name: BS: Can someone tell me.......(euphemizing hell)
Subject: RE: BS: Can someone tell me.......
It's not just the word 'hell'. You get 'sh1t' or 'sh!t' as well. Otherwise sensible people here on Mudcat write about f*lk music and Fakebook, as if the very utterance of the actual word causes them pain. They think that they are being clever but it is just a childish affectation which becomes really annoying after a while.
Minced oaths have been around a long time in the spoken word. I use 'heck' without thinking but I find 'oh my gosh' for 'oh my God' really gets up my nose. Writing was normally used for more formal communication but with the coming of emails and texts, which are typed rather than written long-hand, alternatives such as the double hockey sticks have become available.
DC