I used to get the biggest kick out of it when my formerly-Baptist mother-in-law said "Gosh all hemlock." It became a family joke. And when we'd laugh, she'd laugh. She was lovely.

And my favorite nun, a very innocent soul who's almost 80 and sometimes seems like a little girl, feels very daring when she says, "Jeesum Cripes!"

Up above, Doug Chadwick calls them "minced oaths," a great term. I think they can be very funny, and I think a lot of them are meant humorously. Some are almost an art form.

I used to say, "For-get you!" My camp song partner Joe McCarthy (same name, same family) worked for Teddy Kennedy. One time, Teddy heard him say it, and Teddy said, "Hey, I like that!"

-Joe-