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BS: Minced oaths
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Subject: BS: Minced oaths From: Helen Date: 28 Oct 05 - 07:07 PM While looking for a recipe for succotash in answer to a request for good session food, I looked at the definition of the word and found this, by following the link to "suffering succotash". Which of course compels me to start a new thread about words. .....So can we add any more to the list? Helen Here is the Wikipedia article: minced oath Minced oaths are corrupted forms of (usually religion-related) swear words that originally arose in English culture sometime before the Victorian Age, as part of the cultural impact of Puritanism after the Protestant Reformation. The censorship caused people to develop a wide variety of minced oaths to avoid swearing on holy names. They were used for swearing and other types of interjections. With time they came to have a mildly comedic effect. Sometimes the comedy was intentional, such as when American comedian W. C. Fields would bypass Hollywood restrictions by exclaiming "Godfrey Daniel!" as a substitute for "God damn it!" Since they avoid using profanities or holy words, the minced oaths are not equivalent in strength (likelihood to cause offence) as their derivations listed below. However, some of the more modern minced oaths should be avoided in polite speech (e.g. mofo). * Begorrah = By God * Bejabbers = By Jesus * Bleeding heck = Bloody Hell * Blimey = Blind me (Oh Gosh) * Blinking heck = Bloody Hell * Blue Falcon = Buddy Fucker (military slang for betrayal among friends) * By George = By God * By golly = By God * By gosh = By God * By gum = By God * By Jove = By God (Jove is another name for Zeus, the most powerful Roman deity) * Cheese n' Rice = Jesus Christ * Chrissakes = For Christ's sake * Cor blimey = God blind me * Crikey = Christ * Cripes = Christ * Dagnammit = Damnation * Dang = Damn * Dangnabbit = Damnation * Dangnation = Damnation * Darn = Damn * Darnation = Damnation * Doggone = God damn or Dog on it * Drat = God rot it * Feck = Fuck * Fink = Fuck * Flaming heck = Fucking Hell * Flipping heck = Fucking Hell * For crying out loud = For Christ's sake; also, a way of hinting at 'fuck' or sanitising it after speaking ("Fuck... rying out loud") * Freaking = Fucking or Frigging * Fricken = Fucking or Frigging * Fudge = Fuck * Fudging = Fucking * Gee = Jesus or Jerusalem * Gee whizz = Jesus * Gee willikers = Jesus or Jerusalem * Gorblimey = God blame me * Good grief = Good God * Goodness gracious = Good God * Gosh = God * Gosh darned = God damned * Heck = Hell * Jason Crisp = Jesus Christ * Jebus = Jesus * Jeepers Creepers = Jesus Christ * Jeez = Jesus * Jesus wept = Jesus Christ * Jiminy Cricket = Jesus Christ * Jumping Jehoshaphat = a milder form of Jumping Jesus * Melon farmer = Motherfucker * Mofo = Motherfucker * Mortar forker = Motherfucker * Muddy funster = Motherfucker * My goodness = My God * Sam Hill = Hell (sometimes re-profanitized as "sam hell") * Shoot = Shit * Shucks = Shit * Son of a gun = Son of a bitch * Strewth = God's Truth * Suffering succotash = Suffering Saviour (was made famous by Sylvester the cat, a cartoon character who regularly uttered the phrase) * Sugar = Shit * Tarnation = Damnation Minced oaths have a long history. Examples used in the 16th or 17th centuries include: * Criminy = Christ * Egad = A God * Gadzooks = God's hooks (referring to the nails in Jesus on the cross) * Od or Odd = God * Odds-bodkins = God's sweet body * 'Sblood = God's Blood * 'Sdeath = God's death * Zounds = God's wounds Holy Moley actually refers to the Moley flower, believed to have miraculous healing power by the Ancient Greeks and Romans, not to Moses. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: GUEST,Jon Date: 28 Oct 05 - 07:27 PM I wouldn't have a clue about most of them but Jesus Wept is a straight quote from the bible - John 11:35. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: Bill D Date: 28 Oct 05 - 08:25 PM my daddy used to say, right out loud "Godandruff and someofititches" |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: Leadfingers Date: 28 Oct 05 - 08:33 PM There was a Motor Racing Ace in the early years of the twentieth century who managed to get in as a Minced Oath - Gordon Bennett !!! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: CarolC Date: 28 Oct 05 - 08:49 PM My Canadian grandfather had this one, "Pie, cheese, and crust all maggoty, cod, ham, sum of ill bridge!" I heard "Gordon Bennett" used as a minced oath on Red Dwarf. The ship's computer used it, if I remember correctly. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: Naemanson Date: 28 Oct 05 - 08:54 PM Wakana and I recently had a discussion of swearing and oaths. She wanted to know what I meant by "for crying out loud!" She couldn't seem grasp the whole idea of swearing. I don't think we ever finished that conversation. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: GUEST,Joe_F Date: 28 Oct 05 - 10:02 PM In America, "frig" is widely regarded as a minced form of "fuck". In Britain, it means "masturbate". Hence (obSongs), an American who hears the line "Frigging in the rigging" may imagine an acrobatic feat not contemplated in the mother country. --- Joe Fineman joe_f@verizon.net ||: If you have friends in any large organization, you also have enemies there. :|| |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: Helen Date: 28 Oct 05 - 10:15 PM I forgot to add that one of my friends uses the word "flock" to replace the naughty f-word. Hence, "How the flock are you?", "What the flock" etc It works rather well, I think, because it still has that satisfyingly venting* short "ck" sound but is comparatively harmless in the meaning department. * By "venting" - I mean it in the sense that a customer on the phone used it, after ranting and raving for about 15 minutes about things I had no control over, and after not listening to any of my attempts to provide him with facts and clarification of his problem. At the end he said "I just wanted to find someone to whom I could vent my spleen." ("Gee, thanks! Must be my lucky day!") Helen |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: Elmer Fudd Date: 29 Oct 05 - 02:24 AM Very cool thread. Great list. Who knew that holy moley actually had an etymology? Minced oaths--love it. It sounds like a breakfast cereal or else some Medieval curse or a forgotten part of the Coptic litany. Thanks, Helen. Elmer |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: Long Firm Freddie Date: 29 Oct 05 - 02:56 AM I see the Google ads are currently God Loves You and the Jesus Homepage... A useful one is 'Kinell - the fuc has been dropped. Much exasperation can be expressed simply by extending the second syllable into a long whining moan. Then there's Blood and Stomach Pills, from a proprietary medicine (occasionally Blood and Sand). I knew a Scottish lad who set about finding the most inoffensive phrase he could use as an oath, and settled on "Hair Oil" as being the least satisfying thing one could say at times of stress. LFF |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: Doug Chadwick Date: 29 Oct 05 - 03:49 AM So what does "jolly" mean? As in "That was jolly good" or "How jolly unfortunate" DC |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: Liz the Squeak Date: 29 Oct 05 - 04:23 AM I knew someone who was forever saying 'hells bells and buckets of blood'.... never did work out where he got it from. We have Scottish variant on Kinell - the MacKinell - as in 'what the MacKinell was that? LTS |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: Gurney Date: 29 Oct 05 - 04:49 AM San Fairy Anne, or Sweet Fanny Adams, on the other hand, seems to mean sweet fuck all! |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: Paul Burke Date: 29 Oct 05 - 05:40 AM Scarcely minced, but my father's strongest oath was "Damn, bugger, blast and hell set fire to the black- enamelled thing!" "Shucks" was the name of the Anglo-Saxon demon dog, and is quite a common element in placenames (Shuckstone, Shugborough, Shockley to name a few). |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: fat B****rd Date: 29 Oct 05 - 06:16 AM Gurney, Fanny Adams was young girl murdered at Alton in Hampshire in 1868. The term Sweet FA is probably of naval derivation but apparently comes from this incident. BTW they hung the killer. |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: JohnInKansas Date: 29 Oct 05 - 06:30 AM "Far wway in a distant land, a long time ago..." or meybe just in another thread, I recall describing the "heirarchy" of swearing, as I observed it when quite young in the farm community where my parents were raised and where grandparents (and a bunch of cousins) still lived. There were certain (some included above) minced oaths that men could use in the company of other men, but would not use in the presence of females (if they wanted to survive). A separate set of minced oaths could be used by men in the presence of women (and usually when children were present) but the women would never use them. (And the kids would get soundly walloped if they used them.) There was a whole different set of minced oaths that the women might (occasionally) use if none of the men were around, but a different set that they would use (mostly a little more watered down) in mixed company. The kids were pretty much expected to keep their mouths shut - but they knew all the words. John |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: Sorcha Date: 29 Oct 05 - 09:25 AM Isn't 'bloody' a contraction of 'By Our Lady'? |
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Subject: RE: BS: Minced oaths From: Sandra in Sydney Date: 29 Oct 05 - 10:21 AM Egads is a word I use quite a lot, & one of my colleagues uses it to greet me. Here in Oz bloody is the great National Adjective, & in the olden days it was minced(?) even further by using 'sanguinary' Today is the first time I've ever regretted giving my Macquarie Dictonary of Australian English away. The Little Macquarie Thesaurus is no use (it's too little), but there are some very interesting words & phrases under SWEAR, SWEARER, SWEARING, CURSED. Fortunately the Oxford English Reference Dictionary supplied the correct spelling & says one of the meanings is 'bloody' now the google ads are "Was Jesus Married? or was he divine? It does matter & there is proof! Check it out - Free" (I didn't) "Christian Graphics - Quality photos, web graphics, wallpapers, clipart, and Powerpoint" |
