Warning: If the title wasn't clear enough, there will be curse words in this post and a lot of them!
My husband and I were talking recently about English curse words, and how the vast majority of the commonly used ones these days are monotheistic. I mean, look at this list:
Oh my god (or the internet OMG)
Dear god.
Dear Lord.
For christ's sakes. (or chrissakes)
Goddammit.
Jesus! (or Jesus Christ)
And these words are so ingrained in us - at least my husband and I - that we still commonly use them when swearing. We discussed if we should try to change our language (oh my gods!) or leave it be. Hell is easy enough to change - who knows if you're saying "Oh, Hell" or "Oh, Hel"? The husband rather liked the thought of "Jupiter's COCK!"
Ultimately we decided to just leave it be; it's kind of a private amusement to be "blaspheming" against a god we don't think exists.
Do you curse? Do you use pagan-specific curse words if you do? Was it hard to switch from traditional epithets?
I curse like a sailor. All the time, constantly... I have given some thought to the monotheistic nature of these curses, but in the end I figured I would be better off blaspheming a god I don't believe in than the Gods that I do. Besides, I don't think anyone would really get the 'pagan' version well enough anyway...
ReplyDeleteInteresting post, and thoughts.
ReplyDeleteI curse a lot, but in Swedish ;) we don't have so many curses with "god" in it. At least I don't think so. Though I avoid using expressions with "God" in them. I usually say "drakballe" (dragon's dick) or "getpung" (goat's scrotum). Very good words ;)
Blessed be!
I totally understand where you are coming from! I came up with the same reasoning. Wonderful post!
ReplyDeleteLess cursing, but I do say "By the gods" quite a bit. It's quite a versatile phrase. ;-) I do often still find myself using Christian curse words, though, and I - like you guys - have pondered the same thing.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I've also caught myself using more and more secular curse words as of late. Partially because, even subconsciously, I don't particularly like supplicating Christ - "Oh, Christ!" or "For fucking chrissakes!" is still requesting deliverance from a situation. Which definitely does strike me as odd when I notice it.