# Curses or oaths you've adopted from literature or movies **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 14, 2021, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524 "2021-01-14T15:28:21Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 6:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/81 "2021-01-21T18:07:56Z")
I think it is from Muttley. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/82 "2021-01-21T19:21:08Z")
> [@psychonaut](#): > > Speaking of barnacles, the “blistering” variety were often invoked by Captain Haddock of Tintin fame. I believe he used quite a variety of other minced oaths too. If I could only remember exactly what they were I would start using them myself… I have never tried looking at a translation of those comics, but are you sure he mentions barnacles? Seems too straightforward for his character. Typical things that come to mind are “Tonnerre de Brest !” & variations: “mille millions de mille milliards de mille sabords de tonnerre de Brest”, and when he is cursing people then you get your “bachi-bouzouks” and so forth. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 7:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/83 "2021-01-21T19:30:19Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > Not just blistering. Billions of bilious blue blistering barnacles, when he was excited If that’s supposed to be a translation of “mille milliards de mille sabords”, I wonder: I _think_ a real French-speaking sailor might actually utter “mille sabords” / “mille sabords du diable”. But, besides Popeye, is “blistering barnacles” something a sailor would say? Also, sabords = gunports, not barnacles ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/84 "2021-01-21T20:52:42Z")
It’s a translation, but not a direct one. It works, and Haddock is in his way no less silly than Popeye. ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/85 "2021-01-22T18:46:06Z")
> [@Morgyn](#): > > I grew up using _bloody_ as both an adjective and an expletive, and _bloody hell_ when I was really annoyed, but we were stationed in the UK when I was 4-8 years old, so that’s understandable. I picked up _buggerit_ from Pterry and _Bugger that for a game of soldiers_ from Tom Holt, both British authors whose books I’ve enjoyed. I’m not sure where I picked up _ye gods and little fishes_, but I’m pretty certain is was from something I read Do you also use “Millennium hand and shrimp”? I think “Ye gods and little fishes” has a venerable pedigree; if I recall rightly, and I may not, it’s in Louisa May Alcott’s _Little Men_. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/86 "2021-01-22T19:20:41Z")
in 1972, when my high school mounted “Hello Dolly!” as the spring musical, I was cast as Barnaby Tucker. I was still using his catchphrase “Holy cabooses!” twenty years later. P.S. I have no idea why that’s a response to @CalMeacham. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 7:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/87 "2021-01-22T19:26:45Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > I think it is from Muttley. Muttley did use it, but I recall it earlier in Quickdraw McGraw cartoons, from Snuffles the bloodhound, when Quickdraw wouldn’t give him an extra dawg bis-kee-ut. And I believe the correct phrasing was “ruckem–suckem, frickem–frackem, razzle–frazzis.” ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/88 "2021-01-22T19:40:52Z")
> [@kaylasdad99](#): > > I have no idea why that’s a response to @CalMeacham. Nor have I I like holy cabooses and I cannot lie. ---
**Author:** ![Typo\_Negative](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/typo_negative/32/484_2.png) [@Typo\_Negative](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Typo_Negative)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/89 "2021-01-22T21:29:12Z")
to the last I grapple with thee; from hell’s heart I stab at thee; for hate’s sake I spit my last breath at thee. ---
**Author:** ![snowthx](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snowthx/32/10660_2.png) [@snowthx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snowthx)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/90 "2021-01-22T21:48:39Z")
Ace Ventura: - Holy Hell! Used when surptised. - All-righty-then. When I agree to move-on in a conversation. - La-hoo, zah-her. Used a lot recently. - Do NOT go in there!. To announce when I leave the bathroom. -Damn Skippy! - Gawain McSam (_The Ladykillers_). Used whenever I forcefully agree with something. -Bloody Hell! - Ron Weasley. Used occasionally when surprised. -Over the Line! - Walter Sobchak. Used regularly, like when someone parks over the line. ---
**Author:** ![LurkMeister](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3da27b/32.png) [@LurkMeister](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LurkMeister)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 10:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/91 "2021-01-22T22:10:23Z")
> [@Author\_Balk](#): > > An episode of Monk was about his favorite show as a child. It’s basically the Brady Bunch. A catch phrase on that show is a kid saying “Shucky Darn”. That is used all the time here. I occasional use “Shucky darn” and until reading this I had completely forgotten where I picked it up. Not a curse or oath, but another phrase I use a lot is “Ya think?” which I got from Jack O’Neill on Stargate. ---
**Author:** ![scabpicker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scabpicker/32/8268_2.png) [@scabpicker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scabpicker)\ **Post date:** [January 22, 2021, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/92 "2021-01-22T23:18:22Z")
I say this one pretty often. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/of49fNcdqa4/hqdefault.jpg "Friday Don't nobody go in the bathroom") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=of49fNcdqa4) ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2021, 3:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/93 "2021-01-28T15:51:40Z")
I use it so often I’m hardly aware of it anymore, but I just remembered that I usually say “Jebus” because of Homer Simpson. [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/XxWkcAUykUo/hqdefault.jpg "The Simpsons - Save Me, Jebus") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XxWkcAUykUo) ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [January 28, 2021, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/94 "2021-01-28T16:24:14Z")
Yeah, so much Simpsons lingo has entered the public dialogue, it could be a thread in itself. When someone asks me if a word, or their usage of a word is correct, I say “yes, that’s a perfectly cromulent word”. ---
**Author:** ![Guest-starring\_Id](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guest-starring_id/32/21736_2.png) [@Guest-starring\_Id](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guest-starring_Id)\ **Post date:** [March 14, 2021, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/95 "2021-03-14T23:25:40Z")
At the very end of the Monty Python sketch where Cleese says “yes” a trillion times on the phone (including possibly the greatest line he has ever uttered: “No, sorry - Thursday’s _ **RIGHT!!! OUT!!!** _”), he says, defeatedly, and with such agonized finality, “…_damn_…” A bunch of us idiots took that one on back in the day. After, like, almost anything. With quivering jaw, channelling Peter O’Toole, used for the weakest reasons. Another usable Cleese curse was the subdued “Oh, blast.” When I was even younger and confronted with a mild setback that was I knew right away was surmountable I’d borrow Mork’s “Shuzzbutt”. Another ‘back in the day’ was frowning on anyone who used “Well, kiss my grits” from the tv show “Alice”, or any Jim Nabors-like “Well, gaaaawwwllllllllll-_lee_!” If someone in front of me in line is taking way the fudge too long at whatever it is they’re doing I’ll (internally) yell _ **"NEXT!!!"** _ like an at-a-loss-for-words Frank Booth did after Jeffrey Beaumont socked him one in the kisser, in the back of Frank’s 69 Charger. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/96 "2021-03-15T00:07:27Z")
Harrumph…egad! ---
**Author:** ![El\_Kabong](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/el_kabong/32/496_2.png) [@El\_Kabong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Kabong)\ **Post date:** [March 15, 2021, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/97 "2021-03-15T00:35:02Z")
I tend to use this one quite a bit, although no way can I reproduce Slim Pickens’ immortal twang: [What in the Wide Wide World of Sports! - YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yh8Of-cXbMY) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/98 "2021-03-16T11:51:25Z")
Mother of Pearl: W.C. Fields Ratzenfratzen: Yosemite Sam Monkey Muffins: Lt. Col Henry Blake ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanubv.2/32/3260_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUBv.2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUBv.2)\ **Post date:** [March 16, 2021, 12:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/99 "2021-03-16T12:53:08Z")
Sweet, fancy Moses(Seinfeld) ---
**Author:** ![BobLibDem](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/boblibdem/32/3149_2.png) [@BobLibDem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobLibDem)\ **Post date:** [March 17, 2021, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524/100 "2021-03-17T00:24:05Z")
> [@BobLibDem](#): > > Monkey Muffins: Lt. Col Henry Blake Correction: Col. Sherman Potter [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524.md?page=4) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/curses-or-oaths-youve-adopted-from-literature-or-movies/930524.md?page=6)