# Expressions that replace "Oh, my god!" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [April 18, 2012, 11:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219 "2012-04-18T23:51:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/21 "2012-04-19T02:58:42Z")
I always liked “Oh my lack of god!” I can’t remember where I got it, though. ---
**Author:** ![Trinopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/2bfe46/32.png) [@Trinopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trinopus)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 3:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/22 "2012-04-19T03:22:37Z")
> [@Namkcalb](#): > > cthulhu fhtagn Oh, thanks! I just spent five minutes shoving the tentacles back through my display screen. ---
**Author:** ![Quasimodem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/e274bd/32.png) [@Quasimodem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quasimodem)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/23 "2012-04-19T03:25:40Z")
“Lordy, Lordy!” I’ve always wondered if that was Jesus’ \* nickname\*, you know? Down here in Georgia, it isn’t unusual to see folks fanning their faces and gasping, “Lordy, ain’t it hawt?” They say it so much, I wrote a little scenario out of it being Jesus’ nickname: One nice Spring day, a few boys are knocking at the holy family’s door, and one of them says, “Mr. and Mrs. Christ, can _Lordy_ come out and play with us?” I have actually _asked_ one of **D’s** very religious sisters this, and she just walked off. So reverent on Sundays, but _Lordy’s_ okay during the week? Jesus! Q ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/24 "2012-04-19T03:44:13Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > What the Fuck? > Jesus H Christ > KEE-Rist > Criminey > Holy Shit > Land a’ Goshen (no idea what it means, really, but I’ve heard and read it used that way) > I’m Gettin’ Too Old For This Shit! > Christ on a Cross > Shit on a Shingle > Well Bless My Heart > Well Bless Your Heart > Holy Mother of God > Jesus Mary and Joseph Nearly all of those are still religious, and, indeed, Christian. The trouble is that, to get the same effect, it has to be something taboo and transgressive in some way. You either do that by taking the name of the Lord in vain, or bay saying something sexually or scatalogically obscene (and thus “not safe for school”). Expressions like “cripes” and “my goodness” probably themselves originated as slightly disguised (and thus toned down) takings of the Lord’s name in vain (Christ and God respectively). I suggest “By Jupiter!” At least no-one is likely to suspect that you really believe in him these days. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 3:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/25 "2012-04-19T03:48:09Z")
I’m an atheist, but I still like taking the lord’s name in vain. It works because we have culturally agreed that these words are naughty. If we all agreed that the phrase “blue balloon” was naughty it would have the same impact. My favorite by far is “God fucking damn it.” ---
**Author:** ![Rhiannon8404](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rhiannon8404/32/17929_2.png) [@Rhiannon8404](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhiannon8404)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/26 "2012-04-19T03:50:07Z")
I say “Holy Smokes”. ---
**Author:** ![chacoguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/50afbb/32.png) [@chacoguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chacoguy)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 3:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/27 "2012-04-19T03:53:55Z")
This has never happened before, I swear. Want Oral? ::Brightens:: :o ---
**Author:** ![florez](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/b9e5f3/32.png) [@florez](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/florez)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/28 "2012-04-19T04:50:19Z")
I have always had the foul mouth of a truck driver. Son of a biscuit! Holy fuck! Holy shit! Gawd fucking Lord Almighty!!! Fucking A! Oh fuck me!! ---
**Author:** ![tripthicket](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripthicket/32/297_2.png) [@tripthicket](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tripthicket)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/29 "2012-04-19T05:04:01Z")
“Adonday veeah,” courtesy of Zenna Henderson. ---
**Author:** ![Rachellelogram](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rachellelogram/32/8689_2.png) [@Rachellelogram](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rachellelogram)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 5:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/30 "2012-04-19T05:09:44Z")
“Goodness gravius!” (the superlative form of “good gravy”) “Aw, butternuts!” “Dod gammit!” “What the fluck?” “Good gourd!” “Frog damn it!” ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/31 "2012-04-19T05:28:20Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > Nearly all of those are still religious, and, indeed, Christian. > > The trouble is that, to get the same effect, it has to be something taboo and transgressive in some way. You either do that by taking the name of the Lord in vain, or bay saying something sexually or scatalogically obscene (and thus “not safe for school”). Expressions like “cripes” and “my goodness” probably themselves originated as slightly disguised (and thus toned down) takings of the Lord’s name in vain (Christ and God respectively). > > I suggest “By Jupiter!” At least no-one is likely to suspect that you really believe in him these days. Just as an aside, it can be argued that the stricture against taking the Lord’s name in vain meant that YHWH didn’t want the Israelites to invoke His name in the same manner as the Canaanites would their own deities (as in “In the name of Baal, may a plague descend upon your crops”). After all, not only is ‘God’ not the name of the Christian deity, but the phrase ‘God Damn You’ has the same ‘vainness’ as ‘God Bless You’ does. Neither of these utterances are usually accompanied by any true invocation of the magical power of the unnamed deity. And, I would say that “By Jove” certainly would be a more powerful invocation (if uttered by a Neopagan worshiper) than “By God” if only because the name “Jove” is a personal noun associated with one particular deity, whereas (as mentioned before) the name "God’ is a noun associated with a class of entities typically referred to as deities. The fact that many non-Christians use that word as an expletive indicates that its meaning is separate from the name of the non-invoked and non-named deity in question. ---
**Author:** ![Cugel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cugel/32/1199_2.png) [@Cugel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cugel)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 5:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/32 "2012-04-19T05:54:23Z")
Bender: Oh your god. ---
**Author:** ![Namkcalb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/c89c15/32.png) [@Namkcalb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Namkcalb)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/33 "2012-04-19T06:06:14Z")
“Heavens”/“heavens above” is borderline non-Christian. Mainstream Christians don’t believe in multiple heavens, and the heavens is a poetic term for outer space， something big, impressive and undivine. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/34 "2012-04-19T07:46:01Z")
“Allah yerachmo!” (Arabic for “Lord have mercy!”. I use it myself now and them). ---
**Author:** ![6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/6/e19adc/32.png) [@6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/6ImpossibleThingsB4Breakfast)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/35 "2012-04-19T08:22:19Z")
“Good grief!” ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 9:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/36 "2012-04-19T09:17:44Z")
“Great Scott!” was popular about 80 years ago. Maybe you could revive it. ---
**Author:** ![Ranchoth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranchoth/32/1066_2.png) [@Ranchoth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranchoth)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 10:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/37 "2012-04-19T10:03:34Z")
_“Crom!”_ ---
**Author:** ![Antigen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/848f3c/32.png) [@Antigen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Antigen)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 10:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/38 "2012-04-19T10:58:38Z")
> [@rachelellogram](#): > > “Aw, butternuts!” I **love** this. I’m going to start using it and hope it sticks. I see nothing wrong with using “Oh My God” even if you don’t believe in a God. It’s just a thing you say. Many of the uses of “fuck” don’t have a damn thing to do with intercourse, and don’t even get me _started_ on “douchecanoe”. ---
**Author:** ![saje](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/saje/32/3631_2.png) [@saje](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saje)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/39 "2012-04-19T11:17:36Z")
> [@MareIt](#): > > Praise Cupcake! > > although only one other Doper and I would get that one… Ha! 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2012, 11:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219/40 "2012-04-19T11:30:08Z")
Atheist here. In frustration the other day, I ejaculated, “Menstruating Mother of Christ!” My gf, a lapsed catholic turned atheist, approved. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/expressions-that-replace-oh-my-god/619219.md?page=3)