first sign of insanity.
I’ve gone a lot further than that!
crazy and insane.
two different things.
like apples and mangos.
We celebrated the religious holidays as cultural holidays, but no lies about Santa or the Easter Bunny or whatnot. These were treated as myths.
Religion was seen as something for gullible fools that didn’t know any better, or at least that’s the impression I got as a child. It’s still hard for me to understand how an otherwise sensible-seeming person can believe in a literal interpretation of a religious text.
My favorite is when Sammy Davis Junior won an award and shouted out “Thank you Jesus!” This occurred several years after Davis had converted to Judaism.
but anamen.
evidence of absence is not absence of evidence.
when the lighting is right i see santa.
The “by our lady” origin is unlikely, as is the “blood of christ” angle as well as the menstration one. My wife knows I’m particularly frustrated when I use “bloody hell,” but I learned it from actual real deities: Monty Python.
I try a little to reduce casual religious phrases, but saying, “God dammit” after hitting my finger with a hammer doesn’t make God suddenly real. Nor am I really asking for any damnation (what would hell be like for a hammer, anyway?). These little sayings have no real meaning beyond immediate emotion.
I’ll always avoid actual appeals to a god. I don’t pray for people, but I will offer my thoughts and best wishes or whatever.
Recently people, from remote inlaws to total strangers, have offered prayers for me. I don’t decline it, and am always appreciative. I wish I could say, “Even though there’s nobody on the other end of that phone call, I appreciate that you cared enough to dial the phone.”
I say “Oh my god” or “Oh god” all the time, but I never bless anyone nor do I pray to god for anything
It is virtually impossible to wipe your language of all religious references. English is so steeped in Christianity that many expressions are based on.
If you use:
A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush
A drop in the bucket
A labor of love
A law unto themselves
A man after his own heart
A sign of the times
A two-edged sword
A wolf in sheep’s clothing
All things to all men
As old as the hills
Bite the dust
Can a leopard change its spots?
Don’t cast your pearls before swine
Eat drink and be merry
Feet of clay
Flesh and blood
Gird your loins
Give up the ghost
Go the extra mile
Good Samaritan
He who lives by the sword, dies by the sword
How are the mighty fallen
In the twinkling of an eye
Man does not live by bread alone
My cup runneth over
No rest for the wicked
Nothing new under the sun
Pearls before swine
Pride goes before a fall
Put words in one’s mouth
See eye to eye
Set your teeth on edge
Sour grapes
Strait and narrow
Swords into ploughshares
The apple of his eye
The blind leading the blind
The ends of the earth
The fly in the ointment
The fruits of your loins
The land of Nod
The letter of the law
The powers that be
The root of the matter
The salt of the earth
The skin of your teeth
The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak
The strait and narrow
The sweat of your brow
The writing is on the wall
There’s nothing new under the sun
Wash your hands of the matter
You reap what you sow
Then you are quoting the Bible
Likewise if you have used any of these “innocent” expressions in place of swearing then you are also showing your Christian indoctrination.
blazes (Hell)
jeepers creepers (Jesus Christ)
jeez (Jesus)
gee whiz (Jesus)
sheesh (Jesus)
by jingo (by Jesus)
cripes (Christ)
criminey (Christ)
for Pete’s sake (for Christ’s sake)
egad (Oh God)
zounds (God’s wounds)
Gadzooks (God’s hooks)
drat (God rot)
blooming/ruddy (by Our Lady)
bloody (Gods blood)
Doggone (God damn)
Goldang (God damn)
Godfrey Daniels (God damn)
Good grief (Good God)
Darn (damn)
Dang (damn)
goodness gracious (God)
goodness me (God)
good night (God)
by George (God)
by Jove (God)
blimey (God blind me)
Those are all trite cliches best avoided anyway.
Avoid them like the plague!
It’s true the Bible has had a huge influence on the English language. But using a phrase that goes back to a translation of the Bible isn’t the same as praying to/mentioning a god you don’t believe in.
What? The word “good” has nothing to do with the word “God.” Anyway you also left off a really easy one: “goodbye/God be with ye.”
Uh, Jove was different god. Not the Judeo-Christian-Islamic one.
I do this also, and I got it from my father. Being Jewish, this is an excellent curse with no one to offend (and possibly even please.)
BTW, some theories on the origin of Bless You while sneezing involve spirits. I wouldn’t accuse anyone saying this of believing in spirits.
That would never happen; it wouldn’t even occur to me to plead to God for help any more than a Christian would plead to Ra for help. There’s nobody there to plead to.
I’m gonna have to agree with you there. Pleading to God is on another level than just saying “Bless you” when someone sneezes. I will often find myself using common phrases like “Oh God” but there is no meaning or feeling behind them. You will never hear me praying or pleading to a deity.
I say “Bless you” just because it’s considered the thing to do when someone sneezes. It’s stupid but I don’t think it conflicts with my values.
I will say I am thankful and grateful, but I absolutely refuse to say “blessed”. I inwardly cringe whenever that word is used around me. “Blessed and highly favored!” makes me want to pull out a butcher knife and kill someone.
When I called myself a Believer, I prayed. Especially when I was afraid of something…which was all the time. Once I admitted to myself that I no longer believed, I stopped praying completely and I have never looked back. Interestingly, around this time I also stopped being so afraid of stuff.
I refer to things as “groin grabbingly”. That’s not in the bible is it? Because there’s no way I’m going to stop using it.
I try my god damnedest not to use any.
You’re probably OK with groin grabbing. The “bird in the hand” line is non-Biblical, too.