# Taking the Lord's name in vain.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-lords-name-in-vain/187908>\
**Category:** Great Debates\
**Created:** [July 12, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-lords-name-in-vain/187908 "2003-07-12T04:45:35Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 6\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-lords-name-in-vain/187908/1 "2003-07-12T04:45:35Z")

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OK, if you say Jesus Christ in very forceful manner, or put Damn or Damn it after the word God, you’ve obviously broken the third commandment, but what about other things people say?  
For instance, is exclaiming “Oh my God!” taking his name in vain?  
Is Jeeze, as in “Oh Jeeze” (or however it’s spelled) just a shortening of Jesus, so saying that might be considered taking his name in vain? What about “Oh lord!” yes, lord doesn’t have to mean the Jewish or Christian God, but more often then not, it does, so is that OK or not?

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**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 5:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-lords-name-in-vain/187908/2 "2003-07-12T05:05:46Z")

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“Taking the Lord’s name in vain” is only partially about using it with no real intent to invoke Him. It also means using it to justify things that are against His expressed will.

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**Author:** ![Beryl\_Mooncalf\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9f8e36/32.png) [@Beryl\_Mooncalf\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beryl_Mooncalf_1)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 12:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-lords-name-in-vain/187908/3 "2003-07-12T12:25:07Z")

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I agree with Polycarp, But I’d change the commandment # to 2.

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**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 2:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-lords-name-in-vain/187908/4 "2003-07-12T14:45:34Z")

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After careful historical consideration, I’d have to say probably not for Jeeze. It’s about magic, where the name is the thing. If, historically, it was acceptable to say “Swounds” or “Sblood” or “By blue!” (Sacre bleu), which really has the same intent behind it as saying “Geeze!” or even “Gee!”, then it should be find to say the latter two.

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**Author:** ![WILLASS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/54ee81/32.png) [@WILLASS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WILLASS)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-lords-name-in-vain/187908/5 "2003-07-12T18:51:36Z")

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I seem to remember ‘gadzooks’ being a shortening of ‘Gods Hooks’ (Is this word recognised in the US?) which was considered extremley blasphemous back in the day but isn’t considered wrong to say now. I think thats the case with things like ‘jeez’ and suchlike. Then again if you aren’t religous you can say what you please.

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**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\
**Post date:** [July 12, 2003, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/taking-the-lords-name-in-vain/187908/6 "2003-07-12T21:05:58Z")

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Gadzooks is the name of some store I’ve seen in the mall.

I can’t remember what they sell, though.