# What's Your "Default" Cuss-Word?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170
**Category:** The BBQ Pit
**Created:** [November 17, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170 "2004-11-17T01:28:16Z")
**Posts on this page:** 20
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Eve](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eve)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/1 "2004-11-17T01:28:16Z")
I’m putting this in the Pit and not IMHO, as I know bad language is _de trop_ there. What is the “gut” curse that automatically comes out of your mouth when you, say, stub your toe or hit your thumb with a hammer or fall down an elevator shaft?
Mine, I am very sorry to say, is “_Jesusmotherfuckingchristsonofabitch!_” I picked it up from an Italian Catholic high school friend and have been unable to divest myself of it. No matter how I try to train myself to say, “goodness gracious me!” or, “lawsy!,” I always wind up spitting out, “_Jesusmotherfuckingchristsonofabitch!_”
Yours?
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### Author:  [@Harborwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harborwolf)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/2 "2004-11-17T01:31:40Z")
I’ve actually gotten a lot better about this sort of thing. I’ve managed to drop down to “shucks, fudge,” or “dang.” I’ve managed to convince myself that when I swear, I’m being overly dramatic. 😛
That and I got kinda tired of swearing. Same words over and over really. Does anyone have any recommendations on new ones? 😃
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### Author:  [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/3 "2004-11-17T01:34:37Z")
I’ve coined a new term, which I used jokingly for a week or so but took hold: It’s a combination of “hosehead” (of SCTV fame) and “dirtbag”. Thus, I call people _“hosebags”_, and with increasing frequency.
But on the rare combination that I’m very pissed off, I’ve used a term I learned from a former contractor I dealt with: _“a dogbreathed mother fucker”_.
Tripler
It’s the Pit, so I’ll say it: bin Laden is a dogbreathed motherfuckin’ hosebag.
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### Author:  [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/4 "2004-11-17T01:35:39Z")
My default substitute for “Shit!” is “Crap!” Imagine my chagrin when my mother told me that “Crap!” was my four-year-old niece’s new favorite word, and we were all going to avoid it until she was through that phase.
Shit!
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### Author:  [@kimera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kimera)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/5 "2004-11-17T01:39:11Z")
‘Fuck.’ I know, so common, so boring, yet it works wonders for me. [This well-known piece](http://www.sigg3.net/myself/fuck.html) explores the glory of that word.
My favorite thing to yell to people who are being fucktards is “Suck my dick!” Even though I do not have one. I find it works wonders.
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### Author:  [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/6 "2004-11-17T01:39:31Z")
WHENEVER I…sorry, had to turn down my radio. I didn’t realize I was shouting.
Whenever I bang my knee on my desk (you know, not the actual kneebone, but the soft spot right next to it.) my general oath is “fuckfuckfuckfuckshitthathurtsgoddamnsonofabitchfuckfuckfuck.” Usually by that time the pain has passed.
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### Author:  [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/7 "2004-11-17T01:41:33Z")
I don?t have a default, my repertoire is pretty diverse, and has become almost reflexive. What I have noticed is that ?mother fucker? is common in my lexicon of profanity. However, not every mother fucker is the same:
MOTHER fucker = shock, annoyance
mother FUCKER = amazement, perplexity
motherfucker = small, needling mistake
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### Author:  [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/8 "2004-11-17T01:43:29Z")
“Shit on a stick!”
Generally speaking, it’s not meant to be an imperative.
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### Author:  [@The\_Long\_Road](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Long_Road)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/9 "2004-11-17T01:44:38Z")
> [@Waverly](#):
>
> I don?t have a default, my repertoire is pretty diverse, and has become almost reflexive. What I have noticed is that ?mother fucker? is common in my lexicon of profanity. However, not every mother fucker is the same:
> MOTHER fucker = shock, annoyance
> mother FUCKER = amazement, perplexity
> motherfucker = small, needling mistake
mother fucker = my father
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### Author:  [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/10 "2004-11-17T01:48:19Z")
motherfucking Opera replaced my apostrophes with question marks
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### Author:  [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/11 "2004-11-17T01:49:12Z")
Shit, cunt and fuck in equal distribution. Don’t forget the obligatory link to the [Channel 4 advert](http://neuro.me.uk/blog/archives/000457.html) (that link was the first I found on Google, hence the tiny resolution…) (Oh, any don’t open it with anybody impressionable around)
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### Author:  [@Waverly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Waverly)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/12 "2004-11-17T01:52:31Z")
> [@The Long Road](#):
>
> mother fucker = my father
Literally, yes. Father, priest, neighbor… all could be literal definitions. My definition of the expletive involves more disturbing imagery. It’s vaguely oedipal… but different.
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### Author:  [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/13 "2004-11-17T01:54:32Z")
> [@Tripler](#):
>
> I’ve coined a new term, which I used jokingly for a week or so but took hold: It’s a combination of “hosehead” (of SCTV fame) and “dirtbag”. Thus, I call people _“hosebags”_, and with increasing frequency.
_gasp_ When and where did you invent this? I heard it growing up (although I suspect mine may have a different derivation, as I also heard the term “ho-bag”).
I generally just say “Dammit”. Wimpy, huh?
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### Author:  [@LilyoftheValley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LilyoftheValley)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/14 "2004-11-17T01:55:40Z")
> [@LilyoftheValley](#):
>
> _gasp_ When and where did you invent this? I heard it growing up (although I suspect mine may have a different derivation, as I also heard the term “ho-bag”).
Clarification: I didn’t “hear it” as in being said about me!
Gotta protect my mad dope rep.
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### Author:  [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/15 "2004-11-17T02:01:22Z")
> [@LilyoftheValley](#):
>
> _gasp_ When and where did you invent this? I heard it growing up (although I suspect mine may have a different derivation, as I also heard the term “ho-bag”).
> I generally just say “Dammit”. Wimpy, huh?
No, really, I can tell you of the exact moment I “invented” this term. I was talking with a guy about a ‘Poker Party’ we were having, and he was resisting spending the $10 to join the pool. I told him because he was declining that I was “inventing a new term for you pal! You’re part hosehead and part dirtbag. Thus, I label you a hosebag!!”
And thus began a new/revived slang term in 2003.
Tripler
Hell, you may have heard it before from someone I’m telepathetic with.
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### Author:  [@Eats\_Crayons](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eats_Crayons)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 2:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/16 "2004-11-17T02:02:06Z")
I did a scene study, many years ago, for a theatre class. It was from _Carnal Knowledge_. We broke down a scene, studied it for months, and eventually presented it. We ended the scene before the Jack Nicholson character swore bigtime, but every once in awhile, like when I whack my thumb with a hammer, it all comes flooding back: “Son of a cunt bitch!” :eek:
Otherwise I go through phases, “fuck” may be de rigueur, “putain” may last the next few months.
Lately it’s been a tame “dammit.” Strangely, I say it in the protesting voice that Fozzie uses when he’s whining and complaining “Kermi-i-it!” You know:
\
“Dam-i-i-it!”
\
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### Author:  [@wonky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wonky)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/17 "2004-11-17T02:08:04Z")
My normal default is a simple god DAMN it. Heavy emphasis on the DAAAMN.
But then there are the moments of sheer shock and horror. The moments when I can’t even string together three words for a proper god DAMN it. And then, from my lips slips this rather inflammatory phrase, said sotto voce:
“Jesus fuck.”
I would advise you not to say this one in public, as it tends to offend.
I, however, am incapable of refraining when things just blow me away, in a bad way.
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### Author:  [@Apricot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Apricot)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 2:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/18 "2004-11-17T02:09:40Z")
“Fuck” for things I do to myself.
“Asshole” for pointing out the mistakes of others at high volume.
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### Author:  [@Achren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achren)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/19 "2004-11-17T02:19:47Z")
My friends once tried to find the worst curse word or phrase they could think of. Much thought and a few drinks later, _bloody cunt fuck_ was born.
It stuck in my head, though thankfully I’ve not yelled it in public.
Yet.
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### Author:  [@Misnomer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Misnomer)
#### Post date: [November 17, 2004, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-your-default-cuss-word/275170/20 "2004-11-17T02:19:54Z")
> [@ava](#):
>
> ‘Fuck.’ I know, so common, so boring, yet it works wonders for me.
That’s my word when I swear deliberately. I’ve loved that word since my college years. 🙂
When I’m not swearing deliberately, or if “fuck” would be a bit too strong, I use “shit” (and variations like “holy shit”). When I can’t swear at all but need to express frustration, I like “motherless son of a…,” deliberately trailing off. I copied that from somewhere that I can’t remember, and it gets used in reference to objects both animate and inanimate, male and female. Another favorite is “mother puss bucket,” stolen from _Ghostbusters_.
> [@](#):
>
> _My favorite thing to yell to people who are being fucktards is “Suck my dick!”_
Mine is “Bite me!” Works every time. 😃
> [@GorillaMan](#):
>
> Don’t forget the obligatory link to the Channel 4 advert
Holy shit, that’s awesome! 🙂
(Is it wrong that I was turned on by the way Peter Gallagher said “fuck?”)
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