Tonight at dinner, ELJ's sister said something that caught my ear.
Heck-a-molly.
I hadn't heard that before!
So we started discussing expressions. You know -- what we say to not swear.
My most common phrases are: Holy Mackeral. Oh my gosh. Holy Moly. Good Night! Doggone it! Good Gracious. Freak Out! Darn. (I also have been known to say...) Oh my heck. Fetch. Flip. Dagnabit.
Other ones I've heard before that make me laugh: Oh my golly. Gosh ol'Friday. Man o'war. Honest to Peter. Heavens to Betsy (I'm gonna try and incorporate those last two). Heavens to Mergatroid (was one I hadn't heard before tonight but came up in conversation). For the love. Rats. Well, I'll be!
So - how do you not swear? Especially what do your grandparents say to not swear? Those are the best ones!
Funny, creative non-swearing language makes me -- So Happy!
8 comments:
I have heard Heavens to Mergatroid before - it used to be said a lot. It always made me think of Superman for some reason! How about "Milky"?? But my one word is 'crap' and Dad totally hates it - and sometimes I saw it and wish I hadn't...need to work on that! Dang is another fav as is Oh, my heck!
Crap is my worst and my kids worst thanks to me. Its pretty embarrassing when my 4 year old drops something and yells "CRAP!" in the middle of a store... or even worse was in Primary. My grandparents never really bothered with substitutes unless my Grandma was driving and then everyone was a donkey.
I've said a lot of the ones you mentioned. One of my favorite of my grandma's "swear" words is "Oh...Cryminey!" (Sp? Emphasis on the first part which sounds like "crime".) So fun to hear her say it! I should incorporate it, eh? She also used actual swear words on occasion. Feisty one, she is! ;-)
My grandma says "darn."
I am a pottymouth, myself. I'm a huge fan of phrases that are almost but not quite the actual curse: for instance, "effing", "son of a -" (I just leave out the last word), and "bastage" is a particular specialty of mine. Really need to work on that, I think.
Also, "crap" can just not be said enough.
My friend Liz always says 'Sweet Land of Liberty.' Additional friends now use 'Nebraska' instead of saying hell. After a very long road trip through Nebraska, it seemed fitting.
After reading Amanda's comment about Nebraska - I was cracking up! Then I remembered when we were all reading the Book of Mormon before the end of the year cuz Pres. Hinckley said to get it done before December 31 - Dan commented that the book of Alma was just like Nebraska - it seems to never end! I do believe that now that he is on a mission, he would probably change his feelings quite a bit - as the Book of Alma is awesome!
I am one of the friends who says "Nebraska". It use to be "Idaho" until we met too many people from there. I also say, "Knights of Columbus!" It instantly diffuses any stressful situation.
I say Crimeny - also "Son of a biscuit eater!" Also, "God Bless It!" instead of the stronger version. But when I am in the heat of a story or argument, I have been known to just let the cuss words go... oops. (Never in front of the baby...) and I am trying to cut down on crap too...
Nancy
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