16

There is a tendency in traditionally Christian societies (grossly speaking, the West) to leave behind words or expression which allude to such heritage or faith. A familiar example is CE and BCE instead of AD and BC. I'm interested here with the case of "Oh my Gosh", which is used instead of "Oh my God".

Now, according to this answer, the first time this word was used as replacement for God was in the 16th century by Nicholas Udall, who was himself a religious person (at one point he became a vicar, actually). So, although not in its origin, has the use of such word become as an expression of anti-theism? By anti-theism I mean the rejection of theism, not confined to but exemplified by atheism.

Jesse
  • 1,077
luchonacho
  • 2,201
  • 3
    Possibly a good question for: https://christianity.stackexchange.com – user 66974 Dec 13 '18 at 09:29
  • 38
    Some Christians I've known consider "oh my god" to be "taking the Lord's name in vain", which the bible prohibits. So you may find religious people using it for this reason. Also, as you point out, there are people who want to avoid referencing god at all, as a rejection of religion. I have no idea which are more common. – AndyT Dec 13 '18 at 09:50
  • 3
    @AndyT I suspect there are more Christian English speakers than English speakers who choose to reject religion to the point of never saying /gad/. (lazy IPA) – Azor Ahai -him- Dec 13 '18 at 17:56
  • 7
    Is there any evidence of anyone who does this out of an anti-theistic persuasion? I've never met an atheist who avoids the G word on principle and I'd think this would be a very, very unusual view to take. – tmgr Dec 13 '18 at 18:14
  • 3
    @tmgr No, I've never heard of an atheist avoiding the word "God" altogether, but certainly there are those who avoid expressions like "Oh my God" since it can be seen as implying a personal belief in God. – jkej Dec 13 '18 at 18:30
  • @jkej Indeed. That's where I'm coming from. – luchonacho Dec 13 '18 at 18:35
  • 1
    @jkej There must be some few people who avoid such expressions for the reasons you say (though I'd say it's incumbent on OP to at least attempt to prove their existence as part of the EL&U research requirement). In any case, they are so very few that it would be a paranoid christian indeed who hears the bold march of secularism in the accommodatingly mild and mincing exclamation Oh my gosh. – tmgr Dec 13 '18 at 20:23
  • 3
    @tmgr Yes, I agree that it's probably not very common for atheist to replace "Oh my good" with "Oh my gosh" if they want to avoid implying religious belief. It's much more likely that they would simply avoid the phrase altogether. – jkej Dec 13 '18 at 20:32
  • @jkej especially when there is such a wonderful wealth of profanity open to them – tmgr Dec 13 '18 at 20:33
  • 2
    Is gosh not a contraction of "Land o' Goshen"? – mckenzm Dec 14 '18 at 01:08
  • 1
    @jkej atheists are unlikely to avoid the expression "Oh my God", because it's clearly just a meaningless expression of amazement. However, quite a few tend to replace "Thank God" to "Thank goodness", because the original phrase still retains genuine religious meaning. – IMil Dec 14 '18 at 03:19

1 Answers1

77

Quite the reverse. It's an example of a 'minced oath', where a similar-sounding word is substituted for the name of God in an expletive so as to avoid blasphemy. In 19th-century fiction, if a 'bad' character swore it would frequently be written as 'By G-d' or 'D-n you', as swearing was considered so offensive in polite society. Nowadays, I've noticed that some people use religious oaths meaninglessly without caring that they are offensive to believers.

Kate Bunting
  • 25,480
  • 19
    I've noticed that some people use religious oaths meaninglessly without caring that they are offensive to believers Many simply don't know that what they're saying causes offence, for them it's simply part of the patios they grew up speaking and would be bemused if told that their mode of expression is offensive to some. – Binary Worrier Dec 13 '18 at 15:43
  • 6
    There's a sea captain in the operetta HMS Pinafore (1878) who claims as a point of pride that he "never uses a big, big D". Of course, he does say "damn" towards the end, and everyone is shocked. – Michael Seifert Dec 13 '18 at 15:53
  • 8
    "without caring that they are offensive to believers" They might not be offensive to believers any more though. – thosphor Dec 13 '18 at 16:48
  • 6
    "Look, I don't think it ought to be blasphemy, just saying 'Jehova'." – MichaelK Dec 13 '18 at 17:31
  • @BinaryWorrier or Amused. – GalacticCowboy Dec 13 '18 at 19:23
  • 4
    As a person who was raised Catholic, I can attest that this phrase comes from a place of respect for Christianity. One of the ten commandments is 'Do not take the Lord's name in vain', and stating "Oh my God!" would break that rule.

    Hence, we have such phrases as "Oh my Gosh", "Jiminy Christmas" and "Geeze Louise". Another early example is "Gazzooks!" which was originally "God's hooks" (a phrase that was hot in the middle ages).

     – LeLetter Dec 13 '18 at 20:08
  • 1
    I have seen, in published fiction, clearly-religious authors who use "gawd" in place of "God" presumably to avoid the whole blaspheming thing. It drives me bonkers. I'd much rather see "Oh my gosh" or my kids' generation's "OMG" (they say this out loud, pronounced "oh em gee") than the incredibly grating "Oh my gawd". Part of my annoyance might be because I'm not merged on cot/caught, so these words aren't homophones for me. It also somehow seems more disingenuous than the older minced oaths, like the difference between an old-fashioned radio bleep and the modern barely-disguised "sh-t". – 1006a Dec 13 '18 at 20:28
  • 3
    @1006a the modern barely-disguised "sh-t"? In my country, most radio shows for people aged under 40 don't even bleep out the F word, while "shit" is regularly heard on prime-time public broadcast TV comedy shows. :-) – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Dec 13 '18 at 22:00
  • 3
    @Chappo That would be fine with me. It's not the words I object to, it's the hypocrisy of censoring them, but so lightly that no one is in any doubt of what's meant--even children who might not have heard the word before. – 1006a Dec 13 '18 at 22:48
  • 6
    I'm an atheist, and in principle I would prefer to avoid using religious-based oaths, simply because they don't make sense given that I don't believe in any religion. However, having grown up in the culture I did, it's basically impossible to do. When I'm frustrated, I say things like, "Oh, Jesus, come on," simply because they're part of the linguistic environment that was programmed into me from an early age. –  Dec 14 '18 at 00:50