Topic: Religious Themed Cuss Words

[Neon Genesis]

Why do people love using religious themed cuss words so much?  If the person cussing is a Christian, don't they think that would be insulting to Jesus to say goddamnit or Jesus effing Christ?  I never understood how the Christian kids in my high school will use all manner of swear words even if they made no sense at all and were rather silly sounding yet would rail about how evil and gross gays were.  But if you're an atheist, why use religious themed cuss words?  Is it to be offensive to religious people? 

[Skeptress]

For me it's just habit.

[Neon Genesis]

Why is it we don't say "fucking Muhammed" instead of "Jesus fucking Christ" or "Allahdamn you!"  Do other cultures have similar types of blasphemous swear words or is this just an American thing?

[arthwollipot]

I think it's because the whole idea of expressing profanity comes from blasphemy. It's only more recent that we've had non-blasphemous swear words, and some of that is in order to swear without blaspheming (gosh darn). Non-blasphemous words like shit and fuck did not originate as profanity, and were commonly used.

Also, the idea of swearing appears to come from swearing an oath, which was often done by invoking God and so has a religious basis.

[Shibboleth]

The worst swear words in the English language that I can think of are cunt and nigger.

[vespine]

I also very much dislike that when something amazing or horrific happens the first word that comes to my head most frequently is "Jeezus!".

Haven't been religious for 20 years, more then half my life, but I obviously still need to work more on my deprogramming..

The other one I've been working on is saying gesundheit instead of bless you.

[ting-bu-dong]

Why do people love using religious themed cuss words so much?

Steven Pinker - The Language of Swearing (1/2)

Steven Pinker - The Language of Swearing (2/2)

[JuniorSpaceman]

I've always found it interesting (well, not always, but since I found out) that the worst Scandinavian swear word is the word for 'devil'. Also, growing up Jewish, I found it confusing that so many people thought Jesus' middle initial was 'H', when it's so clearly 'F'.

[Anders]

"Satan" isn't really that bad a swearword in Swedish. We go more for the genitalia theme.

[GhostOfPerdition]

I was raised Catholic and taught that "god damn" was very bad thing to say. I wasn't even allowed to use the phrase "oh my god" as an exclamation. This seemed to be the norm with the more religious families I grew up around.

I also very much dislike that when something amazing or horrific happens the first word that comes to my head most frequently is "Jeezus!".

Haven't been religious for 20 years, more then half my life, but I obviously still need to work more on my deprogramming..

The other one I've been working on is saying gesundheit instead of bless you.

That's funny; I'm a bit hypocritical when it comes to giving up religious phrases. I'm committed to saying "gesundheit" instead of "bless you" (even though I'm pretty sure they mean the same thing) because of the religious connotations. However I still say "thank God" as an expression of relief. I'm alright with the idea that "thank God" is a harmless idiom but I hate saying "bless you". 

I eventually decided that I just hate responding to a sneeze and I think it's easier to say "gesundheit" in a half-serious/less akward way than "bless you". [/attempt to weasel out of hypocrisy]

[EhJayArr]

I just know that religious profanity is the most fun to say.

[Neon Genesis]

I eventually decided that I just hate responding to a sneeze and I think it's easier to say "gesundheit" in a half-serious/less akward way than "bless you". [/attempt to weasel out of hypocrisy]

I always ask if someone is talking about you behind your back, in reference to the Japanese cultural belief that every time you sneeze, it means someone is talking about you.

[arthwollipot]

I'm a photic sneezer, so I sneeze a lot. Whenever someone says "bless you", I reply "no thanks".

[Kwisatz Haderach]

My Medieval History Professor in grad school, who was a former Lutheran Pastor, once told me a story about a time he was having dinner with one of the families from his congeregation, and while having a conversation with one of the teenage children, he responded to a question to which he did not have an immediate answer with "Oh... gee, I'm not sure."

Later the parents had a quiet word with him about "swearing" in front of their children.  When he ask what they were talking aout they said "Gee" is short for "Jesus", so he was talking the Lord's name in vain.

Thinking that the was ridiculous -- as any reasonable person would -- he said, " 'Gee' is short for 'Jesus'?  Well fuck me!"

Fortunately, the parents broke out laughing at that point... they were putting him on.  But apparently their parents really thought that "Gee" and "Gee-whiz" were swear words!

[Shibboleth]

I just know that religious profanity is the most fun to say.

Really? More fun than saying "twat"? I mean that is a really fun word.