Cutesy internet speak

[jayel]

That never seems to end!

Points for creativity, but it just gets exhausting when I'm reading a thread about someone ordering a pizza and I have to decipher: "So I'm sitting at home waiting for my hot circle of saucily, cheeze-covered goodness..." Just say pizza! It takes away from the point to have to wade through all that.

Also I hate when people say "Oh my gord, dog, or gods." If you don't believe in Christianity, fine, but don't go out of your way to make the point that you in no way believe in God, and how silly those of us who do are.

I know I'm getting flamed for this. I don't care. It's nothing personal, just my own little irks.

[Greenday]

I agree. I mean, an adjective here and there can be helpful, but 20 adjectives just makes it a pain in the ass to read.

And as for people using other words to replace God, like gord, etc., if someone ever said, "Oh my gord!" in real life, I'd probably laugh at them. It sounds kinda lame.

[Boozy]

Also I hate when people say "Oh my gord, dog, or gods." If you don't believe in Christianity, fine, but don't go out of your way to make the point that you in no way believe in God, and how silly those of us who do are.

Damned if I do, damned if I don't. :rolleyes:

I always used to write "Oh my God." And then it occurred to me that there may be Christians or other believers who find that offensive (taking the lord's name in vain, etc). So I switched to "gord".

I didn't realize that would be considered offensive as well. I never used it to make a point. I just didn't want to curse using the name of someone's beloved deity.

[jayel]

Damned if I do, damned if I don't. :rolleyes:

I always used to write "Oh my God." And then it occurred to me that there may be Christians or other believers who find that offensive (taking the lord's name in vain, etc). So I switched to "gord".

I didn't realize that would be considered offensive as well. I never used it to make a point. I just didn't want to curse using the name of someone's beloved deity.

Wow, boozy, I want to issue an immediate apology to you and anyone who was thinking like you. With all the sarcasm sent toward Christianity on the other board, it never once occurred to me that someone would be using these words in attempt to be considerate. I just always took it for sarcasm (though in some cases I'm sure it is).

I admit I have used "Oh my God" at times, and then feel bad about it. I usually say "Oh my gosh" or similar. It's kind of a verbal reaction that's hard to break.

Anyway like I said, I never thought about it like you explained. That's really very cool of you. Hopefully no hard feelings? :o

[Boozy]

Anyway like I said, I never thought about it like you explained. That's really very cool of you. Hopefully no hard feelings?

Of course there are no hard feelings, and you most certainly don't need to apologize. :)

I had actually never thought of it in the way that you described; as sarcasm. It certainly wouldn't surprise me if there were indeed a few folks out there using these phrases in that way.

My brother is a devoted Christian, and he has always said that he'll use the F word liberally when he's angry, but never uses "Oh my God" because it feels more sinful to him personally. He says he's uncomfortable using the name of God so casually. That's when I started changing my phrasing, out of respect for him. (Although he's never seemed to care much about other people's language.)

[ThePhoneGoddess]

I often say "Oh, Bog." 'Bog' comes from the book The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress by Heinlein, that's what the loonies called God. I liked it for some reason and started using it.

It's never been meant to be sarcastic, it's just that I was raised totally without religion. Nobody in our house mentioned God at all because my Mother had such terrible experiences in parochial school as a child, she was very sensitive about any mention of religion. So as children we just learned to say other things---we never ever said 'Jesus Christ', 'damn it all to hell', 'Oh my God', 'Goddammit' or anything along those lines because it upset her.

[Banrion]

Also I hate when people say "Oh my gord, dog, or gods."

In reference to Customers Suck, Gord really is a bit of a customer service god. Have you been referred to or ever read http://www.actsofgord.com/? If not, it is worth the read, and I think many of us sometimes really do pray that he would come and save us from the SC's.

I try to use the DOYC (Deity of Your Choice), that I learned on snopes, but sometimes I will have a lapse and use the curse instead.

[Rapscallion]

He registered as a member a while back. Apparently he comes around every so often.

Rapscallion

[BroomJockey]

I know on my part, I was raised Christian, so saying things like that carried weight and meaning then. After I changed, they didn't mean much to me, so I started trying to not say things like "Oh my God!" Because it wasn't my God anymore, and I felt it was disrespectful to the people who did still believe (I do use it specifically to needle certain people though, I'll admit). But I didn't (and still don't) know what any curses are that carry any weight in my new religion, so I have to fumble with bastardizations of curses from my upbringing.
Though I must admit to not seeing the issue with "Oh my gods." You can swear to your single God, but they can't swear to their pantheon? It is more acceptable to flaunt Christianity than polythesistic beliefs?

[NightAngel]

I'll agree that a well placed adjective is a good thing but that it frequently becomes an overwhelming amount of them. I absolutely believe that Buffy the Vampire Slayer was a major catalyst for that type of descriptions. Watch an episode or two and you'll see what I mean. Don't get me wrong either- I :heart: BtVS and Angel.

Towards religious phrases...

I haven't, to my rememberance, ever been a Christian.
However, I was raised with sayings that reflect Christianity and still use them out of sheer habit. I try not to offend anyone when it comes to religion but really- no matter what you say it could be offensive so I don't bend over backwards for it either.

[Rapscallion]

On the religious side of things, my viewpoint is that a major religion got established many moons ago, became as central to the way of the world as it could, and now there is offence because it became cultural to use the phrases and terminology of that religion when annoyed.

Fascinating.

Rapscallion

[CancelMyService]

As someone who has been on both sides of the issue (was raised Catholic but now I'm agnostic), I can't help but notice that the religious folks want to have their cake and eat it too.

You can't make religious references for fear they may offend, but if you try to go out of your way to avoid making such references people get mad that you take God out.

As far as I'm aware, there's never been an offical guide published of what's OK to use and what isn't, so everyone kind of has to fumble around in the dark and hope they don't step on a land mine.

Granted, sometimes the nonbelievers get a bit too sarcastic, but the religious folks need to understand not everyone subscribes to the same set of beliefs you do. I know, it sounds wacky, but it's true.

[jayel]

Just wanted to add another thought or two here....

First of all, I want to remind some that it never occurred to me that some people were using the alternates to "oh my God" in attempt to NOT offend Christians. To those who do this, I never meant to offend you.

As far as I know, Christianity is the only religion that specifically states not to take the Lord's name in vain; e.g. Oh my God. Therefore it is considered a form of cursing (by Christians) when you say it. It's not a compliment, as it sounds like some are suggesting, just because you are using God's name at all. So while I don't tend to get upset upon hearing "oh my God", because I tend to slip and say it myself, don't think that we should be proud that you are doing it because "Oh boy, they said God!".

Because Christianity is the only religion that I know of that prohibits using such an expression, it does sound like mocking when someone says "Oh my gord" or "Oh my gods". It's not like you are cursing using the name of your god or gods- Because using their names this way is NOT considered a curse. It's like you are wanting to use this expression as a curse, but don't think God's name is even worth throwing into the mix- or you just can't bring yourself to use it because you are a proud atheist or polytheist or whatever. It sounds like you are just sarcastically saying 'God'.

So there appears to be two groups here.

1. Those who say "Oh my gord/gods" to avoid offending Christians.

To you I say, Thank you.

2. Those who say "Oh my gord/gods" as an actual curse using their preferred deity.

To you I say, It's not a curse. Unless i missed something about not taking Zeus/ Buddha/whoever's name in vain.

[Rapscallion]

As far as I know, Christianity is the only religion that specifically states not to take the Lord's name in vain;

Never met many muslims, have you? If they mention the name of their deity or prophet, they usually add 'praise be upon him' or similar (I've seen this shortened to pbuh on the Internet). Never, ever take the name of either in vain around a large group of muslims - you will know about it.

Rapscallion

[jayel]

No, i haven't met any muslims personally. But I also don't see anyone typing "oh my allah" on the board, so I don't believe muslims fall into the category of using something other than God's name as a curse. Stand corrected on that no other religion considers blasphemy a sin though. Didn't take the time to sort through them all, honestly. Just the ones that had been mentioned.

[Seshat]

Moses brought the Ten Commandments down from Mt Sinai. And he wasn't Christian. The Commandments were given to the Jews. All the People of the Book (Jews, Christians, Muslims) have the Ten Commandments. Including the first.

As for the word 'god' itself: it actually refers to any deity, not just the God-the-Father of the Triune God of the Christians. It's an accident of history that in the English language, the word for any deity is also the word used to refer specifically to the Christian Triune God.

The word 'allah' is the Arabic word for God, and is used as the name of God for Arabic-speaking Jews and Christians, as well as Muslims. It comes from root words such as the Canaanite El, and the Mesopotamian Ilu. It is not much used in English because we have enough perfectly good words for the concept already. :D

[ThePhoneGoddess]

Okay, Jayel, what you're missing is that for non-Christian people in Western society, saying "Goddammit" or "Oh my God" is no different than saying "Oh crap" or "my word". Most non-Christian people do not know that it is considered some kind of curse on God. As the descendants of a culture that was at one time nearly entirely Christian, these phrases are totally embedded in our culture. Our parents used them, our grandparents used them, we hear them in movies, on the street, we even hear them in school. For people who grew up hearing them and using them but having no meaning attached to these phrases, when they adopt a religion (such as Neo-Paganism), they often like to tailor various aspects of their lives to their new religion, and that includes commonly used phrases like "Oh My Gods".

Basically, what I am saying is that in modern times, to Non-Christians, the meaning of these phrases has changed. They have no personal religious association with these phrases, only cultural ones. In cultural terms these phrases are extremely mild interjections. It seems perfectly normal and kind of neat to 'personalize' them. I believe that very few people are actually trying to offend you or make fun of Christianity.

Also, just so you know, it was very common among many ancient cultures to say things like "Great Zeus!" or "By Odin's beard!". These were also considered mild curses.

[CancelMyService]

Interesting trivia: Muslims consider Jesus a prophet and use the "pbuh" modifier to his name as well. The more you read up, the more you realize the "Big Three" religions are far more alike than any of their fundimentalists would be comfortable with.

[Seshat]

Naturally. They're all Judaism at the core.

There's the main line (Judaism, divided into Orthodox and Reform, IIRC). To the Jews, both Jesus and Mohammad are simply prophets.

There's those who followed the prophet/messiah Jesus Christ (Christianity, divided into a thousand or so variations). The Christians believe Jesus was the promised Messiah, and for the most part, ignore Mohammad entirely.

There's those who followed the prophet Mohammad (Islam, divided into Shiite and Sunni). To the Muslims, Jesus is simply a prophet, and the Jews have lost the way. Mohammad was the 'seal of the prophets': God's final prophet.

All three religions have a common set of Scriptures: the Jews have the Torah and the Talmud. The Christians have a subset of the Torah and the Talmud, with translations of varying accuracy, called the Old Testament.

Islam's Qur'an includes versions of the Torah and the Psalms, and a version of the Gospels of the New Testament, and Islamic scholars are required to have familiarity with the Talmud as well, and with other parts of the Christian New Testament.

[Lace Neil Singer]

I use "cheese" instead of god; ie, "for the love of cheese" cuz I don't really want to be offensive. I also really like cheese. XD In no way is it meant to be sarky.