Minced oath

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A minced oath is an expression based on a profanity which has been altered to reduce or remove the disagreeable or objectionable characteristics of the original expression. The profanities upon which minced oaths are based are usually religious in nature. The use of minced oaths originally began in the United Kingdom sometime before the Victorian Age, as part of the cultural impact of Puritanism after the Protestant Reformation.

Some minced oaths became well-known as a result of use in theatre, where there were sometimes strict taboos on the use of certain religious phrases; many survive to this day in literary contexts (such as the Shakespearean "'swounds" or "zounds"). The censorship caused people to develop a wide variety of minced oaths to avoid swearing on holy names. They were used for swearing and other types of interjections. With time they came to have a mildly comedic effect. Sometimes the comedy was intentional, such as when U.S. comedian W. C. Fields would bypass Hollywood restrictions by exclaiming "Godfrey Daniel!" as a substitute for "God damn it!"

Since they avoid using profanities or holy words, the minced oaths are not equivalent in strength (likelihood to cause offence) as their derivations listed below. However, some of the more modern minced oaths are often avoided in polite speech (e.g. mofo). Template:Col-begin Template:Col-break

  • Ad Slahnit = God damn it
  • Begorrah = By God
  • Bejabbers or bejeebers = By Jesus
  • Bleeding heck = Bloody Hell
  • Blimey = Blind me, or Blight me
  • Blinking heck = Bloody Hell
  • Bloody = By Our Lady (speculative, may refer to rowdy young royalty, i.e. "royal blood.")
  • Blue Falcon = Buddy Fucker (military slang for betrayal among friends)
  • Bob Saget = God damn it
  • By George = By God
  • By golly = By God's body
  • By gosh = By God
  • By gum = By God
  • By Jove = By God (Jove is another name for Jupiter, the most powerful deity in Roman mythology. Also, using folk etymology, "Jove" might be considered the root of "Jehovoah.")
  • Cheese 'n' crackers got all muddy (Jesus Christ, God All mighty)
  • Cheese n' Rice = Jesus Christ
  • Chrissakes = For Christ's sake (sometimes corrupted to "for Christ sakes")
  • Christmas = Christ
  • Consarnit = God damn it
  • Copsucker = Cocksucker (Usually used to refer to a police officer)
  • Cor blimey = God blind me
  • Crikey = Christ
  • Cripes = Christ
  • Crivvens = Christ defend us
  • Crud = Crap
  • Dablastit = God damn it
  • Dad gum = God damn
  • Dagnammit = Damnation, God damn it
  • Dagnabbit = Damnation, God damn it
  • Dang = Damn
  • Dangnabbit = Damnation, God damn it
  • Dangnation = Damnation
  • Darn = Damn
  • Darnation = Damnation
  • Doggone = God damn or Dog on it
  • Drat = God rot it
  • Duckin' Fammit = Fucking dammit
  • Far Canal = Fucking Hell
  • Far Gough = Fuck off
  • Farm = Fuck
  • Feck = Fuck (not etymologically related: feck is an old Irish expression; however "feck" may still be used as a minced oath)
  • Fiddlesticks = Fuck
  • Figs = Fuck
  • Fink = Fuck
  • (the) Fit hits the shan = The shit hits the fan (spoonerism, Australian)
  • Flaming heck = Fucking Hell
  • Flipping heck = Fucking Hell
  • Foot = Fuck
  • For crying out loud = For Christ's sake; also, a way of hinting at 'fuck' or sanitising it after speaking ("Fuck... rying out loud")
  • Freaking = Fucking or Frigging
  • Frickin' = Fucking or Frigging
  • Fruit = Fuck
  • Frig = Fuck
  • Fudge = Fuck
  • Fup duck = Fucked up
  • Futhermucker = Motherfucker
  • Gadzooks = God's hooks = nails pinning Jesus to the cross
  • Gat Dangit = God damn it
  • G.D. (pronounced "jee dee") = God damn
  • Gee = Jesus or Jerusalem
  • Gee whizz = Jesus
  • Gee willikers = Jesus or Jerusalem
  • God bless America = God or God damn
  • God bless it = God damn it

Template:Col-break

  • Goldarn = God damn
  • Golly = God
  • Gorblimey = God blind me, or God blight me
  • Good garden party = Good God
  • Good godfather = Good God
  • Good grief = Good God
  • Goodness gracious = Good God
  • Gordon Bennett = God
  • Gosh = God
  • Gosh darned = God damned
  • Gosh a-mighty = God almighty
  • Heck = Hell (A popular minced oath in Utah is "Oh my heck!", but the equivalent expression, "Oh my hell!", does not seem to exist anywhere.)
  • Hey Zeus = Jesus (referring to the Spanish pronunciation)
  • Holy cow = Holy shit (or any other vulgarism; famously utilized by Harry Caray)
  • Holy spit = Holy shit (frequently used in comic books in the 1970s)
  • Hotel Sierra = Holy Shit, military slang, HS from NATO_phonetic_alphabet
  • Jason Crisp = Jesus Christ
  • Jebus = Jesus (Homer Simpson used this word in an episode of The Simpsons)
  • Jeepers Creepers = Jesus Christ
  • Jeepers Cripes = Jesus Christ
  • Jeez = Jesus
  • Jeezum Crow = Jesus Christ
  • Jeezy Creezy = Jesus Christ
  • Jehoshaphat = Jesus
  • Jiminy Christmas = Jesus Christ
  • Jiminy Cricket = Jesus Christ
  • Jiminy Jillikers = Jesus Christ
  • Judas Priest = Jesus Christ (such as by baseball innovator Branch Rickey)
  • Jumping Jehoshaphat = a milder form of Jumping Jesus
  • Melon farmer = Motherfucker
  • Mofo = Motherfucker
  • Mothertrucker = Motherfucker
  • Motherfudger = Motherfucker
  • Motherscratcher = Motherfucker
  • Mothersucker = Motherfucker
  • Mortar forker = Motherfucker
  • Muddy funster = Motherfucker
  • My goodness = My God
  • Namdit = Damn it
  • No wucking furries/no wuckers = No fucking worries (spoonerism, Australian)
  • Sam Hill = Hell
  • Sheesh = Shit/Jesus
  • Sheet = Shit
  • Shish Kebab = Shit
  • Shoot = Shit
  • Shiz = Shit
  • Shucks = Shit
  • Shut fit = Tough shit (spoonerism, Australian)
  • Smeg = Damn
  • Son of a gun = Son of a bitch
  • S.O.B. = Son of a bitch
  • Stuff = Shit
  • Sun of a biscuit = Son of a bitch
  • (the) Spaghetti hits the fan = The shit hits the fan (from Dr. Strangelove)
  • Suffering succotash = Suffering Saviour (tagline of the cartoon character Sylvester the cat)
  • Sugar = Shit
  • Sugar honey ice tea = Shit
  • Sugarfoot = Shit Fuck
  • I Suwannee = I swear
  • Tarnation = Damnation
  • Thunderation = Damnation
  • Yumping Yiminy = variation of Jumping Jesus

Template:Col-end

Minced oaths have a long history. Examples used in the 16th or 17th centuries include:

  • Criminy = Christ
  • Egad = A God or Ye gods
  • Gadzooks = God's hooks (referring to the nails in Jesus on the cross)
  • Od or Odd = God
  • Odds-bodkins = God's nails (again, referring to the nails on the cross)
  • Sacré bleu (French, literally "sacred blue") = Sang de Dieu ("God's blood")
  • 'Sblood = God's Blood
  • 'Sdeath = God's death
  • 'Strewth = God's Truth
  • Zounds or 'Swounds = God's wounds
  • Odsplut = God's Blood

Some of these euphemisms have taken on a meaning of their own. "Heck", for example, has been jocularly presented as the place where the souls of deceased people who were somewhat sinful - but not bad enough to warrant the eternal torment of Hell - are punished. One example of this concept in popular literature is in the comic strip Dilbert, in which a character named Phil, The Prince of Insufficient Light (a milder styling than "Prince of Darkness") is the ruler of Heck, and appears periodically to inflict mild punishments ("darn"ings) upon characters for their moderate transgressions.

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Fictional minced oaths

Science-fiction writers have occasionally invented their own futuristic alternatives for today's swear words. This illustrates the evolution of language over time, and also allows the characters to naturally avoid using George Carlin's Seven words you can never say on television. In reaction to a Supreme Court ruling on the use of obscenity, Robert Anton Wilson substituted obscene words in the book Schrödinger's Cat III with the names of Supreme Court justices from the 1970s.

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See also

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