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A section for all you budding etymologists where each week the origin of a word or phrase is investigated.
This week it is..... Minced oath
Minced Oaths - what they are and why they were formed
The English, being a restrained lot, have a long list of euphemistic phrases, many of which became part of the
language before it spread to other parts of the world. The root cause of these is a wish to communicate without
being explicit. This is something the English are particularly fond of, hence their long tradition of double-entendre
comedy.
Euphemisms aren’t all from the distant past though. For every Shakesperian ‘beast with two backs’ there’s a 20th
century ‘knee trembler’.
Minced oaths are a sub-group of euphemisms used to avoid swearing when expressing surprise or annoyance. If
you hit your thumb with a hammer when great aunt Edith is in the room what do you say? It’s probably going to be
a minced oath. Shakespeare might have resorted to ‘gadzooks’ (God’s hooks - referring to the nails in the cross),
we might try ‘shoot’ or ‘freaking heck’.
They are usually, although not exclusively, religious in nature and date from the days when it wasn’t acceptable to
use the name of God, Jesus or other religious notables in everyday speech. To mince your words, or mince matters,
means to choose words so as not to offend anyone. Some example are ‘Jiminy Cricket’ (Jesus Christ), ‘dagnamit’
(God damn it’), ‘for Pete’s sake’ (for St. Peter’s sake).
It’s interesting that, while we continue to generate new euphemisms, new minced oaths are few and far between.
Perhaps that’s because, while there are still taboos about discussing death, disability, homosexuality etc, the
restrictions on swearing out loud when surprised or annoyed have slackened somewhat.
There are many examples:
Heck = Hell
Dang, Darn = Damn
Begorrah, By gosh, By gum, By Jove, Dangnabbit = God damn it
Jason Crisp, Jeepers Creepers, Jeezy
By George = By God
Dangnation, Darnation = Damnation Creezy, Jiminy Christmas, Jiminy
Bejabbers = By Jesus
Cricket, Judas Priest = Jesus Christ
Drat = God rot it
Bleeding heck, Blinking heck = Egad = A God
Land sakes = For the Lord’s sake
Bloody Hell
For crying out loud = For Christ’s Lawks a mercy = Lord have mercy
Blimey = Blind me
My goodness, My gosh = My God
sake
By golly = By God’s body
For Pete’s sake = For St. Peter’s sake Odds-bodkins = God’s sweet body
Cheese and Rice = Jesus Christ
For the love of Mike = For St. Sacré bleu = Sang de Dieu (God’s
Chrissakes = For Christ’s sake
blood)
Michael’s sake
Christmas, Crikey, Criminy, Cripes Gadzooks = God’s hooks
Sam Hill = Hell
= Christ
Gee, Gee whizz, Gee willikers, Strewth = God’s Truth
Cor blimey, Gorblimey = God blind Golly Gee willikers, Jebus, Jeez, Suffering succotash = Suffering
me
Saviour
Jehosaphat = Jesus
Crivvens = Christ defend us
Tarnation = Damnation
Godfrey Daniel, Gosh = God
Dad gum, Doggone = God damn
Good garden party, Good grief, Wish to goodness = Wish to God
Dagnabbit, Dagnammit, Gat Dangit Goodness gracious = Good God
Zounds = God’s wounds
= God damn it
Gosh darned = God damned
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