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Original poster

AIBU to get visceral ick from...

335 replies

Chopbob · 07/10/2025 14:42

People using the word gosh, or golly gosh.

I have never in real life heard anyone other than MN posters and Disney princesses use gosh. It's absolutely vile.

It can get in the bin along with moist, supper and plonk (wine).

(Lighthearted of course)

OP posts:
newbluesofa · 07/10/2025 16:11

I say 'oh my gosh' as I used to work with children and we were advised not to say 'oh my god' because religious parents wouldn't be happy about it, so now I'm just used to saying it

AntiBullshit · 07/10/2025 16:11

Come
Hate that word perhaps I’m just dirty minded

VictoriaEra · 07/10/2025 16:10

I loath Grab as everyone’s verb of choice. Grab a coffee. Grab some lunch. Vile and ubiquitous.

Bottleplant · 07/10/2025 16:10

I say gosh, even as I say it I know it sounds ridiculous. It's a delberate parody, I think and centres around my refusal to blaspheme. Not because im religious but because I prefer not to offend those who are (or anyone).

ProfoundlyPeculiarAndWeird · 07/10/2025 16:10

BauhausOfEliott · 07/10/2025 15:50

I love ‘blimey’ and say it all the time. My whole family does. We’re from a working class London background.

Linguistically, though, it’s not the same as a ‘toy swearword’. People didn’t start saying ‘Cor blimey’ to avoid saying ‘God blind me’ - they just said ‘God blind me’ so often that it got contracted into something less enunciated (a bit like ‘yes’ becoming ‘yeah’). It wasn’t ever a deliberate attempt not to swear; it was just swearing that became so ubiquitous that the pronunciation evolved into something different.

By contrast, ‘gosh’ and ‘golly’ were conscious and deliberate ways to avoid swearing - equivalent to Americans saying ‘darn’ instead of ‘damn’ or ‘heck’ instead of ‘hell’. Or people who say ‘Oh sugar’ or ‘Oh fudge’ (both of which make me want to headbutt a wall) because they don’t want to say ‘shit’ or ‘fuck’.

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I was just wondering about that. I'd always assumed that gosh was a contraction of something, like blimey, but I checked its etymology and there was no mention of that, so perhps it was a polite invention.

If it was a contraction, it is fun to think of what the original might have been. God's ashes or some such.

I think we should bring back swounds. Or even better, zounds. I seem to remember that word was often present in adventure books, and it was always rather exciting people, like cavaliers, who said it.

BauhausOfEliott · 07/10/2025 16:10

FemWoman · 07/10/2025 16:08

Nowadays, you literally can't form a sentence without giving someone the ick ... this is how obnoxious, pretencious and non-inclusive our society has become.

All right, mate, keep it light

Frankblackwife · 07/10/2025 16:10

BauhausOfEliott · 07/10/2025 15:51

Of course you don’t.

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Meow

Shitmonger · 07/10/2025 16:09

ProfoundlyPeculiarAndWeird · 07/10/2025 15:35

The very best 'toy swearword' is blimey. I bet loads of you hate it but I love it.

An American heard me say blimey once and he was thrilled - a bit like he had just met the chimney sweep from Mary Poppins in real life.

One of my American friends was absolutely delighted when I yelled “Get in the bloody car!!” at her. 😂

CoffeeCantata · 07/10/2025 16:09

Idontknowhatnametochoose · 07/10/2025 15:59

Golly! This ginger beer is jolly fine!

Are there simply lashings of it?

How super!

BauhausOfEliott · 07/10/2025 16:09

‘Making love’. Or worse, ‘lovemaking’. Also ‘play’ in any sexual context.

I also hate it when people who like cooking and/or restaurants are described as ‘foodies’. See also ‘roasties’ and ‘veggies’ and ‘Yorkies’ (as in Yorkshire puddings, not as in the chocolate bar. Weirdly, I’m fine with ‘Yorkies’ to mean Yorkshire terriers, but not to mean Yorkshire puddings).

FemWoman · 07/10/2025 16:08

Nowadays, you literally can't form a sentence without giving someone the ick ... this is how obnoxious, pretencious and non-inclusive our society has become.

LancashireButterPie · 07/10/2025 16:08

I completely agree OP.
In our office it's used by the person who pretends to be sweet and gentle and "feminine", but in reality she's truly a nasty piece of work.

Tigerthatcametobrunch · 07/10/2025 16:08

Catpiece · 07/10/2025 15:10

Gosh is fake as fuck. It’s usually people trying to pretend they’re the type that don’t swear. It sounds fake because it IS fake

I only use it when I'm talking to my dog because he's too young to know any rude words.

Muffsies · 07/10/2025 16:08

If I can't swear I'll use yikes, cripes or crikey.

Although, the convent school I went to regarded 'cripes' and 'crikey' as swearing as it's a contraction of 'Christ have mercy on me', which sort of makes me like it more.

Freda69 · 07/10/2025 16:06

I don’t mind gosh, but I can’t stand the word ‘panties’ as used by Americans - just cringeworthy.

TheFallenMadonna · 07/10/2025 16:05

Grammarninja · 07/10/2025 16:02

Soz. Drives me round the bend!

I say soz as an apologetic non-apology - like when you're going to do something anyway but dont want to be a dick about it.
ETA.. but again only to people I'm on good terms with.

SuspiciousTimes · 07/10/2025 16:05

Grammarninja · 07/10/2025 16:02

Soz. Drives me round the bend!

Agreed!
Because saying sorry is just too much of a tongue twister?

TheFallenMadonna · 07/10/2025 16:03

I say blimey a lot. I think my preferred exclamations would be:
Gosh. Gentle surprise. Eyes widen. Maybe a gentle touch of admonishment in some circumstances.
Blimey. More forceful. Usually a chuckle or at least a smile.
Bollocks. Irritation at a situation. Sometimes disagreement, but only to someone with whom I was on very good terms.

Coffeeishot · 07/10/2025 16:02

I hate the word Fresh as in feeling Fresh or Fresh fruits etc etc it makes me shudder! Ive only read gosh I've never heard anyone say it .

Grammarninja · 07/10/2025 16:02

Soz. Drives me round the bend!

BauhausOfEliott · 07/10/2025 16:00

Muffsies · 07/10/2025 15:53

Golly gosh is nothing. I went to a fairly posh school and some of the girls used to say "oh, thrills!" and clasp hands.

I’m now convinced you went to Mallory Towers.

Dontcallmescarface · 07/10/2025 16:00

SuspiciousTimes · 07/10/2025 15:42

Never go to Bristol then, me lover. It ain’t just lush there. It’s gert lush!

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I was about to say the same thing me babber.

MyPeppyCat · 07/10/2025 15:59

CoolFineDoneWicked · 07/10/2025 15:22

The very worst would be a hearty nourishing soup. Ideally consumed out of a mug held with both hands, like a giant toddler.

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A steaming mug, surely?

Idontknowhatnametochoose · 07/10/2025 15:59

Golly! This ginger beer is jolly fine!

BauhausOfEliott · 07/10/2025 15:58

allmymonkeys · 07/10/2025 15:48

I'm not disagreeing, just asking - why do so many people shudder at the word "moist"? What's it done to offend?

I think it’s because it makes people think of damp, sticky, possibly slimy things which tend to be unpleasant. I don’t hate it as much as a lot of people do, but it does immediately make me think of a place where mould would grow. Or a corner in which you’d find a slug curled up.

Also, I think I often dislike words and concepts that convey a halfway house between two things, so it’s sort of wishy-washy and feeble and neither one nor the other. So ‘moist’ is an irritating, weedy compromise between wet and dry, and a word I hate much more is ‘tepid’. The idea of something being neither warm nor cold makes me irrationally irritated.