The use of 'Gosh'...in real life?

[JinglingHellsBells]

I've recently seen posters using this on MN yet in real life I don't know anyone using it in speech.

The only person I know who uses it a lot is my Mum's neighbour, in her late 80s, and even as a child I thought it was quite antiquated and '1950s'.

I simply don't know anyone who says that word now.

(and I'm solidly middle class with educated middle class friends, if that makes any difference.)

Indeed- Bread is so puffed up with the vanity of her own righteousness she is incapable of seeing how offensive her own posts are.

Well, that wasn’t really my point.

My point is that we all use expressions or words which, depending on the context, are either acceptable or not acceptable.

Golly Gosh - Blasphemous origins but generally acceptable.
Golly - Widely unacceptable
Handicapped - Acceptable in US, Widely unacceptable in UK.

I say gosh/goodness/blimey/crikey a lot, I'm 56 and educated middle class northern, if it matters.

My adult children think I sound like someone out of Enid Blyton. In fact, I take great pleasure in finding different old fashioned phrases that they've never heard of to use in front of them, it's great fun

Oh did you ever read Jennings...? He used to say 'fossilised fish'hooks!"

'Fossilised fishhooks' you say? Oh, I like that. I'm saving that up for using on my DC next time

Yes, good for your purposes. it must be a good one as I still remember it all these years later. ..

I remember someone here saying her dad sometimes said 'fucking heck' or 'fucking Bennett'. Still makes me chuckle.

I like gosh, my goodness, my word, oh dear, holy moly, jeez louise and many more. I might write omg in a text but I don't like to hear oh my god, it's tired and vulgar. There are so many ways of exclaiming, endlessly saying 'oh my god' (or 'awesome' for that matter) for everything no matter how trivial or momentous seems a wasted opportunity.

i think , holey moley, is a minced oath, for hail mary, which probably why a nun slapped a pp for using it.

jumping jehosaphat ! is not heard so much now. quite like it.

re the golly as an exclamation; i think whatever it's origins, or intentions of the speaker, a black person could feel quite upset or offended to hear it, and for that reason it should be avoided.
in the workplace it might cause big trouble.
any black people can tell us how they feel about it. ?

I find gosh a really useful word around children or people I don’t know very well. It’s my go to “filler” word so my mouth has got something easy to say while my brain works out what should come next and stops me saying fucking hell on too many occasions
It covers many situations
Child spills blackcurrent juice on cream carpet - Gosh- that’s a bit of a mess I’d better get that cleaned up.
Child runs off in shops - Gosh- that was a silly thing to do I was really worried, don’t do that again, I’m really disappointed in your behaviour.
I manage to walk into a door or something similar - Gosh- that was a stupid thing to do

Americans seem to say "Oh my gosh" rather than "Oh my God". It always strikes me as odd.

@DidoLamentingbut it’s so rare for workplaces to be so lacking in diversity these days. I work in a ‘prestigious’ firm, some of my colleagues are working class.

The joules thing is a big thing in my (semi-rural) area. Occasionally spruced up with a Barbour jacket or a crew clothing whatever it is for the more adventurous. It’s a rather unpleasantly snobby naice market town type of place though. I’ve just about had it though with all the snobbery though, especially when I turn up to events only to find that specific people that aren’t middle class have been excluded and then I feel complicit.

holey moley, is a minced oath, for hail mary, which probably why a nun slapped a pp for using it.
I think you’re right!

‘Gordon Bennett!‘ Anyone remember him?!

Gordon Bennett!‘ Anyone remember him?! grin

Yes, he used to live two doors down what were his parents thinking??

“Golly” is a crasis, a contraction of “God-less”. It was used to taunt those who weren’t following Abrahamic religions, so those who weren’t white. A “good golly” was a black who had been converted to Christianity.

I studied this and other slangs and pejoratives at Oxford as part of my English degree more than twenty years ago, so can’t see why it’s news to so many posters now. After so long of course I can’t provide citations, but one of the authors I do remember quoting is Ann Romines, who’s better known for writing the first critical monograph on Laura Ingalls Wilder. I don’t know much about the contemporary scholarship, but Mark Richard’s ‘Bad Words’ is worth reading.

Minced oaths are used to avoid profanity and giving offence, so it’s ironic that Mumsnet’s unhinged contingent have taken such exception to @breadcakebiscuits.

Reno Eddo Lodge is a journalist and her book is currently Amazon’s number 1 bestseller, but it’s a polemic, not a cultural or linguistic history. Is there a bibliography?

I say it,
And ‘crikey’ too. 😁

I’m under 40 (just...)

I’d like to know the origins of “Blimey O’Riley”.

Gosh
Oh my goodness!
Good heavens!
Good show!
I use all of these......but then I’m a Joules wearing/Barbour lady too!

Blimey is ‘blind me,’ isn’t it? So ‘corr blimey,’ is God blind me.

isn't Bloody one of these minced oaths? By Our Lady ...sure that came from our RE teacher who was trying to rein in the bad language bursting round

I heard a guy say "Jings" on the radio today...contestant on Popmaster, it made me laugh

I like a good GOSH! and a ghastly too..I think only one pp has mentioned that
Not averse to a "simply frightful" but that's usually heavily ironic.

Bleeding heck --> Bloody Hell
Blimey --> Blind me
Blinking heck --> Bloody Hell
By George --> By God
By golly --> By God's body
By gosh --> By God
By gum --> By God
By Jove > By God Chrissakes > For Christ's sake
Cor blimey --> God blind me
Crikey --> Christ
Cripes --> Christ
Dang > Damn Darn > Damn
Darnation --> Damnation
Doggone --> God damn
Drat > God rot it Figs > Fuck
Fink --> Fuck
Flaming heck --> Fucking Hell
Flipping heck --> Fucking Hell
For crying out loud --> For Christ's sake
For Pete's sake --> For St. Peter's sake
Freaking --> fucking
Gadzooks > God's hooks Gee > Jesus
Gee whizz --> Jesus
Good grief --> Good God
Goodness gracious --> Good God
Gorblimey --> God blind me
Gosh --> God
Gosh darned --> God damned
Heck --> Hell
Holy spit --> Holy shit
Jeepers Creepers --> Jesus Christ
Jeez --> Jesus
Jehosaphat --> Jesus
Jiminy Christmas --> Jesus Christ
Jiminy Cricket --> Jesus Christ
Judas Priest --> Jesus Christ
My goodness --> My God
My gosh --> My God
Sacré bleu --> Sang de Dieu (God's blood)
Shoot --> shit
Shucks --> shit
Strewth --> God's Truth
Sugar --> shit
Wish to goodness --> Wish to God

Greenoak
“Golly” is a crasis, a contraction of “God-less”. It was used to taunt those who weren’t following Abrahamic religions, so those who weren’t white. A “good golly” was a black who had been converted to Christianity.

That’s really interesting!
I knew someone clever would come along and explain it! 😊

"Americans seem to say "Oh my gosh" rather than "Oh my God". It always strikes me as odd."
Is your experience mainly with Americans who are Christian or whose local culture involves a lot of church-centred activity? The Americans I know say oh my god as much as anyone else I know if not more. Hearing it over and over from gormless American teenagers is what made me aware of its true naffness, not because they're American or teenagers but, you know, you sound gormless when you say the same thing again and again

@Allmyeye

I find quite a lot of the children in school say ‘Oh my gosh’ and if I hear them say ‘God’ I correct them with it. Think it sound awful when youngsters say ‘Oh my God’. I don’t use gosh myself though so they must have got it from home.’

why do you correct them? If dd came home saying a teacher told her not to say oh my god, id be telling the teacher to pull their head in as it aint swearing. If my kid says fucking hell or oh shit in class, that should be pulled up. But i will never back a teacher who says oh my god is akin to swearing

I find your list of 20.07.2020 really interesting Whatthe.

But how incredibly depressing to think that even if you said "Oh sugar" it would mean you are basically swearing (Oh shit etc)...

[quote thistimelastweek]@SymbollocksInteractionism. Do you say ' help ma boab '?[/quote]
Yes 'help ma boab' is used in this house too. Not as often as 'jings' or 'crivvens' though!

We sometimes even say the odd 'michty me!'

It is funny when DS comes out with them all, he is like a wee old man.