OMG? is this a rude thing to say?

[Timeisawastin]

Just that - the phrase 'Oh my God...'

I work as a TA with kids aged 8-10 and so many of them say this whenever they are frustrated, stroppy or feeling argumentative. I'm not religious but I certainly consider it an inappropriate phrase for children to use.

I had a chat with a couple of the girls today after one of them said it. Neither of them had any concept that this was anything other than normal, a it's a phrase used by all the family. I suggested that they might like to think of other things to say that won't sound so offensive or rude.

I fully expect that a couple of parents will complain about today's conversation if their girls repeat it.

AIBU?

I'm amazed at how many people find this expression offensive - it doesn't bother me at all. However, in the context of the situation described by the OP, it is clearly rude and inappropriate.

I think it sounds very rude if used in a 'pick your coat up x' reply 'oh my god!' However, in conversation 'oh my god, you'll never guess what just happened' I think it's excusable. I tell my dc's it's not a swear word but it's not a word I like to hear...in the same category as fart for me.

Yes it is offensive and inappropriate , very sad that people think it isn't.

I don't find "oh my God" offensive for religious reasons but I know exactly what you mean.

It's the tone and intonation that isn't on. If they said 'my goldfish bob' in the same tone it would be inappropriate.

(For those who don't know, the "oh" is said in a huffy tone, often accompanied with an eye roll and hands flung up. 'My' and 'God' are said quickly together, with the 'God' sort of barked out in a despairing tone, and is often accompanied by looking around incredulously at your peers.)

Usually cause you asked them to please stop talking.

I really miss teaching spoilt brats

If I think I don't say it ...but I do use it quite often ...also for god's sake
but I used to say 'oh Jesus' or 'Jesus Christ' a lot and I am much better at that now......
I'm an atheist but my DCs go to Sunday school. (long story)
Talking to the SS teacher I said 'oh Jesus' - realised - and apologised by saying 'Oh my god, I'm sorry'..... Think I am a lost cause...

It is hard - I used to be a chef and swore like Gordon Ramsey - I don't swear like that anymore ...and am very anti-swearing to DCs - but what can you say ...I say 'damn it' which apparently can also be considered inappropriate..
(I do also say the occasional 'bloody' and (more often) 'bugger' - lots of 'oh sugar' s)

I have taught my three year old to say 'oh my word' or 'oh my days' instead (hence the current username!) after she picked OMG up from nursery. I'm not keen but neither am I offended!

My dm was raised catholic and always told us off for "taking the lords name in vain", I am not religious at all but its stuck with me and if anyone says "oh my god" I can hear my mum chastising them in my head .

ds(10) says oh my gosh instead of god. Must be a school thing as "gosh" wid nae be used aboot oor hoose.

It is an offensive expression and you are not being unreasonable to discourage these girls from using it

I don't find if offensive. Who really cares in the grand scheme of things

I try very hard not to say it but occasionally I slip up.

I avoid it because it might upset other people, I reckon God's got bigger fish to fry.

I don't find it offensive and I don't think it is necessarily the right thing to impose Christian beliefs on others such as not taking the 'Lord's' name in vain BUT you are perfectly reasonable to take issue with their tone. 'OH MISS!' can sound very disrespectful if said in a certain tone of voice.

I've told ds2 not to use it, or what the he'll. It's the tone he uses which annoys me more than anything

Hell. Even

I don't like it, although I'm very sweary.
I'm a Christian but I have a problem with it as one of the commandments. It just seems so petty.

The "God" in "oh my God" is as meaningful and offensive to me as the "Thor" in "Thursday" or the "Mars" in "March".

I'm a Christian and I find it offensive but I was also brought up to treat it as a swear term so found it offensive before I became a Christian.

I find 'Jesus Christ/Jesus H Christ/Christ' used as swear words far worse though and I hate it when I hear it on the TV. To me, it's as bad as fuck.

As someone else said above, if you don't find it offensive, why would you go around saying something that someone else may find offensive?

I'm not offended by it but then again I have only lately noticed as an Irish person most of our curse words revolve around religion so I'm probably immune to it lol

I don't find it offensive but I am not religious. I find it quite funny, actually, and I probably overuse OMG in a post-modern ironic sort of way.

Yanbu. It sounds precocious on an 8 year old and sounds tacky on an adult.

This is a serious pet peeve of mine as my DSalmost7 has started saying it regularly. Like many others have said, it's that stroppy teenage tone of voice that I think is so irritating. I send him to his room every time he says it now, as I would if he answered back 'whatever' or anything else in that teenager way.

I try to say 'oh my goodness', or in fact something completely different like 'wow, really'. 'Oh my God' does offend a lot of people and I want my children to be respectful and polite and it does sound wrong when children say it.

I have reprimanded students at my workplace (secondary sch) when they've said "Jesus Christ!" - they've looked at me as though I'm from another planet, and doing a straw poll of other students, none of them consider it swearing! To me, it's on a par with "fucking hell" etc. and definitely swearing!

Don't mind other people saying it, hate that I say it (Christian), hate it even more when toddler echoes it back to me!

However... Oh my gosh/goodness/life/word all mean the same thing as Oh my God so I wouldn't choose to say them instead really. All the phrases would have meant the same originally surely (eg word of God (Jesus).

I don't think it's offensive at all.

I find the phrases 'oh my life' or 'oh my days' intensely irritating.