Boss told me off for exclaiming Jesus Christ

[GloMum]

The other day my boss told me off for exclaiming Jesus Christ when I was surprised during a work meeting. Boss told me it’s rude towards people from different religions and asked me if I’d done my DEI training. I have, and I enjoy friendships with colleagues from varied backgrounds. I feel really stressed now in case I slip again, and embarrassed I should be told off.

YABU - This is an inappropriate exclamation at work
YANBU - It’s just an exclamation and you shouldn’t be told off for that.

The "Islamic" God is the same God as the Christian and Jewish one.
It's the same guy 🙄

Is everyone complaining about Italians exclaiming "Madonna!!" and madre dio?

You'd die if you knew how many people say porco dio or poto di Christo....😂😂😂

Yes, f words and the c word is worse. (I'll be criticised for not writing them out now).

Christ some of you lot sound alike a total fucking nightmare took with. What total miserable fun sponges you are, getting all sensitive about ’swears’. Unless you’re a 5 year old girl you need get a thicker skin.

Signed
A Lapsed Catholic

It’s not an offensive swear word and most Christians would say it themselves. But it’s not really appropriate in a work meeting context. Why do you need to be exclaiming? Or at worst what’s wrong with ‘oh wow’.

I’m from an Italian family and some of these lot would probably pass out at the profanities and gesticulation used by Italians (many a family meal I’ve nearly had my eye poked out 🤣)

@Gwenhwyfar they are worse. But worse still would be something like the N word. Or the R word.

In my house, 'stupid' directed at someone else is worse than 'fuck'. One is meant to belittle someone and one isn't. Swearing at is worse than general swearing.

Well if you are a Christian you'll know that taking the Lord's name in vain is a no-no.

OK, but your post very much sounded like you were saying that, because your priest said it, it shouldn't be a big deal - I don't get why you mentioned the priest otherwise - but apologies if I misconstrued.

No, I don't ever say 'bloody' as a swear word - only if referring to something literally covered in or involving blood. I'm not a Catholic, but I wouldn't choose to needlessly offend anybody in earshot with a choice of expression - even if I were otherwise given to using that word - just as I wouldn't invoke the name of somebody else's God or Prophet to express disgust, shock or other negativity, when there are so many other non-offensive words available.

its the year 2025 not 1025 and personally I don’t believe in policing words and whilst some people might find it offensive, it is a commonly used exclamation these days. I don’t even think people think of the religious connotations when saying it.

i understand if someone was religious and they would choose not to use it themselves. That is an absolutely fine position to take- I do object to being told myself what I can and cannot say.

It's so funny that it's people from a very secular country get so offended by religious exclamations. They're incredibly common and not offensive in a more religious countries.

Porca miseria!

The Italians love a good blaspheme.

Except it's not. And who's to say it's in vain?

Do people not understand how these expressions came about?

Exactly. I grew up with devout Catholics and “oh my god” “fucking hell” “Jesus Christ” etc are common place in my life (perhaps b wise I don’t have a stick up my arse?). Can’t be doing with grown ups offended by swear words

I think you are overthinking this. It isn't professional language (I think the phrase, and much worse, very often at work, but it wouldn't pass my lips in a meeting), and does have the potential to offend (although I suspect very few Christians would be deeply offended by it). You made a mistake, your boss pointed it out, don't do it again. It's not hard, and it's not going to ruin your rep at work.

I'm not imposing anything, I'm answering the OP's question as to whether her boss was right to say something. I personally wouldn't say anything to someone at work, but I don't like it because it is, to me, offensive. (I also feel the same way about audible obscenities being inappropriate in a work setting.)

As others have said, no-one would say anything about Allah, or Islam, but Christianity is seen as less worthy of respect.

I personally wouldn't be keen on it. I wouldn't have told one of my employees off, but I would have asked them to try to not use similar comments in the future.

We ask our children to use 'oh my gosh' or 'or my goodness' rather than 'oh my god', as a key commandment in Christianity is to 'not use the Lords name in vain' - which as I understand it means to not use it unless you are directly speaking to God. Some people do not believe in God, I don't believe in many things, but I would try to not say something which could be offensive. Of course some people may be offended being asked not to say something offensive to others as they themselves do not find it offensive. .....

I had to google what the r word. I'm really shocked it's considered as bad as the N word. It's just a bit old fashioned.

And yes, obviously insulting people is worse than swearing as an exclamation.

There are some sectors and situations where an “Oh wow” really doesn’t cover it a lot of the time. The OPs boss sounds like someone of a rather delicate nature though, so he probably won’t end up in any of those jobs though anyway.

Indeed. Poto di Christo is my favourite, the pofaced here would have a coronary if we used it in English ( it means Christ's cunt for the non Italian speakers)

Sooner or later AI will take care of this type of thing. No personal expression rules needed for a remote robot. That's the way it's heading. Give it 5-10 years and there'll be no need whatsoever for equality legislation, trans rules, timekeeping, sick leave, employment tribunals, redundancy payments, compensation, health and safety laws.

You get the drift.

I wouldn't use it myself but I wouldn't be offended by it. I'd probably find it annoying at work though because it's a dramatic exclamation (that is all it is) and dramatic people at work (if it's a regular thing) are quite tedious.

I get the feeling some PPs are even twitchy about "Oh my god". That horse has bolted and I would find someone really weird and controlling if they were objecting to that in the workplace. It's a satisfying short reaction word.

Do the objecters to "Jesus Christ" also not like "Jeeze" or "Jeeze Louise" etc?

I’m not religious, although culturally Christian, and certainly no stranger to uttering profanities (mostly to myself!), but I think an exclamation of ‘JC!’ in a work context is completely inappropriate and unprofessional. Good Heavens!’ or ‘for Heaven’s sake!’ would have sounded slightly more restrained, although ‘Really??’ with raised eyebrows can convey a lot! It’s a good job you didn’t get carried away with a ‘JFC!’, op!

Try using other phrases until it becomes ingrained

Oh gosh
Goodness me
What on earth!
Oh my goodness!

And save everything else for outside work.

The only people who could reasonably be a bit offended are Christians.

It’s not offensive to other religions, that’s just bonkers.