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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
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).

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!

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. 😂

Frankblackwife · 07/10/2025 16:10

BauhausOfEliott · 07/10/2025 15:51

Of course you don’t.

Show quote history

Meow

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

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’.

Show quote history

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.

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).

VictoriaEra · 07/10/2025 16:10

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

AntiBullshit · 07/10/2025 16:11

Come
Hate that word perhaps I’m just dirty minded

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

CoffeeCantata · 07/10/2025 16:11

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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Yes - I totally agree. But why? I don’t understand why it makes me cringe!

Lilifer · 07/10/2025 16:12

BauhausOfEliott · 07/10/2025 15:00

I’m with you, OP. I too hate it when people say ‘gosh’ or ‘golly’ like they’re in the Famous fucking Five. I can’t stand ‘supper’ either.

I also despise adults using the word ‘yum’ or ‘yummy’ in any context. I would probably end a date over that.

People who say ‘baby’ instead of ‘the baby’, for example when someone’s giving advice and they say something like ‘Why don’t you put baby down for his nap at 3pm after you’ve done the school run’ or ‘You’ll probably find baby will be hungry after sleeping’.

Come to think of it, I also hate the word ‘nap’, especially as a verb.

I also loathe the way people say ‘screens’ as a blanket term for technology. Just call it an XBox or an iPad or whatever the fuck it is. ‘Screens’ is meaningless; watching a film on TV is an entirely different activity from playing Red Dead Redemption on a console and chatting on social media is a different activity from internet shopping and Minecraft on a laptop is not the same as reading a book on a Kindle. Even worse, ‘screen’. I read a post on here once where someone said of their child ‘I really struggle with how much screen he wants’ and I wanted to smash things.

My sister says blimey all the time. It drives me nuts. We don’t live in a famous five novel, we’re not English and it’s not 1955

EmeraldShamrock000 · 07/10/2025 16:12

You have used both ick and vile in your OP, those in glass houses, shouldn't throw stones.

lechatnoir · 07/10/2025 16:13

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

It’s really not. I’m 51 and have never been a swearer but sometimes you need an exclamation and gosh works just as well as bugger or bollocks or fuck or whatever else you choose to say but imo is less vulgar and appropriate in all settings. But I assure you it’s neither fake nor an attempt to be something I’m not just something I heard as a child and now say myself.

I have also been known to say golly gosh on occasion but try not to as appreciate it sounds pompous to some people - usually gets a laugh (at me ☺️ )

MyPeppyCat · 07/10/2025 16:13

Biccies instead of biscuits. 🙄

BauhausOfEliott · 07/10/2025 16:14

ProfoundlyPeculiarAndWeird · 07/10/2025 16:10

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.

Show quote history

Yes! Zounds and also ‘gadzooks’. The sort of things that Timothy Claypole used to say. Or Catweazle.

Frankblackwife · 07/10/2025 16:15

Peccadillo

EmeraldShamrock000 · 07/10/2025 16:16

I can't recall ever hearing anyone say "gosh" in RL.

Frankblackwife · 07/10/2025 16:16

Doesn mean what I thought it did, annoying

CoffeeCantata · 07/10/2025 16:18

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

Depends on who’s saying it. It isn’t when I say it.

You can’t say fuck in front of children or anyone really in a professional context. When I was a primary school teacher I didn’t say “ Oh fuck, Josh, you’ve spilled yoghurt down your shirt!”

VimesandhisCardboardBoots · 07/10/2025 16:18

"Gosh" always makes me think of the mayor from Buffy.

He's turned into a giant snake demon thing, about to get blown up, and his last words are just "Well Gosh!"

BauhausOfEliott · 07/10/2025 16:18

Lilifer · 07/10/2025 16:12

My sister says blimey all the time. It drives me nuts. We don’t live in a famous five novel, we’re not English and it’s not 1955

Show quote history

The only people who might say ‘Blimey’ in a Famous Five book would surely be the villains. It’s a working class thing and the Five were much too posh for it. Unless they were saying it for comic effect to mock their family’s cook or something.

It’s possible they might say ‘Crikey’. I have a feeling ‘Crikey’ used to crop up in Biggles books.

Foundress · 07/10/2025 16:20

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

Yes I have thought recently a lot telly people are saying ‘Gosh’ probably instead of saying ‘God’.It sounds a bit false but I understand their reasons. My late DF was a great one for saying ‘Jesus Wept’ as an exclamation. My DH says ‘Good Lord’ when surprised by anything. He says it in a tone of voice which for some reason makes me laugh.

Vinvertebrate · 07/10/2025 16:21

Apparently I say "Good Lord!" an awful lot since having DC. I know this because my oldest and dearest friend threatened to punch me on the nose if I didn't desist.

I am also reading the Famous Five with DS at the moment. Absolutely no blimeys or cor blimeys so far, but DS has rather enthusiastically adopted "I say!" albeit with heavy sarcasm. That's probably giving his teachers the proper ick as well.

Boomer55 · 07/10/2025 16:21

First of all, what’s a visceral ick? Sounds painful….🙄

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