DEBORAH CROMBIE: I ran across a piece earlier this week suggesting that we could upgrade our swearing (and make it more socially acceptable) by resurrecting some choice Victorian exclamations. This tickled me, and I've been going around all week declaiming GADZOOKS! And FIE!
GADZOOKS, in case you were wondering, is probably a portmanteau of GOD'S HOOKS, and you'd say this when expressing shocked disbelief.
"Oh, FIE," on the other hand, is what you mutter when you've stepped in something rather disgusting.
In the same vein, you might try ZOUNDS, a mashup of GOD'S WOUNDS, and useful for expressing exasperation in the same way you'd say, "Oh, darn it."
Well, maybe you would say "darn it." In my house we tend to swear like sailors, and there are only a few words too colorful for everyday usage. And I love my British swear words, so am never short of a "bloody h*ll" or a "bollocks."
Those proper Victorians liked DRATTED and BLASTED, too.
And I think we can probably guess this one!
How about GADSBUDLIKINS? Short for "God's body."
Or ARFARFAN'ARF, a Victorian term for a drunkard. The thinking on that one is that "arf" is slang for "half", as in half pints, and an arfarfan'arf is someone who's had too many of those!
If you are really annoyed with the person who just cut you off in traffic, you can roll down your window and shout, "You FOPDOODLE!" In other words, a dumb person who is always making poor choices. (This has to be my favorite.)
Or, when your least favorite politician says something mind-bogglingly stupid, you disgustedly mute the TV with "Oh, shut your BONE-BOX, you RATBAG."
The Victorians also said all the words that we now consider to be of the four-letter variety, as well as many others the definitions of which tread on our rules of etiquette here on the blog! (Although you might get away with them in Monopoly...)
This comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteEveryone always laughs at me, because I default to “oh, rats.” Seriously, this is because as a television reporter, I cannot let the synapses of profanity connect in my head, since if something goes wrong on live TV, I do not want to react with something I should not say. So: “oh rats” it is.
ReplyDeleteBut this is completely hilarious, Debs! and has given me some new ideas .
This is so funny, Hank! That’s my word of choice, too! I no longer remember when I started using it. It’s just part of me now.
DeleteDebRo
And sometimes if I’m REALLY annoyed, I’ll say “oh rats and mice!”
DeleteDebRo
HANK:
DeleteAgree with you that "oh, rats" is better because I often read about people saying things when they think the microphone is "off" or when something goes wrong on TV. I find myself not letting the synapses of profanity connect in my brain. I remember as a child, a teacher would say "oh shoot!" or "good grief". She never said a swear word.
Diana
Diana
I do think the level of profanity that seems to be socially acceptable now is jaw-dropping. Maybe I am hopelessly old-fashioned.
ReplyDeleteHank, you can now default to "Oh, fie!"
DeleteI'm with you. Way too much swearing as much every day parts of speech. It's lost all meaning.
DeleteHank, on my first trip to Europe in 2001 we were still using Internet cafes to communicate with home. Since we were there in March there were also loads of American spring breakers there, too, especially in Florence. Sitting in a busy cafe filled with American teenagers emailing home I was stunned to hear so many F-bombs. It did not reflect well on the US, in my opinion, for such crassness. And it has only gotten worse, with even politicians unafraid to swear rudely.
DeleteHank, I've seen television new people NOT default to 'rats' in stressful situations:-)
DeleteHANK:
DeleteLike you, I wonder if I am old fashioned. Since I started reviewing books on NetGalley, I have noticed that certain authors (or their editors put the words in?) have been using too many F bombs. I ended up DNF these books and I am not comfortable reading books by these authors again. I recently got an invite to read another book by one of these authors and I had to decline the invitation.
Diana
KAREN in Ohio:
DeleteSo sorry that you had to hear so many F-bombs. Was it one of these times when you wish that you were deaf? I remember a classmate at school telling me that she wished that she was deaf because she was hearing so many F bombs by another classmate.
Agreed that it does not reflect well on Americans. It makes us look bad.
Diana
This comment has been removed by the author.
DeleteOh, my goodness, I absolutely NEED to remember FOPDOODLE for all those drivers out there who make me crazy . . . .
ReplyDeleteMany years ago, one of the girls I worked with at a summer job used to say “bobbleshobbit” instead of swearing. That word is still in my vocabulary, as are “rubbish” and “fiddlesticks” . . . .
Oh, I love "rubbish!" And I swear "fopdoodle" is my new favorite word.
DeleteDebs, what a great post! I thought ARF was something that dogs said? In the Family Circus cartoon strips, the family dog said arf? That is a word I would definitely remember!
ReplyDeleteSince I have been watching lots of British programmes, I learned words like "bloody" and "tosser"
Before I lost my hearing, I used to hear my Dad say "God damn" whenever he would swear and even now when I say the words, I say it without a deaf accent. People were surprised when they heard me say it! LOL
Is "fiddlesticks" a swear word? "Baloney"? I just learned more swear words today. These Victorians were quite creative with their words, right?
Diana
I'm laughing at this. I feel like I'm reading a Scooby Doo episode.
ReplyDeleteMark,
DeleteAgreed that it feels like I am reading a Scooby Doo episode. It's funny to see these swear words said in our great grandparents' generation.
Diana
Wondrous way to start my morning. As a Children's Librarian I had to revise my speak quickly. Here are some useful expletives to us with toddlers. Oh Fish Hash! I am gobsmacked. (bowing to Debs and her talent) The ever popular muttered: brother trucker Finally which a toe is stubbed. Chihuahua! It hurts.
ReplyDeleteMay these serve you on a Saturday of Wellness (if needed).
Oh, I love gobsmacked! I do say that. One of my faves.
DeleteI love these! My mother used to say "dagnabit" and I still use that. (She swore exactly once - "damnation" - and it was at me as a young teenager. I knew I deserved it. That word sounds so mild now!)
ReplyDeleteCalling someone a scalawag is a good old American saying.
HANK: I can definitely picture you saying "Oh, rats!".
ReplyDeleteAlthough I was born & raised in Toronto, my parents did prefer to speak Japanese at home.
Frankly, there are not a lot of Japanese swear words since apanese is a very respectful language and culture. So the few swear words I hear at home as a kid were pretty tame:
baka (stupid or idiot)
damare (shut up!)
I love this Debs: "Oh, shut your BONE-BOX, you RATBAG." And you've reminded me of one of my favorites--dratty drat!
ReplyDeleteI love it, too. Plus "Shut your pie hole!"
DeleteI remember saying Sugar Honey Ice Tea and Father Uncle Cousin Kenny.
ReplyDeleteThose are great, Dru.
DeleteDru, I often use Whiskey Tango Foxtrot!
DeleteDru,
DeleteI love these!
Karen, a restaurant named Whiskey Tango Foxtrot just opened near me. I crack up whenever I drive past it!
DebRo
My favorite, mostly ok in mixed company, is holy crap. Not very creative tho. Yesterday, while in my doctor's office, I said "oh f**k in response to one of his stories." Being gay, I don't consider him mixed company tho.
ReplyDeleteSometime in the past month I read an article purporting that those of us -- Debs? -- with salty vocabularies are more articulate than others who are more polite. I like that part.
Since reading Louise Penny and many tales of Quebec, I love words like TABERNAC! It gets attention and most people are too confused to question it.
My Quebecois brother-in-law used to say Tabernac!
DeleteAGREED: Living just across the border from Quebec, I did hear a lot of Quebecois swear words at work and in town. Louise Penny uses a few of them in her books but most of them have religious overtones, including tabernac and sacrament!!
DeleteI say 'holy crap,' too, Ann. English is a very versatile language for swearing and should be made good use of:-)
DeleteI agree Debs. And what fun to see the look on the plumber’s face when I drop an F bomb.
DeleteI have a rather salty vocabulary but unlike many people today, I also have an internal regulator. So there are words that come out in my work setting that don't show their face with my church friends, for instance. Having said that and recognizing the risk of hypocrisy, I agree with Mark's comment above that the use of profanity in common conversation seems to have gotten out of hand.
ReplyDeleteMy mother would be approaching her 98th birthday if still alive. Like many women of her generation she really did not curse. So her strongest expletive -- which still makes me smile in memory -- was "Gee-golly-gosh-darn-cussified-heck" which she spat out as a single word when really angry.
Happy Passover! Good topic!
ReplyDeleteI love to use salty language and diverting from it can be difficult, so kudos to you, Hank for avoiding the automatic connections because of your TV job. You seem too polite to be a verbal abuser anyway.
Swearing in a foreign language can be useful, so "merde" is one of my favorites. However, our ancestors had colorful curses that Irwin and I still roar over. His favorite of his parents' was, "You should grow like an onion." Said in Yiddish, it sounds very insulting, and since onions grow with their heads in the ground...well, it was insulting!
My favorite from college was, "Your mother wears combat boots." Now, lots of mothers do. LOL
Happy Passover, Judy!
DeleteMerde is a good one, Judy. I also love "Zut alors!"— the French equivalent of "Golly! and fun to say. Happy Passover!
DeleteTrying to clean up my language before we visit our grandson. BEANS! covers most situations. RATS! is good too.
ReplyDeleteYes, I try to be careful around the six-year-old. I usually default to 'shoot!'
DeleteI never was a swearer until I started to work at 9-1-1. I was fairly innocent and quiet before I started that job. At 9-1-1, between callers and co-workers, I was surrounded by curse words. I remember one shift a couple of years in when I was working a busy police radio channel and saying "f-word, f-word, f-word", softly to myself (not over the radio). A co-worker sitting next to me noticed and sent a message to the room, "It must be really busy on net 3, even Gillian is swearing."
ReplyDeleteI love all the British curses. My dad said 'Bloody hell' on a regular basis (also taught my son at age 2 the s word). He used to call us, "Dopey (or daft) 'aporth", which is more of an affectionate head shake at something silly than an actual curse. My sisters and I were delighted to hear Mrs. Patmore use that expression with Daisy on Downton Abbey.
Gillian, my husband was a 9-1-1 dispatcher, then a supervisor, for ten years. I'm sure that forever after affected his vocabulary.
DeleteSince I'm not fluent in other languages both real (failed French in school, never learned Spanish...and I hate Taco Bell so I don't even know enough to order from their menu) or imagined (Elvish, Klingon), I stick to what I know best. The only exceptions would be curse words like "Frak!" (Battlestar Galactica) or "Frell" (Farscape) but that's due more to my sci-fi geekiness and not a desire to couch profanity.
ReplyDeleteEnglish and Profanity are the two languages that I'm well-versed in and I tend to stick with the classics. And I'm not looking for social acceptability since I'm not on live TV and I don't work in a place where one swear word would offend a whole office.
And who do you all have to blame for this well stocked cupboard of startling swear words? GEORGE CARLIN!
It's all his fault. One summer night when my family was over at a friend's house near the beach, we'd come back from swimming and having had dinner. The kids were watching TV, the dads were in the room. The moms were in the kitchen. There was a standup comedy guy on TV.
Suddenly my mother called out, "George, what are they watching?". My dad's response was "Some comedian named George Carlin." My mother got as far as, "Ummm...I think you better..." and George came out with the bit that forever changed the course of my life to the point where I could do whole routines verbatim at the dinner table. Yes, I'm referring to the great "Seven Dirty Words You Can't Say on Television". And the rest is Jay's vocabulary history!
By the way, my mother finished her sentence (after Carlin listed the 7 words) with, "...never mind".
I love this story, Jay!
DeleteI learned most of my swearing from the mechanic when I worked at the Mobil gas station at age 21 - and I embraced it. Not in my cozies, though - never.
Frak! That's a great one, Jay. And, oh golly, I remember George Carlin. The TV got turned off in our house!
DeleteEdith, I learned stuff from the cops my dad worked with and from the people I worked with at the liquor store redemption center.
DeleteDeborah, when I started buying Carlin's albums and learning his routines, my mother knew it was a losing battle for her so I got to watch his specials when they aired. I loved the way he took both the sacred and profane of language to both entertain and inform.
If you want to see something completely and hilariously NSFW, check out Carlin's way of removing the worst criminals from society while balancing the budget. - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wjjPlEW9bRM
I love this. Being raised in a family and neighborhood of boys, I have quite the vocabulary as you can imagine. As the only girl, and the youngest of the lot, I was often used at the bellwether. I do temper them these days, and often use rats, sugar, and fubar, but my standby vocabulary is ever ready. I love the Victorian alternates and you can bet that shut your bone box you ratbag will be tossed at the television on appropriate occasions!
ReplyDeleteMy mother, if pushed to anger, would say the scatological "s" word when I was a kid, but my dad had no filter. He used every Anglo-Saxon four-letter word ever invented, and some in quite impossible combinations. He embarrassed me to death, and none of us ever had friends over when he was around.
ReplyDeleteLike Hank, I try not to use those words because of the slip-out factor, but through the last few years I couldn't hold them in any more. Not being around other people much really eroded my more polite speech, I'm afraid.
There's a great Facebook page, Grandiloquent Word of the Day, based on their daily calendar. It showcases an obscure word, many of which are lavishly insulting, and they are each used in a hilarious sentence. Some good recent ones: blatherskite (one who speaks overmuch without saying anything of importance); splatherdab (a gossip); faitour (a charlatan, imposter or fake); gothamite (an imbecile, or oddly, inhabitant of New York City). One of my favorites is cockalorum: a boastful and self-important little man with an exaggerated idea of his own self importance.
I'm going to start using cockalorum!
DeleteI love this, Karen--all so useful! And I'm adding Grandiloquent to my FB LIKES!
DeleteI actually don't remember ever hearing my mother swear. I do remember the first time I ever heard my dad use the F word, after I was grown, and I was quite shocked.
DeleteDebs, my mother no longer swears, and she's become quite prim in her old age, speechwise.
DeleteI envy you, growing up with parents who spoke politely!
Karen in Ohio,
DeleteAdding GRANDILOQUENT to my FB likes. Thanks!
Diana
Four-letter words have their place, I think. As a not very tall, quite petite woman, with a slight British accent to my spoken English, I have found that a well-timed and well-placed F-bomb gets me attention and metaphorical space that ordinary eloquence does not. For example, in a meeting at work or in a conversation with someone providing a service. They tend not to expect "that language" from someone who looks and sounds like me, and the element of surprise buys me an advantage that I can then do something with.
ReplyDeleteThat said, I use "Rats!" a lot, when shock value is not called for.
Also, if it's good enough for Dames Helen Mirren and Judy Dench, it can't be all bad, can it? They swear -- and they talk about it: https://fiveyearsawriter.blogspot.com/2020/05/a-post-day-in-may-24-sins-part-ii.html
DeleteI can totally sympathize, Amanda, as another small woman. Shock value can come in quite handy!
DeleteWoe betide those who underestimate us just because we're older women, Amanda!
DeleteGrace: Yes, tame as a word but, add enough oomph to the delivery, and I can make my point!
DeleteKaren: Indeed! Do NOT underestimate us on the basis of our age!!
Amanda, great post!!
DeleteWhen my kids were little, their father swore enough for 3 people and but it was something I just didn't do. Maybe because growing up I never heard my mother swear and my father's oats were rather mild. I remember being amused more than shocked when, as an adult I heard my mother say 'balls!' with just the right tone. Occasionally she muttered 'hells bells.'
ReplyDeleteBut like Hank I didn't even swear in my head (I sometimes do now) because I was a teacher and I didn't need to let any bad words slip out. Not sure where it came from but I started saying 'sugar pops!' But funniest of all, and we still laugh about it, was when my young teenage son and I had been shopping at the mall. I bought a huge cup of lemonade and put it in the cupholder. As we were pulling out of the parking lot I picked it up by the top (do not ever do that) and it went all over. Without even thinking I yelled out 'juice!' Neither before nor since has that been one of my swears but it worked wonderfully on that day.
I'll try to adopt one of these victorian words for now on, so thanks, Debs and others.
I'd forgotten 'hell's bells', Judi. That's a good one.
DeleteWhen I was a pre-school teacher I used BLAST! or OH BLAST! to cover most swearing needs at work. Drat was often used too. But my real question is this, how many of you thought of the old 60s Batman TV show when you read some of these good Victorian swear words?
ReplyDeleteI did! They were pretty creative, weren't they?
DeleteI remember my little brother, enraged about something at maybe age… Five? Had clearly overheard someone in my family say something, and understood it was impolite to say. But he was so angry that he said——“God…”.. then he paused, and looked at all of us, with a guilty look on his face, but the words were already coming out and he couldn’t stop them, so he finished his sentence: “bloop it.”
ReplyDeleteSo, now my family says “God bloop it” or sometimes simply “bloop it” all the time.
And thinking about this, this was a long long long time ago, way before “ blooper” and blooping out words even existed. So funny.
So funny, Hank.
DeleteDiana
So funny!
DeleteI've been monitoring myself and find I most often resort to "oh, bugger," which doesn't sound too bad, considering that most Americans anyway don't think about what it actually means. It's used so casually in the UK that it has mutated. It's even used as a noun, as in, "I can't find the little buggers."
ReplyDeleteHow about 'blighter' and 'bounder'? Those are too descriptive to have fallen out of use. I can think of many appropriate recipients of that moniker.
The Victorians I knew, my grandmother and great aunts, did not swear. Ladies didn’t! You should have seen their faces when I came home from college and said “ bloody”
ReplyDeleteMy aunt was a naughty child but did not know a single swear word. So when she wanted to let off steam she said will. Won’t. Shan’t shall. And swear!”
Rhys,
DeleteThis reminds me of a story from my childhood. Someone said that when you swear, it makes you look "low class". I remember that though my grandmother (from stories) never cursed, her baby sister (who looked like Vivien Leigh) often cursed like a sailor. I wonder if it was a generation thing. My great aunt became an adult in the 1930s. She also smoked and drank, which were things that ladies did NOT do.
Diana
Favorite swearing from the mother of a highschool friend: "Dimmity, damnity, dust!"
ReplyDeleteReading the Three Pines mysteries by Louise Penny, I remember that word "Merde". It sounds like a swear word in Quebec French, right?
ReplyDeleteDiana
Yes, a swear word in French, Diana. It means sh*t in English.
DeleteAmanda,
DeleteYes, I kind of figured that out from the context while reading the book. LOL. Even that word sounds better in French. LOL
Diana
I try to just say "oh beans!" or lately "Oh boogers", that's what I SAY but what I am thinking and saying in my mind may be a completely different thing!
ReplyDeleteOne of my father's favorite sayings was "son of a sea cook!" He was in the navy.
Many years ago I was driving with my husband and a good friend. I was cut off at a light and we were going to have to sit for an extended light cycle. Exasperated by this, I was blithering over how to express my annoyance and came out with, "Oh...oh, piss and fart!" It satisfied my need and totally cracked up my passengers.
ReplyDeleteSome friends and I have a mutual friend named Patty, who swears like a sailor. When we’re in each other’s company, or texting each other and want to swear, we often say/type “oh, Pattyword!” It gets the point across!
ReplyDeleteMy parents never, ever swore. Apparently when I was around three or four, I casually used a certain four letter word that was never spoken in our house. I heard it from kids in the neighborhood. I have no memory of this. My mom told me that she simply said “oh, we don’t use that word in our house.” When I was a little older, I heard kids in the neighborhood using another word that was never spoken in our house, and I remember asking my parents what it meant. They said it was a very bad word that people should never use. They were always calm and firm about these things.
DebRo
DebRo
My Catholic father in law had one expletive and used it all the time: "Jesus, Mary and Joseph!" My Catholic mother in law had one response to that and used it all the time in a special tone of voice: "Now, Jimmy..." I remember that now with affection.
ReplyDeleteI like my grandmother Greuling's approach. She would say, "He cut me off at the G.D. light!" Other favorites: "She doesn't have the brains God gave geese." "Money can't buy taste, that's for sure," whose sister aphorism was, "Soap's cheap." She lived through the Great Depression, and it showed.
ReplyDeleteMy favorite, though? She would never in her life use the word ass, still less the now-popular a-hole, but she would call someone a jackass with great relish.
Oh, and my grandmother Spencer would say, "I swan!" Because if you grow up a Southern Baptist in the early 20th century, even saying the word "swear" was a bridge too far.
DeleteI used to not cuss but the working world changed that. I have gotten worse as I've gotten older but I'm trying to reform. I think not getting a land line when we move will be a major improvement since our current one rings constantly with spam calls. I auto-swear every time it rings. Dad swore a bit but his vocabulary was fairly mild: sumbitch, goddammit, hells bells, etc. Mom rarely swore and her swear word of choice was dingbustit! If you heard her say that you'd better run.
ReplyDeleteDingbustit, Pat! That one cracks me up!
ReplyDeleteThese are glorious, Debs. I'm a swearer - as in could make a sailor blush. My former agent used to say I was her most ironic cozy mystery author because of my cussin' - although not in the books. LOL. When I do have to curb my language, I tend to say "Mother of Pearl!" or "Dag gone it!" I did implement a swear jar for myself a few years ago and that really curbed the tendency. Sometimes you do just have to deploy an F bomb. :)
ReplyDeleteJenn, I almost posted a photo of a swear jar. Great idea.
DeleteWe never made a big deal about swearing when our daughter was growing up. We just said that some people are offended by certain words, and it's not polite to make people uncomfortable. (Especially your teachers and your friends' parents!)
ReplyDeleteHub and I swear pretty regularly. I tried to curtail my natural tendencies when we adopted kids - ages 11 and 12. But one day there was the loudest boom of thunder right above our house and I couldn't help it - F**k! came out. The kids looked horrified, but then laughed.
ReplyDeleteI have heard both arguments about swearing - makes you seem low class / or its a sign of being articulate. I'd like to be thought of has high class and articulate, but maybe it's too late for that.
Over the past few years I've noticed problems with word retrieval while speaking - oddly, swear words are not affected. It is nice to know there are some words I won't forget.
My aunt would say "sugar" and "fudge" which pleased my sweet tooth. I would have offending students revise their words rather than have a detention for a little slip, and when one begged to use b***t**d in her short story, I reminded her of the list of Shakespearian insults I'd given her the previous semester, with many words that wouldn't land us in hot water and would fit her historical fiction well.
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea, Mary!
DeleteGreat subject Debs. Well unfortunately I am a fairly statuesque woman so don’t get away with looking tiny, cute etc. and I do swear. Though I try to control it in polite company. However while a group of college kids were at the house to swim I walked onto our deck exclaiming, “what the F??k is going on! It was reported to me later that one young man reported that I sounded so polite. Good to know the English accent still plays. My darling daughter was heard at the age of six, to say, “F??k”. In gym class. On being admonished by the teacher, she replied to the obvious question, “My Mom”, and under the bus I went. My mum didn’t sweat until we were adult. Her fav being - bugger. But my sister and bro were sure she really didn’t know what it really meant. As for me, Bloody is a great adjective for all frustrations though it’s etymology is By Our Lady. So we take our pick. I did try Fork, from the Good Place but somehow the ring isn’t right.
ReplyDeleteCelia, I didn't know that 'bloody' was derived from By Our Lady! Learn something every day on this blog!
DeleteMy fave is "horse pucky." I don't know its etymology, but it's fun to say and less offensive to tender ears than bull****.
ReplyDeleteWhile I was out running errands this afternoon I remembered one of my mother's favorite sayings when we kids were out of control.
ReplyDelete"You'd make a preacher cuss!" Still makes me laugh.
I have to admit that I f-bomb a lot these days, for both good and bad. My most common time I use it is if I spill something or hit my knee on something or, well, you get the picture. However, I can use it to describe something pretty darn cool, too, like, "That is f***ing awesome," or "Happy as f***." My husband uses the less intense, damn, which does nothing for me. Of course, I choose my audience, too, as in my granddaughters were over today, and I knew not to say my favorite word, but, unfortunately, it did sneak out once.
ReplyDeleteMy husband also sometimes says, "dagnamit," which, again, is non-effective for me. When I was growing up, our next door neighbor, who was a lovely woman, would say something that I thought was "Be with the shit." I couldn't understand why this nice lady said that out in public to just anybody. We didn't cuss growing up; I learned it later in life. But, I found out years later, like when I was in my 40s that the lady was saying, "Be with us yet." Say it fast and you'll see why I misunderstood.
Kathy, we are definitely doing that road trip. We can listen to all the cool music and swear to our heart's content.:-)
DeleteYears ago, I had a student in class who loved using old-fashioned expressions. One day, when he got an A+ on an exam, he yelled, "Huzzah!" How could you not love a kid who says that!
ReplyDeleteMy dad made up Rutzisrutz as a swear word. I didn't know that he swore at work until I was an adult. My uncle used GD as an adjective as in "turn on the GD TV". He wasn't angry just modified most nouns with GD. If I hadn't been visiting them in Florida, I would have tried to break him of that. When I was a teenager, I said "Go blow". My dad and brother blew in my face. That got dropped real fast!
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeleteI learned "bloody" early on and used it liberally. No one in the town I grew up in knew it was a swear word, so neither did I. I learned when I went to England, though. I still use it, though now I add the "h*ll" An old professor of mine taught me "frogtwaddle" which means "nonsense" which I always liked. "Fopdoodle" is likely to resurge in usage now. At least I hope so.
ReplyDelete