More oath mincing
Last Tuesday's post about minced oaths elicited some commentary. Okay, no one read it, but I talked to some of my fellow teachers and they had some ideas:
The English Teacher whose religious orientation is not known to me: No, words take on new meanings over time as people forget the original meanings. These word substitutions thus become simple exclamations. Cripes! probably is not taking the Lord's name in vain. She didn't know about many of the minced oaths I mentioned, particularly Jimminy Cricket.
The Physics Teacher who, like me, is a Christian and a Freemason: No qualms about using minced oaths. He even suggested a few.
The Chemistry Teacher who is one of my Bible study buddies: The 3rd Commandment is about more serious issues. For example, the Crusades were a violation as men were doing evil and claiming the Lord was to benefit or that they were directed by the Lord. He then semi-digressed on the subject to tell me about a great story on NPR regarding words that aren't well translatable.
The latter person once told me that crap isn't really a bad word. Funny, but I'll say frigging before I'll say that, and it's an oath that is considered very rude by any dictionary. I guess they weight and value that everyone puts on words is what makes language evolve.
