Mormon Swearing

by Cory H. on October 1, 2008

Thanks to CafePress

This has little to nothing to do with being A Good Husband, but I was talking with a few people yesterday on Twitter and they mentioned my editing of Jenny the Bloggess’ swearing on her answers to my questions about what makes A Good Husband. Jenny even felt a little bad about being edited.

Jenny, allow me to explain.

If you’ve ever spent any time in Utah, there is a very amusing culture of swearing without swearing. What do I mean? I think many of you know – you stub your down, and say “Fetch,” instead of … well, any other word that begins with F.

Mormons are experts at this kind of language manipulation. We don’t swear, so we have to find some other inventive way of expressing intense emotional anxiety.

I started digging into my memory of growing up as a teenager in a Utah high school and remembering what my peers used to say.

Got Down Sat On A Bench. Son of A Bishop. Oh My Heck. Aw Heck.

Okay, so those are the ones that I used to be guilty of saying. Oh, then there’s the one that I still use all the time:

I started asking my friends on Twitter which Mormon swears they remember, they came up with some good ones (no, they’re not all Mormon – you Gossip-Mo’s just stay away):

@LeislB Icon_red_lock jimminy christmas, holy shinola, frizz, sunny beaches, fudge … my favorite “Oh, my biggest freakin’ heck!”

@deguia The best “swearing” is from kids entertainment. Thomas the Train: “Cinders and Ashes!” SpongeBob: “Barnacles!”

@granata Hacking, Son of a Biscuit Eater, Son of a Mother, Holy Shinto, shiggles (s**ts and giggles). Reminds me of A Christmas Story.

@circa1978 My wife uses “Oh flip flap”. Some more of my favs: “What the frick”, “frackin’”, “What the doodle”, “oh, stink”, “oh suck” …

@BackpackingDad “Moroni’s Trumpet!” I just made that one up :} (worth honorable mention, just for the “what the…” factor)

So, you see, Ms. Bloggess, when you grow up in this kind of culture, you kinda can’t help ya’self. I’m not apologizing for the censoring per se, merely justifying. I hope you won’t be too upset.

Now back to your regularly scheduled constructive marriage advice blogging. Oh, if I missed any (which I know I did) you might as well comment so that the collection is complete.

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The one I use is "son of a biscuit eater!!"

CJ Grishams last blog post..Statistics, Effects and the Realities of Multiple Deployments

It seems to me if a word reminds you of the word you are not saying then it would remind everyone else of that word too.
My kids and grandkids know that the F word substitutes are a real pet peeve of mine so when they say it around me they always end with, sorry grandma. I guess I'm just old fashioned.

Grandma Henkes last blog post..To Grandmother’s House We Go

I like saying "BAD WORDS!" myself. My daughter has adopted the use of "Fluffy Bunnies!"

I borrowed "flapdoodle" from a Stephen King story, that's a good one too.

toms last blog post..Crisis!

I know that this post is a bit old, but I just had to contribute my two favorites. Anyone who knows me knows that I don't swear. I mean never. (Ok, there was that one time that I decided to go for a big reaction and said the "C" word out of the blue while my friend was driving.... He almost drove off the road. Now *THAT'S* a reaction!)

I picked up saying "Frell" from Farscape instead of some other "F" words. As a bonus, it can be added onto like the other F word. For example, "The frelling computer crashed!" "Bob frelled up the monthly reports again."

Then there's the Madagascar route: Sugar Honey Iced Tea. Took me a viewing or two to catch that one.

TechyDads last blog post..Horrendous Hair Cutting Controversy

I have youngsters and I'm a recent convert to the church so I have had to get a bit creative also.
"Oh my wow"
"Insert swear word here"
"oh, bad word"
fricker frackin flickle flackin"

I do have to say I am guilty of using British swear words cause most people don't know the meanings...

Ah, yes. The hilarious Mother Trucker. I forgot about that one. Haven't heard it since...oh, I don't know...Junior high, maybe?

lol. Welcome Gina!

I heard this one on a commercial for Gossip Girl:

Mother Trucker!

I liked it so much I have incorporated it into my own non-curse cuss words.

Ginas last blog post..A Sunday Survey

My mom always used to say, "don't be such an as...tronaut, with a big emphasis on the first syllable. Hope you don't have to edit this one.

I pattern my Mormon swearing off of J. Golden Kimball and my Grandpa.

Ah!!! and of course "Vai pra ponte que te partiu!!!"
(Go the the brisge that broke on you... I know... it doesn't make much sense in english!)
hehehehe

UrbanVoxs last blog post..Stay At Home Dad…

lol!!!
my favourite was Son of a gun!!!
hehehehe

I heard . . .

"oh mylanta"
"schnizzlefritz"

of course personally I say . . .
"oh! bad words, bad words, bad words"

lisss last blog post..Fascinating Womanhood and Female Friendship

I'm a "frickity frick" girl myself.

Untypically Jias last blog post..Blogging Mormons: Part 1

Hey, I'm Catholic and I had to use substitue words, too.

As a kid I loved ABBOT & COSTELLO's movies and TV shows, so much so I used mimick Lou Costello's Biffle-Diffle .... now you made me say a baaaaddd woird!

Charlie on PA Tpks last blog post..VP Debate: watch for the bias from the allegedly neutral moderator

I love this post. I too grew up in Utah and although not LDS still picked up the "mormon swearing". It's tough not to do like Utah and BYU coed jokes. :-)

Shane Keeners last blog post..Camping in Big Bear

@churchpunkmom that last one was one of my best friend's favorites. I totally forgot about that one. Great.

oh, the list goes on and on.. don't even know where to begin!

'oh sugar' (a favorite of a jr high minister i knew)
'poop'
'shizzlesticks'
'dangley doodles'
'dag nabbit'

from high school, 'nucking futs'

i <3 creative profanity..

ChurchPunkMoms last blog post..so they say it's your birthday...

Steal from Battlestar Galactica. More people should use "Felgercarb!"

Scotts last blog post..More Christian Rip-offery

My 7yr old daughter has favorite "curse" words too. She informed me (very loudly) the other night that she couldn't finish her homework because she was "freakin' tired!" I couldn't help but laugh...

Great post!

kspins last blog post..Camera Shy

Trackbacks

  1. [...] supershrimp wrote: Bitch is a female dog, so I don’t really see that as offensive towards people. Same with Ass. Donkey. Big Deal. I don’t care if someone calls me a donkey, and I don’t see why other people should. A few years back, my mom was trying to stop swearing(religious reasons) so she started using words like Ugly Shirt and Bad Perfume instead of words like Bitch and Ass. So instead of saying "You’re such a bitch sometimes" she said "You’re such an Ugly Shirt sometimes." When she was completely serious about it, it still hurt, because you knew what she meant by it. I don’t think it’s the actual words that are bad, but just the way people use them. I disagree. I think the choice of words matter just as much as the meaning behind them. Substituting ridiculous phrases for curse words is usually more comical than anything. Mormon Swearing | A Good Husband [...]

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