RE: Use of religious language in every day speech
January 14, 2012 at 10:17 pm
(This post was last modified: January 14, 2012 at 10:19 pm by Cyberman.)
(January 14, 2012 at 9:57 pm)Ziploc Surprise Wrote: People used to say things like "god's speed". It has died out as the reference became outdated. I assume all religious language will die out sometime after religion dies out (if religion will indeed die out).
Gods have always been invoked in cursing, with the curses themselves becoming absorbed into the language. "God's bodkins" became the wonderfully mediaeval "Odd's bodkins"; "God's truth" evolved into "Strewth"; "(May) God blind me" gave us "Corblimey" or just plain "Blimey"; and so on. A particularly lovely example is "By Our Lady", which became "Bloody". Then there's all the euphemisms for Jesus and the devil, such as Jeepers and the deuce (which is a great name for an indie rock band).
So it's a bit more complex than just saying "Oh fuck" in place of "Oh God". I'm all for raising awareness of unconscious religious phraseology, however, at least where practical to do so; I don't bless someone for having survived a sneeze, for example.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist. This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair. Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second. That means there's a situation vacant.'
