I HATE the nauseatingly used "oh my god"

[Ace Otana]

I often use words like "god damn it!", "Oh god!", "jebus crist", "jesus fucking crist" and many more. I find them quite useful. I tend to say "oh god!" most of the time but if you count all that out then the most common words I use when something goes shit are "bugger", "bastard", "son of a" and "shite!"

I remember my cousin comming out with "fucking'ell god! Can't you do better!". That was funny.
I find it very fun and funny when you take it out on god. If anything bad happens, I blame the big idiot in the sky.

What do you know, god has a use after all. Something to blame and laugh at.

[theVOID]

I tried replacing God with Fuck in these circumstances:

Oh my god! = Oh my fuck!

Jesus Christ! = Fucking fuck!

Holy Shit! = Fucking shit!

Goddamnit! = Fuckdamnit!

[Edwardo Piet]

I just say whatever the fuck swear words spring to mind.

[theophilus]

Technically, wouldn't his name be Yahweh, or some other combination of the letters YHWH and vowels? And thus, wouldn't taking his name in vain be impossible by this point, except by accident?

That is technically true but most people don't use the name Yahweh but speak of God as if it were a proper name.

And why is a name so sacred? It's just a collection of letters and sounds that a culture thought pleasing enough that they decided to make it a name.

Are you sure that's all a name it? That is how we think of names today but some cultures have felt differently and attached great significance to names. What I read in the Bible makes me think that they had some knowledge about names that we have lost. In any case God attaches more importance to names than we do.

[theVOID]

Are you sure that's all a name it?

It depends on the culture, you can entertain the idea that names in Judaism were also words, like in many pacific cultures, but do you actually know that is the case?

That is how we think of names today but some cultures have felt differently and attached great significance to names.

Not so much "attached significance to names" but rather "names were words used in common speak"

What I read in the Bible makes me think that they had some knowledge about names that we have lost.

This statement is complete nonsense. We didn't lose anything by not using common words as names, we simply improved the convention by having (usually) distinctions between names and words - All it achieved was the ability to be more concise in our use of language.

You could call your child "Autumn" if you wanted, for example. That is a name that is also a word, but do you gain any knowledge by using such a convention? Of course not, you've simply given your child a name that is also a descriptive word.

In any case God attaches more importance to names than we do.

Says who?

[The Omnissiunt One]

Quite often, I say 'God', or 'Oh Goood', like that. Sometimes it's 'Jesus Christ'. Occasionally, if I'm feeling really heretical, I like to say, 'Sweet Virgin Mary's nipples', or something along those lines. Like, 'Sweet zombie Jesus' in Futurama.

Says who?

Theists, apparently. They can say whatever they like, 'cos they're just making it up as they go along.

[thesummerqueen]

George Carlin had a lot to say about words and the way they are used - things comedians have to know (if they're any good) to promote their craft on stage. He had an excellent bit on how the feminists (specifically) wanted to change language to exclude certain ways of naming things - he agreed because "the quality of our thoughts is only as good as the quality of our language" but he also thought they took some things too far. I think this is one of them.

Of course, everyone's entitled to their own pet peeves (or, to quote Carlin again, "major psychotic fucking hatreds"), but we use "god swears" because society has attached a certain importance and vehemence behind them, not because we (as in non-believers) are believing in god for the nanosecond it takes to say it, and I personally think it's a waste of time to get irritated over it. If you're aware someone's a non-believer, I think it's fairly well understood that someone shouting "Oh my god!" about something is only an expression of shock, awe, disbelief, etc, that has a different connotation than saying "Oh my goodness!" or "Oh my word!" or whatever. Although I personally have used Void's method in many situations and replaced god with fuck...mostly because that's my favorite word.

[KichigaiNeko]

Oh My Gay God!!!

People swear so get over it.

I'm with SumerQueen and void ....pick a phrase and use it and use it BECAUSE YOU like to!!

YHWH is a myth and doesn't count a fuck!!