topbanner_forum
  *

avatar image

Welcome, Guest. Please login or register.
Did you miss your activation email?

Login with username, password and session length
  • Thursday March 28, 2024, 6:42 pm
  • Proudly celebrating 15+ years online.
  • Donate now to become a lifetime supporting member of the site and get a non-expiring license key for all of our programs.
  • donate

Last post Author Topic: Acceptable expletives  (Read 31183 times)

Deozaan

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • ***
  • Points: 1
  • Posts: 9,747
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #25 on: August 26, 2007, 04:12 PM »
It's a good point: since when did Pete become an expletive? I love this explanation!
-Perry Mowbray (August 25, 2007, 07:04 AM)

I hope that explanation was a joke. It tells the exact date and time that phrase was first said but then it says there is no written record of it ever happening?  :-\ :huh:

Deozaan

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • ***
  • Points: 1
  • Posts: 9,747
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #26 on: August 26, 2007, 04:22 PM »
As someone who has never purposely said a "cuss" word in his life, I have decided that my favorite expletive replacer is "Smurf." I was trying explain to jgpaiva (if I recall correctly) how silly the F-Word is because it doesn't really mean anything, and how silly it is that people get offended by it, so to present a hypothetical situation I asked "What if everyone just said a silly word, like 'Smurf' when they wanted to cuss?"

"Smurf" is just such an ambiguous word like the F-Word that I tried to illustrate how any other word in its place completely changed the response you get from saying it.

Not long after that, I was having troubles with Windows Vista and it made me so very mad that for the first time in my life I really felt like saying some terrible things. Now App101 has a "welcome back" quote in the DC IRC channel of me saying the smurf word a lot. :-[

Darwin

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,984
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #27 on: August 26, 2007, 05:47 PM »
Smurf you, Microsmurf. I don't give a smurf about smurfing Vista, you mothersmurfing bunch of smurfs! Smurf off back under the rocks that you crawled out from under and smurf yourselves. Smurfing amateurs...

 :P Yup. I feel better. Off to grab another smurfing beer...

cranioscopical

  • Friend of the Site
  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 4,776
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #28 on: August 26, 2007, 07:14 PM »
I was having troubles with Windows Vista and it made me so very mad that for the first time in my life I really felt like saying some terrible things. Now App101 has a "welcome back" quote in the DC IRC channel of me saying the smurf word a lot. :-[

Smurf you, Microsmurf. I don't give a smurf about smurfing Vista...

We should all take this to heart. In future, when something goes wrong, it's Smurfy's law!

Perry Mowbray

  • N.A.N.Y. Organizer
  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 1,817
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #29 on: August 26, 2007, 10:06 PM »
It's a good point: since when did Pete become an expletive? I love this explanation!
-Perry Mowbray (August 25, 2007, 07:04 AM)

I hope that explanation was a joke. It tells the exact date and time that phrase was first said but then it says there is no written record of it ever happening?  :-\ :huh:

I'd assumed it was  :)

iphigenie

  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 1,170
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #30 on: August 27, 2007, 06:29 AM »
Well I am sure everyone knows that when i am going "gmmmrrr" or "aargh" I mean just that. Animal instinct wanting to yowl or growl because something attacked me (or my toe, more often than not. pesky aggressive tables!), scared me (almost dropped something) or someone invaded my territory (i.e. frustrated by the dummy supplier or something).
We might be in the modern jungle but it's not that different ;)

Seriously, I didnt curse much. I'd go "ah this is so frustrating, grrr" or "darn, this solution didnt work either" and that was about it. Then I moved to england and they just curse all the time even on the phone to customers. And no matter what I try, it creeps up in your own language when all around you do it...  :-\

zridling

  • Friend of the Site
  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,299
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #31 on: August 31, 2007, 05:35 AM »
My dad was a master cusser, especially when working on the car. Man, he could conjure up a shitstorm of words that was music to my pre-teen ears. I was indelibly marked (not marred) by his explosive reactions to anything that didn't work right. And if he misplaced or lost a tool, holy crap, steer clear. I see cussing as spice, as long as it's not meaningless. I hear people preface every other sentence with stupid qualifiers as "like," "actually," and "truthfully." Whaa? Just SAY it, and stop telling me you're going to tell me the truth.

Traditional British cuss words such as 'wanker,' 'bugger,' 'bloody,' and such have no real equivalents on the American side. But here's a few that do.

app103

  • That scary taskbar girl
  • Global Moderator
  • Joined in 2006
  • *****
  • Posts: 5,884
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #32 on: August 31, 2007, 09:58 AM »
The first time my daughter ever used an expletive, I asked her what it meant and she didn't know. So I told her not to use words that she didn't know the meaning. That took care of things for awhile.

Fast forward to a few years later at about the age of 7 or 8 when she used another...and did know the meaning.

I handed her a thesaurus and told her to show her intelligence and choose more creative language, before someone makes a mistake and thinks she is either stupid or lazy.

She came up with a rather catchy amusing substitute. (I'll let you know what it was later in the story)  :D

A few weeks later, my husband was rather angry at a friend of his about something and called him the original expletive my daughter had used earlier. (he has a pretty hot temper and can cuss up a storm)

My daughter ran into the house and grabbed the thesaurus, came back out, handed it to her dad and told him the same thing I had told her.

He wasn't in the mood for it, threw the thesaurus across the courtyard and gave her a look like he was going to bite her head off.

She then said to him "Ok, ok, you can use mine if you want. You can call him a 'fanny cranny'." (I love this expletive substitute of hers!)  ;D

He replied with "How about I just call him a 'meatball'?"

"But Daddy...that doesn't mean the same thing." (brave girl, arguing with her dad while he is already angry)

He yelled out "I don't care...he has a meatball for a brain!"

Everyone else in the courtyard heard this and ever since that day, everyone has been calling my husband's friend by the nickname of "Meatball"...with most of them not knowing why.

This nickname has stuck with the poor guy for close to 14 years.

Even his bowling team called him that, and on occasion had even put that as his name on the scorecard.

Not long after that, I was having troubles with Windows Vista and it made me so very mad that for the first time in my life I really felt like saying some terrible things. Now App101 has a "welcome back" quote in the DC IRC channel of me saying the smurf word a lot. :-[

<Deozaan> I have never purposely said a cuss word in my life and I'm ready to cuss big time!
<Deozaan> This is smurfing me off! I'm so smurfing smurfed by vista that I feel like smurfing the smurfing smurf out of the smurfing smurfer!

All that smurfing 'smurf' smurf really irritated the smurf out of my spellcheck!

cranioscopical

  • Friend of the Site
  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 4,776
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #33 on: August 31, 2007, 11:35 AM »
app103
All that smurfing 'smurf' smurf really irritated the smurf out of my spellcheck!

C&P!  I was about to recommend the smurfchecker that I use but realized that, while it flags 'frums' and 'srumf', it misses 'surf'.  I guess it's one of these new-wave progams. 
Back to the drawing board. 

brownstudy

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 28
  • Pantaloon
    • View Profile
    • Oddments of High Unimportance
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #34 on: September 01, 2007, 10:34 PM »
WC Fields had several good ones: "Godfrey Daniels!" and "mother of pearl" and "Beelzebub!" and "Shadrach and Abednego!"

Other nice ones: chitlins! sugar! God Bless America! cheese and crackers!

And from the Simpsons, my favorite curse is from Apu: "Krishna H. Vishnu!"
« Last Edit: September 03, 2007, 04:00 PM by brownstudy »

brownstudy

  • Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 28
  • Pantaloon
    • View Profile
    • Oddments of High Unimportance
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #35 on: September 01, 2007, 10:35 PM »
Oh, and the other one I use in emails at work is "Botheration."

Loonier

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 38
  • wildly boring
    • View Profile
    • Read more about this member.
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #36 on: September 03, 2007, 10:41 AM »
I have fairly often heard people say "shoot" (with or without a verbal !). Maybe it could be further pacified by spelling it "chute" (except, perhaps, for the extremely creatively minded...).

Darwin

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,984
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #37 on: September 03, 2007, 11:30 AM »
Maybe it could be further pacified by spelling it "chute" (except, perhaps, for the extremely creatively minded...).


Darwin

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,984
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #38 on: September 03, 2007, 05:00 PM »
One of the funnier oathes I've heard, was a friend of mine back in high school getting stung by a wasp in front of another friend, my dad, and I. He came out with "communist". This is an indicator of how far we've come since about 1985... which is to say, how far we've degenerated: I can't imagine a lot of teens (and this friend was actually a bit rough) bothering to modify their language in front of an adult these days...

Edvard

  • Coding Snacks Author
  • Charter Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,017
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #39 on: September 04, 2007, 05:43 PM »
He came out with "communist".
I knew those smoking yellowjackets were up to no good!!  ;D
Traditional British cuss words such as 'wanker,' 'bugger,' 'bloody,' and such have no real equivalents on the American side.
Hence the success I had in my younger days of potty-mouthing using gleaned bits of British vernacular due to the many hours spent in fascination of Monty Python, The Young Ones, Black adder, etc.
It works because here in the states most folks are ignorant of it, as you've noticed, and most actually find it quaintly humorous (like saying 'Smurf' instead of...).

BTW- There are American equivalents to 'wanker' 'bugger' etc. but I hesitate to expound in such good company...  :redface:

Darwin

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,984
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #40 on: September 04, 2007, 06:19 PM »
BTW- There are American equivalents to 'wanker' 'bugger' etc. but I hesitate to expound in such good company... 

Yes, of course you are right. Like you, I would hate to compromise anyone by revealing these depravities on this board. Having said that, it is worth noting that the equivalents aren't nearly as common in terms of usage as they are on the sceptered isle. Seriously, you want to hear creative use of foul language (to the point that the creativity exists in making the mundane/innocuous FOUL) spend some time in the UK. There is far more range, depth and sophistication to uttering oaths there... Or perhaps I say that because it is novel. I don't know.

I will say this, in closing: app mentioned that her daughter came up with fanny cranny as an alternative swear word. I would strenuously urge everyone from NA to AVOID referring to their bottom as their fanny. Likewise the fanny pack - avoid it like the plague when conversing with anyone from the UK (or really, from an English speaking region outside of NA). Fanny has a more gender specific (though I misappropriate the term gender as it is a social construct and, unbeknownst to the NA portion of our audience, we are dealing with biology here...) meaning and is quite crude. When I referred to "my fanny pack" during my first visit there I was met with consternation, concern, surprise, etc. as I was assured that as a male it is a physical impossibility for me to have a fanny to pack... I've said too much, gone too far. Gentle readers, forgive me...

cranioscopical

  • Friend of the Site
  • Supporting Member
  • Joined in 2006
  • **
  • Posts: 4,776
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #41 on: September 04, 2007, 08:48 PM »
Seriously, you want to hear creative use of foul language (to the point that the creativity exists in making the mundane/innocuous FOUL) spend some time in the UK. There is far more range, depth and sophistication to uttering oaths there...

It's the rain that does it. C&P, spend three months in constant a drizzle and you'll have had an English summer!


Darwin

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,984
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #42 on: September 04, 2007, 09:09 PM »
It's the rain that does it. C&P, spend three months in constant a drizzle and you'll have had an English summer!

No wonder everyone talks about Victoria and Vancouver Island as being more British than Britain...

Edvard

  • Coding Snacks Author
  • Charter Honorary Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 3,017
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #43 on: September 05, 2007, 04:14 PM »
So I should not tell anybody from the UK that my student loan was from "Fannie Mae"  ;D ;D

Darwin

  • Charter Member
  • Joined in 2005
  • ***
  • Posts: 6,984
    • View Profile
    • Donate to Member
Re: Acceptable expletives
« Reply #44 on: September 05, 2007, 09:53 PM »
So I should not tell anybody from the UK that my student loan was from "Fannie Mae"  ;D ;D

Gasp! Certainly not!