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On the "Let's start over" thread, I originally responded to aruna with "Heavens no!" I don't swear very much in print, of the four-letter variety, but because of my upbringing, I quite often use "deity-related" exclamations and curses, even though they really don't "mean" anything in my head. Now, for those easily offended, stop now, because I'm going to invoke a whole bunch of things here that may or may not be offensive to some. I WILL be nice enough to use asterisks to replace letters so they don't wind up painted all over the internet.
It made me wonder about cursing in general among the NT crowd. So I ask you---should a curse/exlamation have "value" or are they just words blurted out in a crisis or moment of joy? By having value, I mean SHOULD the words selected have a meaning to the person or is it actually BETTER that they're just random words?
For example, some of those I use (a few are regional or creative interpretations):
Je*us H. Ch**st!
G***amn it!
OMG! or Oh...my...god!
F**king Ch**st on a crutch!
Holy h*ll!
Holy sh*t!
Heavens no!
Oh good lord, yes!
Oh, for god's sake!
These are just so ingrained in my psyche that I don't know if I could quit if I tried. I hear plenty of avid church-goers who say the same things (and, in fact, LEARNED a few from church members as a kid!) so it makes me wonder if non-theistic people should be wary of using deity-related comments or if they're just words that have no value.
Next, when you write deity-related curses, do you capitalize them in your head, or even on the page? Do you find you have to go BACK in your writing to alter these phrases that your characters might say?
Remember, I'm not looking for comments on blasphemy or people saying I'm going to go to hell for bringing up the topic. It really is an issue in writing and I have found myself going back to capitalize things that I know the editor will consider proper nouns.
It made me wonder about cursing in general among the NT crowd. So I ask you---should a curse/exlamation have "value" or are they just words blurted out in a crisis or moment of joy? By having value, I mean SHOULD the words selected have a meaning to the person or is it actually BETTER that they're just random words?
For example, some of those I use (a few are regional or creative interpretations):
Je*us H. Ch**st!
G***amn it!
OMG! or Oh...my...god!
F**king Ch**st on a crutch!
Holy h*ll!
Holy sh*t!
Heavens no!
Oh good lord, yes!
Oh, for god's sake!
These are just so ingrained in my psyche that I don't know if I could quit if I tried. I hear plenty of avid church-goers who say the same things (and, in fact, LEARNED a few from church members as a kid!) so it makes me wonder if non-theistic people should be wary of using deity-related comments or if they're just words that have no value.
Next, when you write deity-related curses, do you capitalize them in your head, or even on the page? Do you find you have to go BACK in your writing to alter these phrases that your characters might say?
Remember, I'm not looking for comments on blasphemy or people saying I'm going to go to hell for bringing up the topic. It really is an issue in writing and I have found myself going back to capitalize things that I know the editor will consider proper nouns.