One area of common language often neglected in coursebooks or other vocabulary sources for English is the rich crop of euphemistic expletives developed in America where religious and sexual sensitivities were easily offended. Even though today’s average Hollywood film is awash with “Four-letter words” and many modern novels are full of erotic passages, American people over 50 and from strong Christian homes are unlikely to use “strong language” themselves and react to it when they hear it. My grandmother, for example, was around 80 years old and living in San Francisco in the 1970s. At a nearby supermarket she overheard a Black teenager cursing and swearing and she shook her cane at him and proposed to “wash his mouth out with soap”. This was our family’s approach to the problem and one which I later threatened elementary students of mine with. The idea was “Clean up your mouth (and your mind)!”

According to Bill Bryson in his 1994 book, Made in America: An Informal History of the English Language in the United States, outside of more explicit books and movies, “America remains perhaps the most extraordinarily cautious nation in the developed world”. In newspapers, on radio and television, certain words and pictures are still taboo. Even writers in the New York Times newspaper refuse to use offensive words that are part of titles they are discussing.

I don’t really think this is so bad, and prefer it to reading “gutter language” that I sometimes am forced to listen to in everyday speech or in pop music lyrics. Swearing, that is, angrily using offensive language, says Bryson, is estimated to account for at least 13 percent of all adult conversation. I hope at least half of that is expressed in these milder, acceptable forms that you can comfortably use yourself. Many expressions you might have read or heard in the past, which can’t be found in many dictionaries, are listed here with the stronger meaning.

One group of words regards religion, God and holy things which, if spoken directly, is considered profane or blasphemous. Some of these include curses (American slang, “cuss”) asking God to send someone to Hell or give them some misfortune. The second group is more concerned with sex and body functions, and these are called obscenities and the person speaking them is often considered “foul-mouthed”.

These can express many emotions: surprise, disgust, frustration, certainty, etc.

DAMN!

darn durn drat
dang blast doggone*
*taken from a 17th century British oath, “a dog on it!”

GOD DAMN!

gol, gosh darn
gol, gosh dang
goodness gracious
golly
dagnabbed

GOD!

(by) Jove
(by) gum
gad
Egads (Ye gods)
God’s Hooks – Gadzooks!
God’s wounds – zounds!

OTHERS

For Heaven’s Sake; Good Heavens
For Pete’s Sake (St. Peter)
For Christ’s Sake
For Crying out Loud
Holy Toledo; Holy Moses

BULLSHIT

bull
b.s.
 

ASS

the A-word
A-
also the F-word

BASTARD

son of a gun
so-and-so

Bad, Harsh, or Strong Language: polite expression meaning language that most people think is offensive.

Swearing, Cursing, Cussing: using offensive language when you are angry.

Gutter Language: language from the lowest level of society, filled with curses and obscenities.

Expletive: 1) a meaningless word used for swearing and expressing violent feeling, esp. one that is obscene or profane. 2) “expletive deleted” means a swear word that has been removed from the text.

Foul-Mouthed: habitually writing (or esp. speaking) using offensive language full of angry swearing.

Unprintable: remarks, words, etc., that can’t be printed because they are too offensive to appear in newspapers, magazines, books, etc.

Obscenities: words or expressions, especially about sex, that most people think are offensive.

Four-letter Words: words connected with sexual body parts and functions (many are composed of four letters) thought obscene.

Profanity: language which is thought disrespectful of God and holy things or socially shocking because of improper use of religious words.