Maybe this is part of the whole language barrier I encounter as a non-native speaker.

[Wilson Gray]

"Gee" isn't from "Jesus"? Just wondering. "Jesus" is holy in
Catholicism, but "God" isn't. When I was a grade-schooler in the
'Forties, we were taught to bow our heads upon saying or hearing "the
holy name of Jesus."

-Wilson

On Fri, Feb 22, 2008 at 9:53 PM, Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at ix.netcom.com> wrote:
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>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>  Poster:       Benjamin Barrett <gogaku at IX.NETCOM.COM>
>
> Subject:      Re: Maybe this is part of the whole language barrier I encounter
>               as a              non-native speaker.
>  -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>  I've been thinking about Japanese. There certainly is PC speech, where
>  traditionally discriminatory terms for blind, laborer, barber, mentally
>  retarded and the like have been replaced with acceptable terms. And
>  there is a nice way to talk about defecation and a bad way. There are
>  also polite pronouns and vulgar ones, and you might change the pronoun
>  you're using to your buddy, for example, when your grandmother walks in.
>
>  But I am sure that using a word that sounds similar as a substitute for
>  a taboo word does not exist. Fart, darn, heck, etc.
>
>  To me, the classic example is "Gee," which can be considered a
>  respelling of "G," short for "God," and therefore euphemistic and
>  unacceptable to some people. (I read this example in a novel once.)
>
>  I also saw "'Holy buckets!' exclaimed Audra Ostergard of Nebraska"
>  (http://www.planetout.com/news/article.html?2008/02/22/7) today. I think
>  "holy cow" is the general default for holy shit. I wonder whether  these
>  holy XX items are an extension of this pattern of substituting similar
>  words because "holy shoot" just doesn't work. BB
>
>
>  Baker, John wrote:
>  > Thinking about this further, it seems to me that Arun Raman is asking =
>  > specifically about taboo deformation in the profanity context.  In =
>  > English these seem mostly to be found in the contexts of profanity =
>  > (darn, heck), defecation (pee), and sexuality (archaic quaint and =
>  > Internet fark come to mind, though I'm probably missing something =
>  > obvious).  I don't know to what extent taboo deformations, as opposed to =
>  > other euphemisms, are found in other languages.  I would be interested =
>  > in what Arun has to say about Indian languages.
>  > =20
>  > =20
>  > John Baker
>  > =20
>  >
>  > ________________________________
>  >
>  > From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Baker, John
>  > Sent: Fri 2/22/2008 2:23 PM
>  > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>  > Subject: Re: Maybe this is part of the whole language barrier I =
>  > encounter as a non-native speaker.
>  >
>  >
>  >
>  >         Isn't this just another way of asking whether other languages
>  > have euphemisms?  And, of course, there are euphemisms in many languages
>  > (all of them?), although there may be variation in what is treated
>  > euphemistically.
>  >
>  >
>  > John Baker
>  >
>  >
>
> > Arun K Raman <arunkr.shivers at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>  >   ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>  > -----------------------
>  > Sender: American Dialect Society
>  > Poster: Arun K Raman
>  > Subject: Maybe this is part of the whole language barrier I encounter as
>  > a non-native speaker.
>  > ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>  > -------
>  >
>  > Without going into the territory of what is or is not profanity, It
>  > always astonishes me when people censor "profanity" with substitute
>  > words that are obviously meant to be something else.
>  >
>  > My daughter was watching some PBS children's program called "A Big, Big
>  > world" and I heard the phrase "what the heck..." as an obvious
>  > substitute for "What the hell..."
>  >
>  > Does this happen in other languages as well? Or is this a fairly
>  > western/English-based pheomenon?
>  >
>  > I can't recall much of this happening in most Indian languages.
>  >
>  >
>
>
>
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--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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