One of my authors was dismayed, recently, when he got a disturbing letter from a young reader who took his book back to the bookstore without finishing it because we (the author, his publisher, and me, his editor) had used the word gosh. The letter came complete with a photocopy of the page in Webster’s where this “not so nice” word is defined.
Um. What?
Naturally I went right to my fave dictionary. Seriously, I had no idea gosh was a “euphemism for God” but we have to read further. That’s not the current definition, it’s the etymology of the word (which means that back in 1757, when the word first appeared in print, it was a euphemism for God). I assure you when I use the word gosh, I use it in the defined sense: “used as a mild oath or to express surprise.”
As did, you know, Napoleon Dynamite. (Not that he’s an ideal role model, mind you.) And publishing expert Mike Hyatt, who earlier this year tweeted, “Oh my gosh! I just got my picture taken with the President.” Just havin’ a little fun, people. One assumes the mother of our letter writer never dressed him in OshKosh B’Gosh. Ahem.
I don’t mean to offend. But neither did my author. Language is constantly evolving. And in my humble opinion, if you go looking to find fault … well, you usually can.
Tweet: Gosh, just havin’ a little fun, people.
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6 Comments
Wow.
I know! Some interesting responses on my Facebook link.
Actually I grew up in an evangelical climate that frowned on euphemistic slang — gosh for God, heck for hell, gee or geez for Jesus and so forth. I discussed it with my mom and learned the reasons for the disapproval. But I decided if someone had to be told why a word was bad, probably it wasn’t communicating the bad thing. And clearly, when I prayed, I never said Dear gosh, or in geez name.
Honestly I didn’t know there were still people around who held to such views.
Becky
That’s the thing. I think they WERE euphemisms at one point, but — as all words do — they have morphed into something much milder. The folks who do still hold to such views and make web pages about it, I think, have WAY too much time on their hands. :)
I was once chastised for saying “by the way,” because, of course, the “way” is referring to God. :| I believe the heart of language is the intention, but as word nerds, you’ve got to respect the chastiser’s dedication to etymology. ;)
Wow, that seems like it’s REALLY stretching it! Honestly, I’m not sure this particular chastiser was driven by a dedication to etymology; it seems more like a thin-skinned-ness and a need to feel righteous.