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Words We Can Do Without?

What can be said in a second can sometimes be more damaging than 100 years of wars. What you say to someone cannot be taken back... once the words leave your mouth they will be for either good or bad depending on what is said. The Lord and David gave a lot of instrution about this...

Matthew 12:36
But I say unto you, That every idle word that men shall speak, they shall give account thereof in the day of judgment.

Psalms 12:3
The LORD shall cut off all flattering lips, and the tongue that speaketh proud things

Psalms 34:13
Keep thy tongue from evil, and thy lips from speaking guile.

For some people words do not have much meaning and yet for others it is totally inappropriate. For the sake of discussion I will list some words here that some see nothing the matter with and yet others find it distasteful. What do you think about...

S h i t
B i t c h
Fetch
Darn
A s s

The above are used quite frequently ion public and are considered 'normal'.

Without Do We Words

The only ones I disagree with you on are: fetch and darn.

https://dictionary.reference.com/
fetch1 ( P ) Pronunciation Key (fch)
v. fetched, fetch·ing, fetch·es
v. tr.
To come or go after and take or bring back: The puppy fetched the stick that we had tossed.
To cause to come.
To bring in as a price: fetched a thousand dollars at auction.
To interest or attract.
To draw in (breath); inhale.
To bring forth (a sigh, for example) with obvious effort.
Informal. To deliver (a blow) by striking; deal.
Nautical. To arrive at; reach: fetched port after a month at sea.

fetch
v 1: bring or fetch; "Get me those books over there, please"; "Could you bring over the wine?"; "The dog fetched the hat" [syn: bring, get, convey] [ant: take away] 2: attract or elicit; "The school attracts students with artistic talents"; "His playing drew a crowd" [syn: attract, pull, pull in, draw, draw in] 3: be sold for a certain price; "The painting brought $10,000"; "The old print fetched a high price at the auction" [syn: bring in, bring]

darn
n 1: a euphemism for `damn' 2: something of little value; "it is not worth a damn"; "not worth shucks" [syn: damn, hoot, shit, shucks, tinker's damn, tinker's dam] v : repair by sewing, esp. of socks

Even though darn is a euphemism for damn, I still don't see the harm in using it; for example: It is the middle of the night and you are going to the bathroom, you leave all the lights off so you don't disturb the rest of the house, and you slam your bare foot on the leg of the bed getting back into bed. I have been known to groan out with quite a few Oowie,oowie, oowie's and Oh Darn-Darn-Darn as I sit on the floor cradling the injured foot. I am not saying darn in the same tone of voice, or with the same intent as a person would in saying damn. I am not 'damning' the bed.

I have also told someone in absolute unbridled anger -"Darn you all to Heck". Not once did I intend for him to be 'damned to hell' either, but he certainly got the message that he overstepped his bounds.

You can use nearly any harmless word as a cuss word by the way you use it. The tone of voice you use and the facial expression.

Ok now, I don't see how fetch is a bad word, or substitute for a bad word.

Words We Can Do Without? Studies Doctrine Mormon

Fetch was added because I have heard missionaries using this a lot to express a lot of things, until it even sounds irreverant. One Mission President banned the use of the word throught out the mission because of the way it was being used constantly by the missionaries.

Without Do We Words

This is one of the times I'm glad english is my second language. Besides the 'F' word I don't know any other swearing word in english, so anybody could be cussing me and I don't know I'm not interested in learning them either because I don't want to learn something and then who knows in a situation I may feel tempted to use it .

Without Do We Words

I agree with AGene. I don't think any are o.k. except fetch and darn. I see nothing wrong with exclaiming something when you are angry or injured. Just so long as it isn't profanity. I use the term "flipping" a lot. Probably in the same manner as you missionaries used fletch. Difference is I am not a missionary so my standards aren't quite as high. Yes, I am substituing flipping for another "F" word, but again I am not doing it in anger. It is just an expression I use. For example, this flipping thing is driving me crazy. Is that bad? I don't think so. I could say this darn thing or this dang thing as well. Even though is is possible to substitute a profane word in this sentence, it doesn't mean any word I substitute instead of the profanity is also bad by another name. It is no different than saying "this thing is driving me crazy."

Now, on the other hand, I know people who say Jesum Crow to replace the Savior's name being used profanely. To me, this is no better. It is definately meant as nothing more than a way around actually using his name in vane, but getting the exact point across. Much the same as sayin God Darn it instead of the other "D" word. I think Dag Gone it, however, would be o.k. It is an expression which serves the same purpose, but isn't simply closely veiling the profane expression.

I think the reason it might not have been allowed with the missionaries is to more make a point that they shouldn't even come close to thinking profanity in any manner. They need to live their lives totally above reproach.

Here is a favority Utahism, Oh, my heck! Is that bad too? In other words, is it bad to have any exclamatory expressions, or just the ones we have deemed as profane in a given language?

Words We Can Do Without?

Profanity has become so common these days, and it's so frustrating to me. Even some of the TV shows that are supposed to be for family viewing use foul language. That's one of the reasons I've banned TV from my house: even on the Disney channel and Nickolodeon, both of which are supposed to be for kids only, have some of the most horrid language, scenarios, and even commercials are awful. Okay, so it's not every show, but it's enough to make a difference. No thanks, says I.

I spent a lot of years doing more than my share of cussing and swearing. But when the conversion happens, the "change of heart", etc., we become different people. I can't stand to have people speaking that way around me or my daughter. And I recently found out that her paternal grandparents use bad language around her (she told me this recently, and that grandma said to her that when she grows up that she will use them too!!!!!!! I need to have a talk with grandma...)

I disagree with the use of any substitute for the "F" word, flipping, fricking, frigging, whatever. Even in using seemingly harmless words, what is in the back of the mind is the actual word, which in English, if not the worst word, is in the top 5. And others as well... I remember years ago a lady I knew from church used to always say "oh, sugar!" Sorry, that just brings to mind another foul word.

Why should we be held any less accountable and to any less of a standard than our missionaries? I'm not saying I meet those standards, but aren't we supposed to be "every member" a missionary?

All of this is in my opinion, of course.

Roz

Words We Do Without

I agree with this, and 'fetch' falls there too, especially i it is from the mouth of a missionary. See how this sounds, "Elder, look at that fetching cow over there it is fetching huge!" For me that does not sound well. I know in itself 'fetch' is not a 'bad' word, but why use it at all? I once read an article from the new era about this and it even said we should try to get away from even using darn... it did not say that directly but hinted at it. In other words all that should come out of our mouth is words of patience and praise to the Lord for every idle word...

Words We Do Without Mormon Doctrine Studies

Well, JB, I think you make a good point, but I don't necessarily agree that the average member should be held to this same standard. I think we can and should expect a higher standard from our missionaries than we do from our daily lives. I do not think it is possible to live like missionaries focussing on the Lord 100% every day. I think that is a nice goal, but for most of us it is not yet attainable. It is a nice goal, though.

Now, I want to explain further about the use of flipping instead of the other word, and why I think it is o.k.

When I first returned to the Church I had a very foul mouth. I used the F word quite frequently. It was a habit. I didn't just use it in anger, it was peppered through out all of my speech. Quite frequently, it just slipped in before I even knew it. I wasn't able to just stop. I tried. Believe me, I tried continually. I made it a part of daily prayer, as well. Still I wasn't successful. I managed to reduce my use some, but still I far too often ended up uttering this word before I had a chance to stop myself. I can't explain it, but it is how it was. Maybe I am just weak in this area. I certainly did struggle with it.

Anyway, when I began substituting flipping, it was like magic. I don't know why I was able to substitute one word that began with F for another, but yet not be able to simply remove the use of an F word entirely, but flipping isn't offensive in our society and it isn't profane so it is what I did. It worked quite well. Now, I don't use the word flipping nearly as often as I used to either. I think by removing the swear first from my language and replacing it wiith something less offensive, I was able to remove some of the stress and guilt that went along with the use of the word, and this somehow helped me to not use it at all. I don't know.

Sometimes, I still slip. Often when I am in the process of slipping I catch myself at the beginning of the word. So, if I make the Fa sound instead of the Fl sound I usually can collect myself enough to say Fa crying out loud (for crying out loud). Is this bad? I don't think so. I don't think I am incriminated for the impulse, if I am able to control it. Would I be better off to just finish the word as it starts out of my mouth? Obviously not. So, instead I have found a way to correct myself mid-utterance.

Flipping does the same thing for me, but it is done before I start to form the bad word.

I also don't think there is anything wrong with saying darn. I understand what you read in the New Era, JB, but I personally don't see it as a problem. Exclamations of annoyance or anger are a normal part of our life. I think we really cannot avoid it at times. In those cases, I think it is best to use a word that is not profane than it is to just give into the anger and swear.

To me this quote really has more to do with not bad mouthing people, not murmurring, not criticizing, not spreading nasty rumors, etc., more than saying the word darn. I am not saying that this is what the article in the New Era was saying. What I am saying is I think the author of the article took this quote and used it for a purpose other than what the Lord intended in it's original form.

This is all just my opinion of course. If I were perfect, I probably wouldn't use any of these words, but I am very far from perfect. Although I am striving towards that goal.

Edited: tenaheff on 7th Feb, 2004 - 12:35pm