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.
* Well, back in 2011 when this post first ran.
Tweet: Gosh, just havin’ a little fun, people.
Tweet: If you go looking to find fault word by word by word … well, you usually can.
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Sadly, this is very much a part of some very conservative teaching in certain wings of the church. There is a long list of unacceptable words, which could make you go a little crazy . . . and maybe it has made a few folks a little cuckoo.
Makes me sad—when there are so many other things to do to right the wrongs in this ol’ world—to see people get hung up on a word.
That poor kid. I really feel for him. My mother was that way; I wasn’t allowed to say, “Gahhh” (which every kid on my street said, all the time), because it sounded like I was going to say “God.” Fast-forward a few decades and you’d find me turning my back on organized religion and embarking on a very moral, kind and good life as an ethical person without any need for dogma. May the same be true for this young boy.
So much time and energy spent on these silly things!
I was going to reply “Well, gee!”
Then I thought I ought to look up gee first. Pretty much the same story there. The current definition is not the original definition, and I find that fascinating.
Makes me wonder what other words I think I know but don’t.
Many! It’s astonishing! I find them all the time! Be careful out there. 🙂