I did a controversial exercise for Spotlight Online the other day, and now I wish I’d done one on the words we Americans use in polite company to avoid swearwords.
Heck! (hell)
Shoot! (shit)
Fudge! (fuck)
Gosh! Golly! (God)
For crying out loud! (for Christ’s sake)
Gee whizz! Jeepers! (Jesus)
Darn (damn)
Doggone it! (damn it)
Gosh darn it! (God damn it)
Do people in the UK and Ireland use the same terms?
Then again, perhaps we shouldn’t be teaching this kind of language, either. After all, keeping your emotions neatly under control is hip. Did you catch Obama’s response to CNN Ed Henry’s enquiry why he didn’t respond to the AIG payments in immediate anger? “I like to know what I’m talking about before I speak.” Cool dude.
