Today I am going to mince an oath.
I can only apologise.
“For Pete’s sake” I learned today (after a quick afternoon Google) is a piece of fudged swearing called a “minced oath”, as in “mincing your words”.
Pete may be St Peter (it does not hurt that it sounds a bit like “pity”) and Pete (and sometimes Mike) are used as God’s stand-ins to avoid offending the monitors of blasphemy.
So a timely Gadzooks may indeed be a way of referring to God’s hooks – the nails in the cross. Judas Priest may be ageing hard rockers but the term can be used in place of Jesus Christ. Crikey for that matter is Christ. England loves a euphemism.
But surely the brightest of these useful neologisms must be the sitcom which was loved and brilliant in equal measures. What would Father Ted or Father Jack himself have to say about all this wordy nonsense? I can hear him now.
Feck It!
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