Bloody hell a profanity?

[james_neville]

Hi i have been looking int other 2nd commandment and i was wondering wether saying the words out loud like “bloody hell” is sinful?

Someone just recently told me that the word “bloody” comes from the bloody nature of christ on the cross. I never knew this before and it is very much apart of my everyday language.

Also that “Crikey” (a very Australian word) is another word for Christ similar to making “God” into “Gosh.” in OMG.

This begs the question i would like your thoughts on. Does removing the meaning of a word mean that it is ok to say? e.g. if i say a phrase and think of it as having another meaning like hell is bloody rather than christs blood on the cross + the word Hell, would this mean it is not sinful to say?

 

[Sirach2]

Seems as though “bloody” is a common phrase in the Australian culture, so prefacing the word “hell” with your cultural adaptation is not a sin. I suppose it could be sinful if anger accompanied it and you used it in venting your anger. But it could be just an imperfection and a bad habit of profanity. After the habit is well established, it’s very hard to break.
Common courtesy using good speech in the presence of others is kinda expected, yes? Besides, it gives witness of your character as a Christian. You may want to look for another acceptable phrase with which to vent your frustrations.

 

[trials]

Many theories have been put forward for the origin of “bloody” as a profanity. One theory is that it derives from the phrase “by Our Lady”, a sacrilegious invocation of the Virgin Mary. The abbreviated form “By’r Lady” is common in Shakespeare’s plays around the turn of the 17th century, and interestingly Jonathan Swift about 100 years later writes both “it grows by’r Lady cold” and “it was bloody hot walking to-day” [2] suggesting that a transition from one to the other could have been under way. In the middle of the 19th century Anne Brontë writes in “The Tenant of Wildfell Hall”: “I went to see him once or twice – nay, twice or thrice – or, by’r lady, some four times” (Chapter XXII).

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bloody

I only found this out recently myself, and I had been prone to saying it occasionally, though I would confess to using vulgar language afterwards. Well now we know what its origins are, even if we said it innocently at the time, I think we need to change our habits and find something innocent to replace it like what my 5 yr old son says, “oh picklejuice!”

 

[Sirach2]

OP, you may find this response helpful from Michelle Arnold, CAF Apologist.

… to the extent that such word choices are used unthinkingly, for lack of more refined and considerate expressions, it is rude but not necessarily sinful. Rude, in this case, is being used in the sense of either “lacking social graces” or “lacking education in civility.”

If one is purposely rude (i.e., ill-mannered, impolite, even though one knows better), it may constitute sin depending on the gravity of the offense.

 

[englishredrose]

Seems as though “bloody” is a common phrase in the Australian culture, so prefacing the word “hell” with your cultural adaptation is not a sin. I suppose it could be sinful if anger accompanied it and you used it in venting your anger. But it could be just an imperfection and a bad habit of profanity. After the habit is well established, it’s very hard to break.
Common courtesy using good speech in the presence of others is kinda expected, yes? Besides, it gives witness of your character as a Christian. You may want to look for another acceptable phrase with which to vent your frustrations.

Its a common phrase in English Culture too and people do prefacing it with the word “hell” and 100% mean it in frustration and anger and it is generally considered as swearing. “Bloody” is Considered swearing in England without the “hell.” And as many people say “bloody” as to the full “bloody hell” in England . Just because its a common phrase don’t make it a right phrase.
Would you say ‘bloody or bloody-hell’ to your priest in/out of church or confession as a general phrase as a matter of speech? That be your test to whether its a natural part of your own speech pattern whether you consider it good or bad language. Common usage don’t make it good language.
The type of language you use to speak to your priest is how you ought to be speaking to each other too.So if you find you have ‘cleaned’ up the words you use to your priest then you may reach an answer to whether “bloody” and “bloody hell” are words you didn’t ought to be using since you don’t say them to your priest. Why should others suffer bad language? If you do use those words to your priest and he uses them back then you will have to do some deeper thinking about cultural norm. What is popular may not be right and what is right may not be always popular…

 

[triumphguy]

I thought 'Stralians said “bloody 'ell”

I’ve never heard one aspirate the (h)aitch

 

[Phemie]

Its a common phrase in English Culture too and people do prefacing it with the word “hell” and 100% mean it in frustration and anger and it is generally considered as swearing. “Bloody” is Considered swearing in England without the “hell.” And as many people say “bloody” as to the full “bloody hell” in England . Just because its a common phrase don’t make it a right phrase.
Would you say ‘bloody or bloody-hell’ to your priest in/out of church or confession as a general phrase as a matter of speech? That be your test to whether its a natural part of your own speech pattern whether you consider it good or bad language. Common usage don’t make it good language.
The type of language you use to speak to your priest is how you ought to be speaking to each other too.So if you find you have ‘cleaned’ up the words you use to your priest then you may reach an answer to whether “bloody” and “bloody hell” are words you didn’t ought to be using since you don’t say them to your priest. Why should others suffer bad language? If you do use those words to your priest and he uses them back then you will have to do some deeper thinking about cultural norm. What is popular may not be right and what is right may not be always popular…

As someone who grew up in a French Canadian home and for whom French ‘swearing’ is 99% related to Church (tabernacle, ciborium, chalice, etc.), it always confused me that that hell, or bloody or other crude terms would be considered ‘swearing’. In French such terms were considered rude but not sinful. The F word is extremely rude but I never considered that swearing.

 

[austenbosten]

I never understood the point of substituting words to do the same deed. If you are going to shout a profanity, saying “gobsmack-fruit-de-la-looms!” is no different than saying any other profanity, you are still using an expletive no matter how NickJr you try and church it up to be. God doesn’t care and is probably amused that even in a post-Protestant world, we still hold to the Puritan view that swearing is sinful. Only if you are invoking the name of God to bear false witness or just lying period are you guilty of sin from the tongue.

 

[underacloud]

I thought 'Stralians said “bloody 'ell”

I’ve never heard one aspirate the (h)aitch

We would also run them on, so it becomes “blood-y-ell”…no space please.

Also, please pronounce it correctly…'strayan…there is no L.

 

[triumphguy]

We would also run them on, so it becomes “blood-y-ell”…no space please.

Also, please pronounce it correctly…'strayan…there is no L.

My apologies

 

[DexUK]

My former parish priest swore in front of me on a number of occasions (although not frequently, and never in front of anyone who would be offended). I think he felt free to use invective and naughty language after I accidentally let slip a mild swear once in his presence (and of course I promptly apologised). It’s just the way people talk and should be taken as morally neutral in the absence of any further cues. Nobody would turn a hair these days if you stubbed your toe and exclaimed loudly “Botheration!” but likewise nobody would think of saying such a thing in those circumstances now anyway.

To use rude or course language without the specific intention to dwell on it or its content is not a mortal sin, and if nobody around you is offended (and you can be sure of your company in that regard) then it’s barely venial if it’s commonly understood what you mean.

I do try to restrain myself from using the phrase ‘Oh God’ or uttering the name of Our Lord in vain though… Sometimes one slips out by accident, because you hear everyone else doing it, but it’s not a good habit to get into as you do run much more of a risk of offending someone and it is, of course, far different when you’re using the names of the Divine Persons as exclamations, since it devalues their ‘specialness’.

 

[lizaanne]

In confession one time, I confessed using the Lord’s name in vain. Father asked me the circumstances, and I explained it was upon hearing some shocking news. He explained to me that in an instance like that, the use is not truly a sin, but actually a prayer of disbelief and acknowledgement that God is needed at that moment.

So learning someone was killed in a horrible accident, and exclaiming “OH MY GOD!!” - is not a use in vain, but is actually a crying out to God for His mercy.

Now - most uses are probably not like this, but just for the scrupulous out there, it’s something to consider.

~Liza

 

[DexUK]

It could certainly be made a prayer ‘after the fact’ in one’s heart.