Working on Not Swearing/Taking God's Name In Vain

[LiliesofMaria]

Okay so about 4 or 5 years ago I noticed that I was swearing and saying “Oh My God” (the latter part started later) a lot. I’ve often tried to work on it but there never seemed to be an improvement. Probably because I wasn’t trying hard enough and was also surrounded at one point by some people who thought swearing was awesome. I admit that I took on that outlook for a while because it felt rebellious. I did feel pretty bad about it afterwards.
However, I have seriously decided to make a change this time.
I don’t want to cause people to be turned away from the Catholic Faith or even from me because I swear and use Our Lord’s name in vain and am therefore going against commandments.
I was wondering if any of you had any other words that I could perhaps include in my vocabulary to replace swear words and to express surprise. I suppose “My goodness” and “Oh wow” would be good.
Also, when I was pretty young, I was told by a friend that saying “Oh My Gosh” was just as bad but I can’t really find any official Church teaching about that and it isn’t technically God’s name nor would I say it as a way of making fun of God. So I suppose that’s alright? I used to say it a lot back before I began swearing.
I do find myself using Our Lord’s name when in surprise or even anger, most of the time not even thinking twice. That definitely needs to change!

 

[Cecilia2017]

I’ve managed to stop taking the Lord’s name in vain but will admit to still ‘swearing like a trooper’ on occasions. When I have managed to exert some self-discipline a couple of my favourite non-expletive expletives have been borrowed from popular culture…
‘Fiddle-dee-dee said Scarlett’ - I say the whole thing
Or…
‘Dingo’s Kidneys’ - thanks to Douglas Adams Hitchhiker’s Guide for that one.

We can work on biting our tongues and broadening our suitable vocabulary together!

 

[LiliesofMaria]

I just saw on a creative writing website: Cheese and Rice

 

[Timeflies2me]

My family taught us to say gosh or goodness or something in replacement of saying God’s name in vein. About the swearing, well I do have a huge potty mouth, I think its venial. But still it aint good to swear so much.

 

[gregoryphealy]

I was wondering if any of you had any other words that I could perhaps include in my vocabulary to replace swear words and to express surprise. I suppose “My goodness” and “Oh wow” would be good.

Also, when I was pretty young, I was told by a friend that saying “Oh My Gosh” was just as bad but I can’t really find any official Church teaching about that and it isn’t technically God’s name nor would I say it as a way of making fun of God. So I suppose that’s alright?

I tend to use “my goodness” (though I feel a bit like an old lady clutching her pearls, and I’m a guy). I think “my gosh” brings you too close to the phrase you’re trying to avoid, so it’d be easy to get your tongue tied up and say “my God”.

I used to have a swearing habit as well. “Son of a b****” became “sunny biscuits” or “son of a mother”. “Fk" became “frick” or “frack”, though I think those will be worked out of my vocabulary eventually as well. "St” became “sheeze” or “sheets”, but I notice that sometimes I get close to saying “sheesus”, which is just playing with “Jesus”, so I’ve got to work that out as well.

I find myself doing it just to be more modest and less worried about letting something slip in conversation, especially around those who might have an impact on how much I get paid. But it has the benefit of not going against God’s commands, so that’s nice too.

 

[Entwhistler]

I use “Good Grief” a lot.

And “Shoot”.

Or “Shuckins”.