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Know what you mean - mean what you say


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I for one had never heard of the origin of "good grief" until I read this thread. I have, however, heard that "oh, my goodness," "oh my gracious," "goodness gracious," "egad," "gadzooks," "land sakes," and many other common expressions of surprise are all blasphemous euphemisms, or at least had blasphemous origins. Vulgar expressions with questionable origins include "kissing up," "bang for your buck," "brown nosing," "great day," etc., etc., etc. (The list really does go on and on.)

I have taught my kids that we do not use "careless speech," or "slang." I don't care so much about the actual origin of a phrase or idiom...because, really, who knew that "good grief" originated in the way it did? (Obviously, "oh my gosh" bears more resemblance to its origin, so I would definitely tell my kids that they may not EVER use this phrase in my house. I wouldn't come out so strongly against "good grief.") I imagine that if I were to ask anyone on the street, Christian or nonchristian, how that phrase originated, they'd have no clue. It has lost that meaning, if indeed it ever had that meaning in general public usage. So, really, my testimony before the world would not be damaged at all if I were to use this expression. (Same with "oh, my goodness," etc.) To me, the issue is not testimony, but what is "best." Another issue is that of knowledge: it is only those people with limited vocabularies who resort to continual slang and vulgarity...They've simply never been taught how to express themselves in a clearer, better way. They lace their speech with the same, old, tired words and idioms; it's sad, really. My desire for believers is that they would learn how to express themselves precisely and creatively enough not to have to rely on these common (vulgar) expressions.


:goodpost:
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I'll second that! :goodpost::goodpost:


Why not a third :goodpost::goodpost::goodpost:

Seriously, sad to say, I too fall in the same boat of ignorance that Annie and others have expressed and have used this "good grief" in the past as well. Not that I thought it was necessarily appropriate then, but did slip at times - still human, eh? Thanks for this thread 1tim. It's good knowlegde and food for thought.

God Bless,

Futurehope
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Seems a lot of this is nick picking.

By the way, I always mean what I say, but that don't mean the other person understands what I say, to be what I mean for it to mean, many times its hard to communicate to someone what you really mean, do you know what I mean?

Gosh doesn't look the least bit like God. Good grief does not look nothing like God either.

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I am with the last poster. Good grief certainly wouldn't cause me to bat an eyelash. Oh my Gosh, while it is close to Oh my God; honestly, I am on the fence on that one. It's tough to know where to draw the line. We allow our children to say "Oh my gosh". Personally, this is one of the smaller issues in life, and I want to save my words for the bigger ones like drugs, premarital sex, etc. Those are things that I want to step out and make sure our kids know that there is a definite stand.

Part of this theory, for me, is due to my upbringing. I was brought up in a very conservative church that was a lot of "don't do's". Honestly, as a teenager, it was that staunch dogmatic rule based attitude that caused me to turn away from the Church for the better part of 15 years of my life (especially when I noted that a lot of the "don't do" crowd was doing these same things themselves!! :) ). Thankfully, the Lord had a plan and brought me back to the Church just before I turned 30, and I am very thankful He did. I guess I just don't one to be responsible for putting stumbling blocks in front of my children for the little issues.

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I am with the last poster. Good grief certainly wouldn't cause me to bat an eyelash. Oh my Gosh, while it is close to Oh my God; honestly, I am on the fence on that one. It's tough to know where to draw the line. We allow our children to say "Oh my gosh". Personally, this is one of the smaller issues in life, and I want to save my words for the bigger ones like drugs, premarital sex, etc. Those are things that I want to step out and make sure our kids know that there is a definite stand.

Part of this theory, for me, is due to my upbringing. I was brought up in a very conservative church that was a lot of "don't do's". Honestly, as a teenager, it was that staunch dogmatic rule based attitude that caused me to turn away from the Church for the better part of 15 years of my life (especially when I noted that a lot of the "don't do" crowd was doing these same things themselves!! :) ). Thankfully, the Lord had a plan and brought me back to the Church just before I turned 30, and I am very thankful He did. I guess I just don't one to be responsible for putting stumbling blocks in front of my children for the little issues.


Adaram,

You mentioned in another post that you come from an "unsaved" family, so I am going to guess that your parents probably didn't raise you according to God's word and it sounds as though you were in a bit of rebellion as a teenager toward the church anyway. I'm certainly not trying to put down or condemn you or anything of that nature, just offering perspective to your situation. IF you are choosing to raise your children according to God's word, most likely, they won't view you or the church the way that you viewed your parents or the church. They will respect you and honor you. I wouldn't call the "small things" stumbling blocks either - IF your children are being taught right. On the contrary, the younger they learn even the "small stuff", the more easily they will grow and serve the Lord as they age.

Something to think about:

The "small stuff" is what will determine our rewards on judgement day and they are far more eternal than being able to say and do what we want to do here on this earth.

Just my :2cents

BTW, welcome to OB, hope to see you around.

God Bless,

Futurehope
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I am with the last poster. Good grief certainly wouldn't cause me to bat an eyelash. Oh my Gosh, while it is close to Oh my God; honestly, I am on the fence on that one. It's tough to know where to draw the line. We allow our children to say "Oh my gosh". Personally, this is one of the smaller issues in life, and I want to save my words for the bigger ones like drugs, premarital sex, etc. Those are things that I want to step out and make sure our kids know that there is a definite stand.

Part of this theory, for me, is due to my upbringing. I was brought up in a very conservative church that was a lot of "don't do's". Honestly, as a teenager, it was that staunch dogmatic rule based attitude that caused me to turn away from the Church for the better part of 15 years of my life (especially when I noted that a lot of the "don't do" crowd was doing these same things themselves!! :) ). Thankfully, the Lord had a plan and brought me back to the Church just before I turned 30, and I am very thankful He did. I guess I just don't one to be responsible for putting stumbling blocks in front of my children for the little issues.


My Humble Opinion Only, what you rebelled against was God, not church or family. Why blame family and church?
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