Bon Mots

While watching Midsomer Murders, and learning that the murder weapon was a bodkin, I became interested in the phrase “odd bodkin”.  And while researching that, I came across an even more interesting term, minced oath. While not a very eloquent phrase, it’s an amusing one (at least to me). It’s a way of swearing, without saying something offensive. I learned a lot about minced oaths on this site. They are often religious in nature. For example, Jiminy Cricket instead of Jesus Christ and Gadzooks for “by God’s hooks” (the nails in Jesus’ cross). Minced oaths have been around for ages. We’ve seen them in drama and literature, as far back as the 1600’s. Charles Dickens used them. In fact, his name itself is a minced oath; a replacement for referring to the devil. We also see it in television. The term “frak” for well, you know, was born out of the show Battlestar Galactica, and then adopted by Veronica Mars (a grossly underappreciated teen detective series). In our house, my daughter coins her own minced oaths, including my favorite, Crap Muffins. And you? Do you have a favorite minced oath? They’re really quite fun.