Gosh Dang It to Heck: Difference between revisions

 

See also [[Curse of the Ancients]], [[Never Say "Die"]], [[T-Word Euphemism]], and the [[wikipedia:Minced oath|Wikipedia article on minced oaths]]. Contrast [[Cluster F-Bomb]] which is the exact opposite, but can be just as annoying. Other methods of expressing profanity without raising the age rating include [[Curse Cut Short]], [[Last-Second Word Swap]], [[Foreign Cuss Word]], and [[Precision F-Strike]]. A favorite tool of the [[Badbutt]]—the G-rated Badass. Another character type known for this is the [[Minnesota Nice]].

 

{{examples}}

== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==

* The ''[[Mega Man NT Warrior]]'' manga. The Viz translation creates some pretty damn ridiculous swearwords. Mega Man Hub Style is about to die unless he can pick himself up off the ground and can only mutter "dang blang!" However, a Bass who is simply incensed will preach about experiencing "Hell itself". Note that this translation also uses vocabulary WAY beyond the target audience. "Pablum," "wanton"...

* Hiruma's [[Cluster F-Bomb|charming nicknames]] for people and things get this treatment in the Viz editions of ''[[Eyeshield 21]]''.

* Completely averted in the Hungarian dub of ''[[Soul Eater]]'', with the teen heroes using a rich vocabulary of swears and profanity that would make even the creators themselves hide under the table, whenever they're seriously pissed. The fact that it's airing after ten PM may have something to do with it.

* Canada in ''[[Axis Powers Hetalia]]'', instead of swearing, squeaks "Maple hockey!"

* [[Sonic Adventure]]: "Or else what, ya big loser?"

 

== [[Comic Books]] ==

'''[[Storm]]:''' What ''did'' you say?

'''[[Captain America (comics)|Captain America]]:''' [[Narrative Profanity Filter|I can't say with ladies present]]. }}

* ''[[Squirrel Girl]]'' seems incapable of anything harsher than "Good golly gosh!" During the [[Great Lakes Avengers|GLX-Mas Special]], she warned the readers that the comic contained inappropriate use of the word "flock." Partly [[Justified Trope]] because the use of the word "flock" involved Mr. Immortal screaming ''Flock You!'', as a substitute for, you know, (sorry, I can't say with gentlemen present). Partly because Mr. Immortal was flocking with a flocking gun...

* ''[[X-Men (Comic Book)|X-Men]]'' – [[Wolverine]], whose vocabulary likely includes a lot of words the Comics Code would have looked askance at, has generally settled on "flaming" as a compromise. He once prepared to fight Sabretooth by announcing it was time to open a can of "kick-butt."

* ''[[Knights of the Dinner Table]]'' usually spells "God" as "Gawd". They also frequently use amusing outburst like "Firk-Ding-Blast!" and "What the SAM FRICK?"

* ''[[Atomic Robo]]'' doesn't swear, tending to make use of more esoteric terms like "horsefeathers!" and "Cheese and Crackers!" Justified, since Robo was created and "grew up" before [[World War II]].

{{quote|[Captain America jumps onto an F-15 and smashes the cockpit. Understandably, the pilot expresses his surprise]

'''Pilot:''' Jesus!

'''Captain America:''' Keep flying, son. And watch that potty mouth! }}

* ''[[Tintin]]'' - Tintin himself would use "Great Snakes!" As a sailor Captain Haddock's stream of abuse was, if not rude, then certainly inventive. His trademark phrases were "Billions of blue blistering barnacles!" and "Thousands of thundering typhoons!" When particularly angry, "billions of blue blistering barnacles in a thundering typhoon!" was heard.

* ''[[Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles Mirage]]'' - In the early black and white issues, clots of [[Frank Miller]]-esque gore flew in all directions, but the characters' swearing was limited to heartfelt cries of "Dung!"

'''Hulk:''' That's your job!

'''Ross:''' Not '''ding-dong''' likely, you crazy monster! }}

 

== [[Fan Works]] ==

{{quote|"You and your vagina are extremely slippery tonight. I hope you found my efforts satisfying."

"Mother loving cheese on a biscuit!" }}

 

== [[Film]] ==

'''Phil''': Shit!

'''Alan''': Shoot! }}

* In the 1950s-set ''Far From Heaven'', the main character admonishes her child for saying "shucks." There is later a [[Precision F-Strike]] from another character.

* When the Captain finds the body in ''[[The Trouble with Harry]]'', he exclaims ''For rice cake!''

{{quote|'''Molly:''' ''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|Not my daughter, you]] '''''[[Crowning Moment of Awesome|BITCH!!]]''''' [[Literally Shattered Lives|*kills Bellatrix*]]}}

** Context is all: these are British books. While "damn" and "hell" might offend some in the US, they are no longer at all offensive in the UK. "Arse" and "bitch" are both relatively minor curses, and "effing" is just a euphemism. As far as I am aware, there has been no outcry in the UK over the language in the books.

*** Later in the book, when facing the [[Big Bad]], he spends a few minutes consulting the list, after which he pronounces the [[Big Bad]] a "misbegotten wretch". Mister Saveloy, who wrote the list, is shocked.

*** [[The Unpronouncable|A difficult linguistic feat.]]

*** Proving that there's nothing that won't offend someone, somewhere, concerned parents wrote Terry Pratchett about Tulip's preferred obscenity, worried that their children would start saying it. Needless to say, the author was quite baffled by this, especially because it's not a swear, and even when used in the context of a swear, it's essentially a self-censoring profanity.

*** Mr. Tulip actually responds to a complaint about his constant profanity with "What? I don't ----ing swear!" at one point. I can only imagine Pratchett's response was much the same. One of the conspirators does manage to understand Mr. Tulip's censored swearing:

*** It's said that Mr. Tulip has a speech impediment that prevents him from saying much more than "----ing."

*** Also relevent here is that Mr Pin has [[Pulp Fiction|a wallet on which is inscribed]] "[[Mother F-Bomb|Not A Nice Person At All]]".

** Susan Sto Helit, a kindergarten teacher, realises she really must get out and meet more adults when, in the complete absence of any children, she says, "Does a bear poo in the woods?"

* Award-winning British young adults' novel ''Henry Tumour'' sprinkles profanities all over the place, including "fuck" - once in bold, very large print - with the teenage narrator explaining that this is just how teenagers talk, but that since there's one word he's not allowed to use in a kids' book he has to misspell it "cnut".

** So someone is insulting someone else by calling that person an Anglo-Saxon king?

* This trope is used unintentionally in a lot of older books, due to [[Values Dissonance]]. For example, [[The Catcher in The Rye|Holden Caufield]] is often admonished for swearing when the worst thing he ever says is "goddamn" (granted, it was more serious at the time). Nowadays, it's funny for younger people to read because the swear is so mild.

 

* Prior to the late 1960s, virtually all television programs never permitted even so much as a hell, damn or ass on TV, except in religious contexts. (All three swear words are in various translations of the Bible.) That meant usually double-entendre was substituted, or the scripts rewritten to avoid even the suggestion. Little by little, TV dramas, usually gritty ones, began using mild profanities ... that is until potty-mouthed Archie Bunker broke the door wide open.

* In a couple episodes of [[Square One TV|Mathnet]], George uses a phrase like "gosh darn" and then apologizes for "swearing" or "cursing."

'''Eddie:''' You ''goddamn'' well hit the ''clit'' right on the nail there, you ''cunting'' bastard! }}

* In [[Rowan Atkinson]]'s "First Day of Hell" sketch, Satan says "You're all here for eternity, which I hardly need tell you is a heck of a long time."

* ''[[Flight of the Conchords]]'' does this. In one of their songs, they self-censor the "motherfuckers" in the chorus by dropping the f. Both Jemaine and Bret are fond of saying "flip" as a curse, despite their liberally swearing friend Dave.

* [[HBO]] sketch show ''Mr. Show'' featured Pallies, a parody of the movie ''[[Goodfellas]]''. In it, the swearing is switched to words such as "loopy nerd" and "Chinese dentist" and a middle finger is changed to a thumbs up. The movie is then shown to be presented as a morning movie.

** In the episode "Ghostfacers," stronger profanity is bleeped out reality tv-style, and several of the bleeped words are clearly "fuck," which the the brothers don't use in the show due to network rules. In fact, under the bleeps, there's a whole lot more profanity than usual for ths show...which begs the question—wouldn't two men raised on the road by their ex-Marine father swear more than they do?

* Parodied by [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RfwNlJZ-_l4 Jon Stewart at the Emmys]:

* The only swear word in ''[[Star Trek: The Original Series]]'' was Kirk's line at the end of "The City on the Edge of Forever": "Let's get the hell out of here."

** Dr. McCoy was fond of "Blast!" Well, at least until the movies, which somewhat expanded his vocabulary. He also asks Spock "Are you out of your Vulcan mind" in [[Star Trek (film)|the 2009 film]], which he used at least twice in the series ("Gamesters of Triskelion" and "Elaan of Troyius") and once in ''The Wrath of Khan''.

* Sheldon from ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' will combine this with [[Sophisticated As Hell]]. Although more of a Deist or perhaps Agnostic, due to his Christian upbringing he is never shown swearing, and despite the mildness of the words such as "poop", "heck", and "poppycock", he will actually apologize for his language.

* In one episode of ''[[Columbo]]'', the killer actually '''said''' "bleep" rather than using either real profanity or some tamer equivalent: "You are a bleep, bleep, bleep."

 

== [[Music]] ==

* Heavy metal group [[Blue Öyster Cult]] once sang (on "Hot Rails to Hell") that "you know darn well the heat from below can [[Eye Scream|burn your eyes out]]!" "''Darn'' well!" In ''1973''!

* [[Weezer]] has a slight tendency towards this at times: "Pork And Beans" has the repeated line "I don't give a hoot about what you think", while "Brightening Day" has "they don't give a spit". On the other hand, "god damn" and "bitch" have shown up in multiple songs.

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

'''Mister Potato Head:''' Who the hell cares? }}

* ''[[Dilbert]]'': [[Playing with a Trope|Playing with the trope]] through exaggeration, it features a demonic character, Phil, who is the "Prince of Insufficient Light" and "Supreme Ruler of Heck." Armed with a giant pitch-spoon, he is empowered not to damn people for eternity, but to "darn" them, usually for 15 minutes, or with an annoying, sometimes ironically appropriate, fate. Scott Adams claims he came up with the concept when the syndicate didn't allow him to use [[Satan]] as a character in the strip and that he is more pleased with the end result.

 

 

== Theatre ==

* In ''[[Paint Your Wagon (theatre)|Paint Your Wagon]]'', "They Call The Wind Maria" includes the line, "And now I'm lost, so goldurn lost." The same character (followed by others) sings "who gives a damn" in another number with less potential to become a song hit.

* ''[[The Odd Couple]]'': Spoofed in the play and the movie version when Oscar complains about a cryptic note that Felix left for him, which was signed "F-U". "It took me awhile to realize that 'F-U' meant 'Felix Ungar.'"

 

== [[Video Games]] ==

** ''[[Final Fantasy X-2]]'' has its share of swearing; ass, damn, bastard, from everyone except Yuna. The closest she gets to swearing is, "Oh, poopie". Rikku actually scolds her for saying something so vulgar. And Yuna was copying Rikku!

*** Apparently, mentioning excrement at all was too much for ''[[Kingdom Hearts II]]''. Instead, Yuna says "Oh, foofie".

** The Engineer used to be notable for going on G-rated blue streaks involving words like "damnit", "dagnabit" or other similarly mild phrases in keeping with his [[Southern-Fried Genius|educated]] [[Southern Gentleman]] personality. In ''Meet the Engineer'', he comes up with euphemisms like "[[Sesquipedalian Loquaciousness|structurally superfluous new behind]]" and "motherhubbard." After his update, he started swearing for real (''"I'm wolverine mean, you son of a bitch!" "I just beat on your sneaky ass like a mule, boy!''").

** In contrast, the Scout has always been foul-mouthed, making liberal use of "ass" and "dumbass" even before the class updates. Even though he usually says "freakin'" or "frickin'" in-game, he uses "fucking'" in ''Meet the Scout'' (although censored).

* The XBLA re-release of ''[[Guardian Heroes]]'' features such gems as "Holy schnitzel", "Mother bucket", and "Son of a cyclops".

* ''[[Ace Combat|AceCombat Zero: The Belkan War]]'' has [[Nice Guy|P.J.]] shout "''DANG IT!!''" just before he gets shot down. Unusually for this trope, he sounds genuinely furious, and this is the ''only'' time P.J. really loses his cool.

 

== [[Web Animation]] ==

** Strong Sad did say "damn" in one Halloween episode, but it was used in the religious sense ("... and if you answer wrong, you get eternal damnation, but if you answer right you get a Twizzler?").

* Used ''and'' subverted by [[Yahtzee]] in his ''[[Zero Punctuation]]'' reviews, often at the same time. What he says is much dirtier than what appears on the screen. His comment ''[[Halo]] Wars''{{'}}s mission timers was written as "What arbitrary silliness", contrasting with "Bull fucking shit." A rebuttal to [[Moral Guardians]] decrying videogames is captioned "No, and I consider your argument misinformed," but he says "No, and go fuck yourself, you ignorant scaremongering cockbags."

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* The [[So Bad It's Good]] ''[[Doom]]'' [http://www.doomworld.com/10years/doomcomic/ comic], despite being rather violent and gory (having been made during the [[Dark Age]]) uses this trope. The closest it gets to a swear word is "sunova..."

{{quote|'''Doomguy:''' Sweet Christmas! [[Buffy-Speak|Big-mouthed floating thingies]]!}}

* ''[[Gastrophobia]]''. As the author wrote:

{{quote|'''David McGuire:''' Oh, man. I just had a character say, "crap." There go my chances of there ever being a ''Gastrophobia'' [[Nickelodeon|Nicktoon]]?8222;¢.}}

* In ''[[The Specialists]]'', Max makes frequent use of the exclamation "Applesauce!" such as in [http://thespecialistscomic.com/page-22/ this montage].

* Both played straight and averted in [[Bob and George]]. Most of the time the characters will use minced oaths or be censored outright, but every so often something will happen that one character (usually Roll) can only respond to with a hearty "fuck".

* [http://www.superdoomedplanet.com/comic/ Super Doomed Planet]:

{{quote|'''Dr. Crane:''' Exploding Planets! Dr. Gregor ffinch!

* From [https://web.archive.org/web/20090427035834/http://nodwick.humor.gamespy.com/fantatoon/FTChapter5.html cartoon singles] by [[Nodwick|Aaron Williams]] -- "Gates of Heck":

{{quote|(one fiend to another): It's part of our new 'Family Friendly' policy.}}

{{quote|"Also, if this ends OK for us, can we maybe talk about reforming all those archaic friggin' runes?"

"Hey! Don't pin this all on Frigg, everyone agreed to this!"}}

* [[A Very Potter Musical]] parodies this trope. In the canon of the first musical (set in the "second year" for Hogwarts students), basically every character swears, our hero even dropping the [[Precision F-Strike|F-bomb]] once. However, in the sequel (or really the "prequel," seeing as it's set in the FIRST year of the students at Hogwarts), when Professor Lupin swears, the children cover their ears and gasp until he replaces it with something less obscene.

* [[Olan Rogers]] never uses a more vulgar word than "crap", and his videos are much funnier for it.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

** The ill-tempered Yosemite Sam was particularly prone to this trope, using nonsensical euphemisms for his heavy swearing. This takes center stage in the 1960 cartoon "From Hare to Heir," where longtime antagonist [[Bugs Bunny]] – in a 17th century English setting – informs Sam that he will inherit 1 million pounds if he can keep his temper under control; the wascally wabbit then tests Sam's anger management skills by annoying him with multiple small favor requests, with the penalty for losing his temper at 300 pounds per offense. This frustrates Sam so much he tries to run outside to rant and rave, although Bugs also deducts for these instances as well! Eventually, Sam tries to set up Bugs' doom, but they all end with Sam "rackin' frackin' rickin' rackin'" himself to the wrong end of things. Eventually, Sam does find a way to manage his temper ... too late, as he loses his inheritance.

* In ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]'', for instance, the words "damn" and "hell" are treated as fairly shocking. [[Seinfeld Is Unfunny|When the show debuted, "damn" and "hell" ''were'' shocking in a cartoon, at least in America, as was the word "butt".]] The trope has been fading in the series's more recent episodes, most likely to keep in line with other adult cartoons, such as ''[[Family Guy]]''. Definitely long since subverted. Words like "bastard", "pissed", and "bitch" have been used occasionally for well over a decade in the show now. Probably because of the show's ever growing immunity to [[Executive Meddling|tampering]]; at this point, the creators can do whatever they like in the show and get with it.

* In the episode of ''George Shrinks'' when George's prized "Zooper Car" is stolen, A very ticked off George states he will find it "Wherever the heck it is." His father then proceeds to ''scold him for saying the word "heck"''. What world does this family live in?

** It could perhaps be because George's younger brother Junior is at the age where he's saying a few words and some short sentences; it could be because they don't want Junior to pick it up and want to get George out of the habit to help prevent that.

* Averted in the 5th episode of ''[[Star Wars: The Clone Wars]]'', with two instances of "hell" from the Clone troopers ("What the ''hell'' was that?!" and "Like hell you did!"). On the second airing, however, both were [[Bowdlerise]]d, causing the latter to sound as if the trooper saying it was conceding; the exact ''opposite'' of what he meant.

* ''[[Family Guy]]'' featured this in a not-so family friendly way, in a brief parody of ''[[The Smurfs]]'':

** Another episode played with this with Francine: "If it's so darned, no damned, yeah I went there, if it's so darned important..."

** Steve has "brownies" as an expletive.

* In ''[[The Powerpuff Girls]]'' episode "Speed Demon" [[Big Red Devil|Him]] [[The Bad Guy Wins|manages to take over in the girls absence]].

{{quote|'''Him''': As you raced through time, the whole world went to HECK!}}

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

* ESL teachers of adult learners are often split on the topic of just how clean your speech needs to be in class. On the one hand, teachers should be professional and this includes appropriate language; on the other, part of teaching your students about usage includes vulgarity (so they at least know just how bad ''other'' people's language is). Most teachers settle for keeping their own vocabulary G-rated but not censoring students.

** Making matters worse, textbooks written for ESL teachers in training are largely silent on the topic. One assumes that lessons on correct usage of vulgarity and profanity are not condoned, though. This has lead several self-study books devoted entirely to profanity. One notable example is ''Dark Horizon'', a parody of the ubiquitous Japanese textbook series ''New Horizon'' where the characters have failed in life and become bums, prostitutes and criminals.

*** "Nom d'un chien" ("name of a dog") is another old-fashioned form.

** The Russian "Blyad'" (technically "Whore", but used more like "Fuck") becomes "Blin" (Pancake) in front of sensitive ears.

*** "Yebat'" ("fuck") becomes "Yeteet'" or "Yedreet'" (nonsensical erratives, the latter probably derived from the word for "tough, healthy" or "kernel").

*** "Yobana mat'" ("[[Your Mom|fucked mother]]") becomes "yedryona vosh" ("strong, healthy louse").

*** Russian has quite a lot of inventive obscene cursing, and most of it has at least one "heck" form, sometimes many and often quite picturesque. In a nutshell, ''any'' word, I mean any, starting with "yo" (including loanwords and mispronounced "ya" words), can be a euphemism for "yobana mat'". But religious curses are never "hecked", they are considered very mild by themselves.

** Québecois is ripe with this, too. Crisse de tabarnac de calisse! This is actually considered very obscene, for a more "Gosh Darn It To Heck" name, try "Crime de tabeurslak de caline!" It doesn't mean anything but it's still used.

** In Argentina was once usual the euphemism ''Me cache en dié'' for ''Me cago en Dios'' ("I shit on God"). The euphemistic form even made it to a tango's lyrics.

** In Spain "Me cago en la mar" (I shit in the sea) has "Me cachis en la mar." In some areas that is shortened to "cachi la mar."

* Preacher Tony Campolo was somewhat famous in religious circles for pointedly averting this trope (paraphrasing here): "There are children in third-world countries dying from starvation while your family is throwing away leftovers. That's bullshit!" [dramatic pause] "And I bet there are some of you here that are more upset that a man just swore from the pulpit than you are about the fact that a child is dying right now because he doesn't have any food."

* Averted and parodied in the ''[[Dan Vs.]]'' episode 'The Gym', Dan uses the word 'hellbent', and a {{spoiler|gym android}} says that he'd prefer Dan used the word 'heckbent'.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Language Tropes]]

[[Category:Older Than Feudalism]]