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  • Alisha: Hi, everybody and welcome back to English Topics.

  • My name is Alisha.

  • And, today, I'm joined again by

  • Davey: Hi, I'm Davey.

  • Alisha: Davey.

  • It's Davey.

  • Davey: Just Davey.

  • Alisha: It's Davey.

  • Davey: It's me.

  • It's Davey.

  • Alisha: It's Davey.

  • Davey: It's me, Davey.

  • Alisha: Today, we're going to talk about How Not to Swear.

  • So, of course, every language has some very fun swear words to use and English is no exception.

  • We have lots of good creative words to use.

  • But, they are not always appropriate.

  • So, how do you swear when you want to swear but you cannot say a swear word.

  • That's what we're going to talk about today.

  • So, we have a lot, I think.

  • We have a lot of examples.

  • Davey: Well, there's a lot of real swear words and there's a lot of fake ones, too.

  • Alisha: Yep, yep.

  • I think you have more than me.

  • No?

  • Davey: Maybe.

  • Alisha: Alright.

  • I'll start us off from this one then.

  • I'll start with a very, very tame one.

  • Apparently, maybe I'm the only person who uses this.

  • When making a mistake, a childhood mistake or a small mistake.

  • Actually, I still use this word.

  • Small mistakes, I say, “foo.”

  • I do this like, “Oh, foo.”

  • It's like--a very--I deleted the wrong file on my computer and it wasn't an important

  • file.

  • Or, I dropped the cap to my toothpaste or something.

  • That's a very specific example.

  • If something small goes awry, if I make a small mistake, I was like, “Oh, foo!”

  • Something like that.

  • Sort of cute, I guess, but kids.

  • I used this a bit when I was kids.

  • Thisfooandoopsalso.

  • Oopsis another big one for small mistakes, yep.

  • Davey: I've never heardfoobefore.

  • Alisha: Really?

  • Davey: No.

  • Oops,” I'm familiar with.

  • Alisha: “Oops,” I never meant—“Oopsandfoo,” okay.

  • Those are a couple that I've used, yep.

  • Davey: Okay.

  • Alisha: Are we ready to go into some more?

  • Davey: Absolutely.

  • Yeah.

  • So, my first word here isheck.”

  • This is one of a family of fake swear words that are all very close.

  • Words that are very close to a real swear word.

  • Words likeheckandshoot,” “darn,” “dang,” “fudge.”

  • All words that if you just change one sound, you make it from a swear word to something

  • sounding so sweet and innocent.

  • Likefudge.”

  • Fudge is delicious but it's a stand-in for something much darker.

  • Alisha: Indeed.

  • But, again, we use that to express a mistake, something is not gone the way we expect it

  • to.

  • Fudge.”

  • Davey: But, if you want to really say something else but you just can't, “fudge.”

  • Alisha: “Fudge.”

  • Good one.

  • Okay, yeah.

  • You kind of already touched on this one but my next one wasDangit!”

  • My brother and I, my younger brother and I, we actually still used this word with that

  • intonation.

  • I don't know why we're so attached to this.

  • I think it's—actually, I don't know, I guess it's just a habit.

  • We still use this word.

  • Usually, I guess I do most of my swearing at the computer.

  • Davey: Okay, sure.

  • Alisha: It's just that it causes so much frustration and stress to me, so I swear at

  • my computer a lot.

  • But, when it's going very slowly, I always like, “Dangit!

  • Mooove.”

  • That's a kind of a tame swear word, I just usedangit.”

  • The “I” sound in this, “dangiiiiit.”

  • It's longer the more frustrated I am and that one I like to use.

  • Or, I would--with computers is what--I don't know, maybe this is just me who has a very

  • bad relationship with her computer but when the computer is not functioning, too, if swearing

  • at it has not improved the situation, I'll just be like, “Computer, compute.”

  • Davey: “Computer, compute.”

  • Alisha: Yeah, “Please do your job,” in other words.

  • Davey: Alright.

  • Alisha: I'll address it, whatever this causing the problem.

  • Davey: Right.

  • But, first, you try swearing at it?

  • Alisha: At first, I try swearing.

  • Davey: And then, you ask nicely?

  • Alisha: I would say I use the command form.

  • Davey: Okay, yes.

  • As computers become more like people, you should try reversing that order.

  • Alisha: Sometimes I ask it politely.

  • I say, “Why are you not computing?”

  • Davey: Sure.

  • Address the issue head-on.

  • Alisha: Yup, yup.

  • Davey: Swear as the last resort.

  • Alisha: Indeed.

  • But, anyway, yes.

  • I like to usedangit.”

  • Dangitas a personal favorite of mine.

  • Classic.

  • Okay, others?

  • Davey: Yes, my next one is, “Sweet Mother!”

  • Just an old classic.

  • If you're caught off guard or you stub your toe, something surprises you, better to say,

  • sweet motherthan something much worse.

  • But, I think it gets the point.

  • Alisha: “Sweet mother!”

  • Yeah.

  • Davey: Try it out sometime.

  • Alisha: That is a good one.

  • Actually, when you said that, “sweet mother,” I believe that's a standard for sweet mother

  • of someone else or sweet mother of something but we're only using the beginning of that

  • phrase, “sweet mother,” and then we cut off the end.

  • Davey: If you stop there, if you see it written down, “sweet mother,” it sounds so nice.

  • Alisha: Mm-hmm.

  • Davey: You know, mothers are sweet people.

  • Alisha: Mm-hmm.

  • Davey: But, “Sweet mother!” has a much more ominous tone.

  • Alisha: Indeed.

  • Something terrible has just happened if you hear someone shout, “Sweet mother!”

  • Davey: In that way.

  • Alisha: Yeah.

  • I don't think I've ever heard this shouted happily.

  • Sweet mother!”

  • Davey: That's true.

  • Alisha: “It's so nice to see you.”

  • We don't ever use that in a happy way.

  • Davey: No, no doubt.

  • Alisha: You used the expression of like stubbing your toe.

  • To stub your toe is to hit your toe against an object like a desk or a table or something,

  • it really hurts.

  • I totally forgot about it.

  • But, one that I use all the time, especially, like with young--maybe teenage peopleactually,

  • I don't use it now now that I think about it.

  • One that I used to use a lot and still use from time to time is, “That sucks!”

  • Davey: “That sucks!”

  • Classic.

  • Alisha: Yeah, it means that's too bad, that's unfortunate.

  • You hear bad news, “Oh, that sucks.” or I break a thing that I didn't want to break,

  • Oh, that sucks!”

  • You can useSuck!”

  • That sucks.”

  • It doesn't have anything to do with removal of air or transfer of air just, “That sucks.”

  • Make the “U” sound elongated.

  • That suuuucks.”

  • Davey: “Duuuude!”

  • Alisha: “Duuuude!”

  • See?

  • If you elongate that “U” sound, you immediately sound like that turtle fromFinding Nemo.”

  • Davey: Okay.

  • Alisha: Are you familiar?

  • Davey: I can't recall the character but I have seen the movie.

  • Alisha: Crush, the turtle fromFinding Nemo.”

  • That's how he talks.

  • Davey: Okay.

  • Alisha: Yeah, he's a surfer turtle.

  • Davey: What's his name?

  • Alisha: Crush.

  • Davey: Cruuuush.

  • Alisha: Indeed.

  • See, he gets it.

  • That's it.

  • Alright.

  • Good.

  • So, we haveSweet mother!”

  • We have added, “That sucks.”

  • Davey: You're next.

  • Alisha: I guess since we're talking about injuries, I have the expression, “That hurt!”

  • And, you can addlikeplus some kind of other, I don't know, a bonus word if you

  • will.

  • So, here, “That hurt like crazy!” or, “That hurts so bad! or, “That hurt like…”

  • Davey: “…a monkey's uncle.”

  • Alisha: There we go.

  • So, it's sort of a nonsense phrase but you can just add whatever you like at the end

  • of this, “like blah, blah, blah,” or just drop this part as well.

  • Just, “That hurt!” and then kind of, again, elongate the vowel sounds to express your

  • pain as necessary.

  • Davey: Gets the point across.

  • Alisha: Indeed.

  • Okay, that's mine.

  • What else have you got?

  • Davey: My last one is childhood original, for me, “Bull honky!”

  • That's bull honky, Alisha.”

  • Alisha: Okay.

  • Davey: This one has a very specific story to it.

  • I grew up across the street from another young boy whose parents were always really hard

  • on him about swearing.

  • They would always mind his swearing.

  • And, they conditioned him to say, “bull honkywhenever he wanted to swear.

  • I thought it was pretty funny and I picked it up myself.

  • And so, playing with him in his yard or playing basketball, you know, basketball hoop in his

  • yard and I heard a lot of, “Man, that's bull honky.”

  • from him.

  • So, this one is very specific.

  • I don't know how many people would use this.

  • But, that's maybe another point about these kinds of swear words is a lot of this kind

  • of fake or made-up or substitute swear words I think can be really specific to a person.

  • Alisha: Absolutely.

  • Davey: Or a group of friends or something funny that they say instead of swearing.

  • Alisha: Yeah, we call those

  • Davey: “Bull honkey”'s one of those.

  • Alisha: … inside jokes.

  • Davey: Inside jokes.

  • Alisha: Sometimes.

  • If they're funny, if it's meant to be funny but just these inside phrases, I guess, or

  • inside expressions.

  • But, usually, we say inside jokes for that.

  • By the way, you said, your friend's parents were really, really strict about him not swearing.

  • Were your parents pretty strict?

  • Davey: Yes, definitely.

  • But, they never gave me a substitute.

  • So, I just had to mind my own P's and Q's or use substitutes likeheckordarn

  • orshoot.”

  • Those were okay.

  • Alisha: Yeah, me too.

  • I have a vivid memory of one time I was like 11 years old.

  • My mom was just strolling with me on the street and she said, “What swear words do you know?

  • Tell me.”

  • And, I couldn't, I was so afraid to tell her because it was in my head like, “You shouldn't

  • swear.

  • It's bad to swear.”

  • She wanted to know, “What words do you know?”

  • I wouldn't tell her.

  • Yeah.

  • Alright.

  • I have one more that I actually still use, especially at work, becauseokay, you'll

  • see.

  • The expression isloud swear words.”

  • I use--I physically--I actually say this like if I'm at my desk, and again, it's at work,

  • it's a like a quiet office, I hurt myself or something or I've made a huge mistake but

  • I cannot express my rage at that moment, I say, “loud swear words!” like under my

  • breath very, very quietly.

  • Because I have to get it out somehow because if I say--I'm not actually saying loudly swear

  • words at the top of my voice.

  • Davey: Right.

  • Alisha: But, if I say to myself like, “Ugh, loud swear words!”

  • It feels a little bit like I'm getting it out of my body.

  • Davey: Sure.

  • Alisha: So, it's sort of-- it's just a stand-in.

  • I'm saying actually the words I wish I could say at the volume I wish I could say them,

  • loud swear words.”

  • Davey: Make sense.

  • Alisha: Or, justswear wordsis fine too.

  • Davey: Sure.

  • Alisha: Yep.

  • Swear words!”

  • Curse words!”

  • Mm-hmm, good.

  • So, yeah.

  • Those are some ways not to swear or to swear politely, I suppose.

  • I'm sure there are a lot more though.

  • Davey: A lot more.

  • Or you can just say nothing at all.

  • You can say nothing at all.

  • That's something my mom used to always say to me as a kid and a lot of moms, a lot of

  • sweet mothers say it to their children is, “if you don't have anything nice to say,

  • don't say anything at all.”

  • Alisha: That is true.

  • Davey: Or, “silence is golden.”

  • Alisha: That is true.

  • Though, on the other hand, I have read that some studies though, this is true, some studies

  • suggest that if you swear upon like injuring yourself or you swear upon like encountering

  • a stressful situation, just the act of swearing and using an inappropriate word, actually

  • relieve stress.

  • Davey: I believe that.

  • Alisha: So, choose accordingly.

  • Say nothing or a little bit of a swear now and then.

  • Everything in moderation.

  • Davey: I've also heard that people who never swear are less trustworthy

  • Alisha: Really?

  • Davey: …than people who swear.

  • I don't know if that's true.

  • Don't believe me or trust me.

  • Alisha: You haven't sworn at all in this episode.

  • Davey: Exactly.

  • So, if you haven't you haven't heard me swear, I don't know that you can trust me on that.

  • Alisha: Alright, alright.

  • I'll injure you later and see what you say.

  • Davey: Alright.

  • Alisha: Okay.

  • Alright.

  • So, that's the end of this episode of English Topics.

  • That was a fun one.

  • So, those are a few ways that you can swear without actually swearing.

  • If you have any others that we missed or if you want to just try out a few, oh, gosh,

  • maybe we're just inviting disaster in the comments on this one.

  • Davey: I'm looking forward to the comment section.

  • Alisha: Yeah, leave us a comment and let us know if you have any ideas or if there are

  • any interesting expressions that you can translate from your language into English to share,

  • that would be interesting too.

  • Let us know.

  • So, thanks very much for watching this episode of English Topics.

  • If you like the video, please make sure to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel

  • if you haven't already.

  • Also, check us out at EnglishClass101.com for more good stuff.

  • Thanks very much for watching this episode and we will see you again soon.

  • Bye-bye.

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B1 中級

如何不在英語中發誓? (How Not to Swear in English?)

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    林宜悉 發佈於 2021 年 01 月 14 日
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