I'm thinking about giving up blasphemy, god damn it!

[PassingFair]

Last week, after realizing that I had left my expensive necklace on while
on my way into the pool, I said, under my breath, "god damn it!".

I went back to my locker, unlocked it, threw the necklace in, re-locked it
and headed to the pool, not a big event.

Something started nagging at me, though, about my initial reaction to my
carelessness. Why did I say, "god damn it". Why did I say it under my breath,
so the other ladies didn't hear me say it. Why is it a reflexive thing for me to say?

I am an atheist, it means NOTHING to me to say "god damn it". I say it out
of the habit of being a bad theist in my youth. I'm not angry at god, I don't
believe in god!

Hence forth, I will stick with "FUCK!"

[Warpy]

1. Maybe "shit!" would be better

if you absolutely must coexist with ladies.

[Warren Stupidity]

2. I've stopped. Or at least I've tried to stop. It aint easy.

Lately when I "blasphemed" it just seemed off. Why give the dead religion any links at all?

[bravenak]

3. I'm sorry for your loss.

I use Christianity related terms all the time and its not easy to stop. I have stopped the Jesus Christ thing but I started saying Cheesus Cripes instead so idk. It's too hard.

[Arugula Latte]

4. I dunno, there is something very satisfying about saying "goddammit."

Maybe it's the three syllables, and you can emphasize or draw out certain parts. I usually use it as "gaaahddammit!"

I'll probably keep using it. However, I say "geshundheit" instead of "bless you" for sneezes.

[Ron Obvious]

5. Linguistic fossils

I still say Goodbye, even though I don't actually mean God Be With Ye. It's an artifact of how language evolves and I wouldn't worry about it.

[dorkulon]

6. Jesus H. Christ, who gives a holy damn? Good god!

JK, but I use those sorts of exhortations a lot. Just a function of language being imitative I guess. I embrace it. "A foolish consistency is the hobgoblin of little minds." - Emerson

[LostOne4Ever]

7. Blasphemy

Ehhh,

Honestly, saying god damn it has lost almost all meaning and even to a theist its more a cultural exclamation of frustration, anger, etc.

That said, I have a love of irony and allusion. I like making references to religion or religious imagery and revel in the inherent contradiction of an atheist saying them. Besides, god damn it, as an atheist, blasphemy is my past time.

Christians, quite often make references to greek/roman and occasionally norse mythology every now and then and don't feel bad about it. Why should we?

[awoke_in_2003]

8. It rolls of the tongue easier than...

Dawkins damnit.

[DetlefK]

9. Don't worry, it's more of an inhabited than intentional swearing.

You pick up bad words by the way they sound and by the way they are used. It doesn't matter whether those words matter to you. I doubt, you can control the way you curse instinctively.

[TxDemChem]

10. My husband says it ALL the time

It actually drives me nuts, but not because he's an atheist. I wish he would use a variety of phrases.