WHEN?
At what point in daily usage does an expression cross over the line and fail to be acceptable in polite society?j
The expession I have in mind is one which I have always been led to believe was not to be used daily in that it was sacrilegious to do so. I find many people, however, who do not cosider it to be profane at all, yet find it uncomfortable to make use of it because some others may think it to be a verbal affront to their religious faith.
You hear it almost daily on TV on major network channels and it is not restricted to cable or other add-on channels. One recent TV program which was presenting gifts to a needy guest "to make her every dream come true" elicited from that individual a total of twenty-one clearly spoken lines, all using the same words in the same order and about the same tonal emphasis. It contituted her entire on-air speech.
As each gift was revealed the recipient ackowledged by saying:"Oh, my God!" I counted twenty one such attempts plus one "Oh, my...." which was left uncompleted. This strikes me as wrong in several ways - other than as being an affront to my Christian religous sensibiliies. It depicts the recipient of the gifts, perhaps unfairly, as an ignorant, uneducated individual who does not haver sufficent vocabulary of terms to express apprecation. Some individIuals are presented as trying to say they are thankful; others are saying they cannot believe such a thing is possble; still others are suggesting there must be some mistake, while others are trying to say it can't be happening as it is. Only a very few say it as an expession whereby they are actually thanking God for the gifts. The same expression will be used if they see the garbage man spill a containter of waste matter on their driveway, or if their car has a flat tire in a tunnel during rush hour. The use of the expresion has little to do with being thanbkful for anything, It seems rather to be a cry of futility from deep within by which the speaker makes himself or herself. Rather, the person is expressing doubt saying "Am I worthy of this?" Or, " Do I deserve this?" or, something to that effect.
Many have toned it down. You will hear :"Oh, my word! in English plays, "Oh, my Lands! in down-on -the-farm epics, and "Oh, my Heavens!" ...all the way down to ”Oh, My Achin’ Back!”. Listen and watch for the expression "Oh, my God!" on TV. Oprah leaves them in. Bob Barker either bleeps them out or covers them with crowd noise. Contestant are apparently well-schooled by Pat, Vanna and Alex.before air time. Edited bits of tape cuting out those three words would stretch from here to the other side of nowhere.
Can't we do with less of this?
A.L.M. January 15, 2004 [c506wds]
