I need an expletive; not religious, not obscene , socially

[yy4me]

acceptable, but powerful enough to give me a "kick the wall" way to vent. I'm out of ladylike ways to express my anger and frustration about almost everything going on in government today. Any ideas?

[ret5hd]

1. Consarn it!

dagnabbit!

[devilgrrl]

2. dag-nab-it!

horse hockey...

:shrug:

[TAPat]

3. Criminey & Good Night nt

[Vinca]

4. Sorry, can't help you there.

Things are spewing out of my mouth I never dreamed I'd be saying.

[amb123]

5. I use "Jeez Crud" myself.

:puffpiece:

[bryant69]

6. My favorite is "Crappin' Jake"

I can't explain what I am referring to. Not because it's dirty (although it may well be), but because I don't actually know.

Bryant
Check it out --> http://politicalcomment.blogspot.com

[swimmernsecretsea]

7. Blast!

You say this one with a Julie Andrews accent, while holding a cup of Earl Grey tea with one lump sugar, cream, and a slice of lemon. Most common usage; when discovering that your downstairs maid has not polished the silver adequately, leaving spots. Or, when the tea towels still have a bloodstain from when your husband lost the cricket match and fisticuffs ensued. Or, when your Harrod's scarf get's lodged in the doorframe of the Bentley, dragging you a block before the driver realizes it.

[Kutjara]

8. Thunderation!

Land o' Goshen!
Oh my stars and garters!
Perdition!

[bananas]

36. Tarnation! Jumpin' Jehosephat!

Leapin' Lizards!
Cripes!
EGAD!
Gadzooks!

[Kutjara]

41. 'sblood!

Shiver me timbers!
By Jove!
Donner und Blitzen!
Teufel!
Holy Moly!

[GreenPartyVoter]

9. Farquar!

[ThomWV]

10. The Single Word "Intollerable" If Spoken With Authority Will Do Nicely

It works wonders on people and it does not sound childish, not in the least. When you tell someone something is intollerable - meaning it is behavior that is unacceptable to you as a reasonable person - and then give them the reasons why they quickly get your meaning. They also tend to take on a new respect for you most of the time. Sometimes being dead serious counts for something.

[Mojambo]

11. Newman! n/t

[valerief]

12. Shi-ite! n/t

[swimmernsecretsea]

15. I say "Shi-it Muslim" !

Or Shiitake Mushroom!

[valerief]

28. I harbor nothing against Muslims. I just like the way Shiite sounds

like shite, which Brits use for shit.

[jimshoes]

13. There's always the old standby

Cheese and Rice! Must be said with just the right inflection and volume.

[swimmernsecretsea]

14. Sci-Fi geeks, remember...

Felkercarb?
Frak?

[cynatnite]

17. yeah, feldercarb and frak n/t

[annabanana]

25. Holy Flurking Schnit!!

A vulgar exclamation used by Kang, one of the big one-eyed aliens on the Simpsons

[Nobody]

55. Sci fi geeks can swear in Klingon

Try

Qu'vatlh! and call George Bush a petaQ.

If you have the Klingon tapes, Michael Okuda who invented the language does the pronunciation.

[Kutjara]

16. Funking Barsteward!

Martha Farqhar!
Sunny Beach!

[BlueJazz]

18. Frak! mother-trukin' Jastard chit

[Igel]

19. "Fork it."

Anthony Burgess (of Clockwork Orange fame) wrote a series of books with a fairly repugnant character named Enderby. "For cough" was a common utterance from his mouth; with the right dialectal pronunciation, it's just about homophonous with "fuck off". I read a fair amount of the series before I had a bit too much to drink one Friday night after an especially stressful week, and oddly decided to read it to myself out loud. In a bad British accent. I don't swear, and was rather surprised to hear myself saying "fuck off" when I was uttering "for cough".

Apparently there was some movie or play made in which the poor actor playing Enderby was clearly saying "for cough" when others were saying "fuck off". I'm not sure that the script writers got it. It's entirely a visual pun.

"Fork it", with the same dialectal pronunciation, would be 'fuck it.' But in a rhotic dialect, it's merely meaningless. Like 'for cough' is.

[yy4me]

43. Do a search for : foxHat.wmv or go to BlogTelevision.net

and search for Fox Hat.

[catmandu57]

20. SHALBATZ!

Worked for Mork.

[Warren DeMontague]

21. "23 Skidoo!"

Sure, no one says it anymore- and even when they did, no one ever knew what it meant. But it has the added benefit of making your enemies think you are bat-shit insane, and thus deal with you using the appropriate caution.

[Kutjara]

29. Geeky factoid.

One explanation of '23 Skidoo' comes from New York. When the Fuller ('Flatiron') Building was erected in Manhattan at the corners of 23rd St, Broadway and 5th Ave, it played havok with the wind patterns at that corner. Apparently, the wind would eddy in such a way that it often blew women's skirts up. Young men of the time, lacking ready access to Internet porn and tittybars, would loiter in the area, hoping to catch a glimpse of leg or undergarment. The cops quickly figured out what was happening and would regularly patrol the area, on the lookout for men hanging around. '23 Skidoo' (or '23 Skedaddle') was the phrase they used to disperse groups of such voyeurs.

I've seen this explanation in a few books of slang etymology over the years but, like all such explanations, one can never be 100% confident. Wikipedia has a good article on possible origins, including variations on the one I give.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/23_skidoo

[Warren DeMontague]

35. I did not know that.

Funny.

[Rosco T.]

22. Godfrey Daniels!

WC Fields started using that when tney wouldn't let him say God Dammit!

[Bigmack]

34. "Mother of Pearl!!!'

Another WC Fields curse.

[annabanana]

23. crimenentlies

pronounced crime-in-ent'-leez

(ma's favorite)

[scarletwoman]

48. My mother always used that one, too -- but I would spell it differently:

The way I heard it was always "crime-in-IT-lee". When I grew up I assumed it was a sort garbled slang for the phrase "crime in Italy" -- figured it must have originated with some sort of Mafia connonation. :shrug:

Don't know though -- now I'm thinking I'll try looking it up...

sw

[madmom]

24. when I'm in public or around young ears I use.......

cockroach, I'm actually thinking cock s**ker put I'm able to vent this way without embarrassing myself or others.

[Gabi Hayes]

26. say it very fast, with heavy accent on the first syllable:

BARbrahbush!!!

[annabanana]

27. (nominated for entertainment value)

[MissMarple]

30. Dastardly and shameful!

A pox on your house! (Although that one may be a tad arcane.)

[TrogL]

31. flibbertegibbit

Mark Twain, if I remember correctly

[TrogL]

32. fuddyduddy

Pierre Eliot Trudeau

[Akoto]

33. petaQ!

That's for our Klingon friends. ;)

[Armstead]

37. Mothertruckers.

[muriel_volestrangler]

38. How about words for non-biological dirt or waste?

Scum
Dregs
Crud

[helderheid]

39. crap for crap.

:evilgrin: thanks to Strong Bad

[Reader Rabbit]

40. "Son of a biscuit!" and "Bolshevek!" work for me n/t

[annabanana]

49. those are good..

they "feel right" in your mouth...

[Bluerthanblue]

42. what was that from "anger management"? Kooz faa baaa?

or as my first boyfriend used to say "OH Fa dar dar dar dar!"-

then you could take a page from Pooh, and try the "OH BOTHER!!" not much of a vent, but sometimes the words soften the anger-

I know what you mean, it's hard to find words to voice the emotions---

:banghead:

[C_U_L8R]

44. Stinky Green Cheese !

[eppur_se_muova]

45. ROWRBAZZLE!

Walt Kelly's favorite, mostly voiced by Albert.

Kelly was great at making up nonsense words, including some "cusswords" that were printable in a 'fambly' comic because they were nonsensical, but got the idea across.

[Berry Cool]

47. Some of my favorites:

"Razzmfrazzmazzm..." (muttered under the breath)--this is how characters in Hanna-Barbera cartoons swore

"For the love of--" (Oliver Douglas on Green Acres)

"God bless it!" (Invokes the Deity, but asks him to bless, not damn. One of my sisters has somehow morphed this into "God bless America's dogs!" I have no idea why.)

"Jeez Louise!" (one of my roommates used to say it)

"Good night, Nurse!" (Said in a tone of disgust, with a "Noo Yawk" accent, a la Archie Bunker--"Good night, NOYSE!")

[Ksec]

46. Golly Gosh....nah. Nothin works like good old bad words..nt

[shanti]

50. BUUMBA CLAAT!

oh wait.....:blush:

[BlueStorm]

51. "Frell!"

From FarScape, one of the cuss words that the Moya crew often used.

Or "Jiminy Cricket!"

Or "By Gemini!!" Don't know where I got that but I heard it somewhere.

Blue

[scarletwoman]

52. I always liked "HORSE HOCKEY!" - Col. Potter from *M*A*S*H*. Another good

one is "BULL PUCKY!" -- that's from a lady I work with.

I use "fiddlesticks" when I find myself wanting to say the "F" word -- not as satisfying, but definitely more office-friendly.

sw

[Individualist]

54. Yep. Also, my dad often said "Great Caesar's ghost"

[ccinamon]

53. Crap Weasel(s)

It is my favorite -- it just came to me out of the blue a few years ago when I was trying to watch my four-letter usage, but needed a really strong reply to some bullshit!

[niyad]

56. codswallop is one of my favourites. then again, you could

always use the perennial favourite freddy uncle charlie katie

[riderinthestorm]

57. Go foreign. Mierde or merde means shit for example

Nobody knows what you're saying and it definitely comes across as an expletive. Or go medieval: shite.

Frankly, I don't know why you want to stay "ladylike" with your anger though - get out there and kick some fucking ass!

[readmoreoften]

58. You might want to just accept that now is a good time to curse. /nt

[HeeBGBz]

59. Oh Poodlefish! n/t

[skids]

60. Vermin Filth! n/t