Minced Oaths


Minced oaths are a sub-group of euphemisms used to avoid swearing when expressing surprise or annoyance. If you hit your thumb with a hammer when great aunt Edith is in the room what do you say? It’s probably going to be a minced oath. Shakespeare might have resorted to ‘gadzooks’ (God’s hooks – referring to the nails in the cross), we might try ‘shoot’ or ‘freaking heck’.


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