Begging nobody's pardon - and with a further caveat that I personally
consider swearing a juvenile behavior indicating a poor vocabulary - this
'rule' and any other expectation that we fear an invisible being is rather
an insult to adult human intelligence.  Just sayin'.  We're all beholden to
the moderator.

Matt

-----Original Message-----
From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM] On Behalf Of
David Beierl
Sent: Friday, September 04, 2009 4:57 PM
To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM
Subject: M re: "damn"

Dear Volks -- I'm a little squirmy about "damn."  There are people
around (me included actually) who take cursing seriously, and that
really stands for "May God condemn him/her/it to eternal torment"
which is a pretty serious thing.  It's bad theology -- we don't
believe God works that way -- but that's beside the point.  I'm going
to have to rule it out of order, because if it makes me squirm a bit
I'm surely not the only one.  Dam' or darn or dang or damnation or
other such are fine, it's clear that it's either just an intensifier
or definitely a play curse.  I'd rather not see dammit though, and
definitely nothing with a G attached.

As an aside, I have a certain sentimental fondness for "Well shoot
fire ( I can say it sort of the way she did, but I can't spell
it.  Sort like faaar with a little bit of i mixed in) and save
matches!"  An oldish (must have been at least 40) head nurse I once
served under used to say it from time to time.  It was so funny that
I didn't make the connection for a long time.  Feel free.

Thanks much,
David