Cuss Words - Dave's Midwestern Ohio Memories

Series of Guest Blogs by an out-of-state Fish Report reader originally from this area about fond memories of growing up in Midwestern Ohio during the 50’s & 60’s

Cuss Words

Growing up around the farm meant there were a lot of cuss words used when things didn’t go right, especially when a young heifer kicked over the milk pail during her first milking. Dad sometimes would cuss in German, most frequently “schisse” or “arsch", to shelter us kids from such language. Needless to say, I picked up on Dad’s cuss words, which really exacerbated Mom; however, she never threatened to “wash out my mouth with soap”, likely because the homemade lye soap prevalent back then was probably poisonous, as lye also served as a drain cleaner!

Other handmade soap ingredients were lard and a product called 20 Mule Team Borax, the sponsor of a favorite western TV show called Death Valley Days, as Death Valley was where the borax for the soap additive was mined and hauled out by wagons pulled by 20 teams of mules as depicted in the photo below. The TV series depicted true stories of the old wild west. Click this link for the inaugural episode that aired in October of 1952.

Because of Mom’s discipline, we eventually migrated to using substitutes for real cuss words like shown on the following list:

• Crap
• Dag Gummit
• Dang
• Darn
• Doggone
• Frikin’
• Fudge
• Gosh Darn
• Heck
• Jiminy Crickets
• Judas Priest
• Mother Trucker
• Shoot
• Son of a Gun

Those passed muster with Mom, but in reality they had essentially the same meaning as the real cuss words, but were tolerated. I do know most of the real cuss words had to be forgiven in the confessional, cause Mom made us do so! Mom’s penance was typically worse than the priest!

Not sure she ever made Dad confess ‘em; God and the priest back then only know. All real cuss words typically generated a penance of an Our Father and Hail Mary from the priest, but I never recall confessing a substitute cuss word. Most were said out of habit, continuing to this day according to my wife, who simply shrugs and tells me to calm down!

Good thing she’s not with me while golfing!

Sporting events bring out the worst, especially when a ref makes a bum call that impacts the outcome of the game. Bengals fans like me know that feeling all too well!

Another technique for depicting cuss words is by using something called the “grawlix", which refers to a series of typographical symbols (such as @#$%&!) used in cartoons and comic strips to represent swear words.

My sister-in-law Laura is known to use grawlix occasionally during Russia basketball games as the above photos prove.

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