I thought I would give my blog a bit of a update and decided to use one of my favourite old fashioned oaths as a headline - to whit, 'flipping heck' thinking that would be a bit 'out there' and 'of the wall' in this age of the 4 letter sweary word. Huh. I should have done a bit more research - 'flipping heck' seems to be a phrase that rather a lot of people in the internet world have latched onto. Nearly 20,000 entries on Google in fact.
I am quite pleased, as I rather like the old-fashioned 'bad language' - now we routinely fuck, shit and cunt, we have lost charming phrases such as 'sodding hell' and 'for crying out loud', not to mention bugger (as something you say when you bang your thumb with a hammer, instead of something to do). When I was little 'bloody hell' was used as an expression of surprise, flaming hell if things were going awry, crikey and golly still got the occasional outing when one was surprised and aunties often substituted 'blooming heck' for their consternation.
'Crap' once had me tearing upstairs, my Dad itching to place a red palm print on my bare leg - I made it to my bedroom just in time and to this day, I don't use the word - it makes my calf sting.
Damn and blast - a much more gentle expression of dismay than any we use this days and much missed.
Maybe the National Trust should be invited to get involved in the saving of great old term - we don't need any more big old houses to look around on quiet Sundays in August, but wouldn't it be a shame if 'for crying out loud' disappeared ...forever.