I was watching an educational reel one day on Instagram, hosted by that famous celebrity from the days of the Old West. We know him as Yosemite Sam. Okay, it wasn’t really educational!
Remember how Yosemite Sam would huff and puff about Bugs Bunney while firing off his twin six-shooters? He had certain catch phrases that stick in our minds from our childhood, spoken with bullish bravado.
- “Anyone a you lily-livered, bow-legged varmints care to slap leather with me, in case any of you git ideas you better know who you’re dealin’ with. I’m Yosemite Sam. I’m the meanest, roughest, toughest hombre that’s ever crossed the Rio Grande, and I ain’t no namby-bamby!”
- “I paid my four bits to see the high diving act, and I’m-a gonna see the high diving act!”
- “All right all right don’t rush me, I’m-a-thinkin’ … and my head hurts.”
- “I’m the hootinst, tootinist, shootinist bobtail wildcat in the west!”
- “Listen, stranger. This town ain’t big enough fer the two of us.”
- “The time has come for you to say your prayers, you troublesome animal.”
Don’t those put a smile on your face and make you want to binge watch some Looney Tunes?
With his western swagger, Yosemite would bellow, “What in the Sam Hill?” “What in tarnation.” “Doggone it.” “Dadgummit.” This is where my curiosity was piqued. What do these words mean?
An article from How Stuff Works.com says there are “5 Ways Your Grandma Used to Cuss.”1 Without any Christian bias, the article explains that these were slang curse words from a previous generation. Sam Hill was a way to say “hell.” Doggone and dadgummit were blasphemous uses of God’s name. “The word “tarnation,” which dates back to the 18th century, comes from “darnation” which is derived from “damnation.” It’s also associated with another “curse word,” “tarnal,” which is a form of “eternal.” As the Word Detective put it, “To speak of ‘the Eternal’ at that time was often to invoke a religious context (God, Heaven, etc.), and thus to label something or someone ‘eternal’ in a disparaging sense (‘You eternal villain!’) was considered a mild oath.”2
While we don’t hear these phrases much today, there are plenty of modern-day slang words available. And we must acknowledge that language changes. There have always been euphemisms with a double entendre. Can’t you imagine this was true even in Bible days as well?
The word knew had a sexual reference. However, the word also references knowledge. You can see how easily the baser part of society could have turned a conversation vulgar very quickly.
Obviously, we need to be very cautious about every word we speak. We certainly should not be known for having a potty mouth, spewing out cursing and vulgarities. But we also shouldn’t be known for underhanded, subtle cursing. Slang cussing is still cussing. Just because it can get past the prime-time television censors or the teachers in school doesn’t make it less offensive to God.
Ephesians 4:29-31 gives a clear command. “Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers. (30) And grieve not the holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption. (31) Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and clamour, and evil speaking, be put away from you, with all malice.”
Corrupt communication is talk that is rotten, putrefied, or of exceeding low quality. While we may not deem a slang word as rotten or putrid (even though we should), they are definitely of low quality. Out of all the words in the dictionary, why stoop to using those words?
Ephesians 5:3-4 goes on to warn, “But fornication, and all uncleanness, or covetousness, let it not be once named among you, as becometh saints; (4) Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient: but rather giving of thanks.” Jesting literally means a well turned word. It’s those words or phrases that have the double entendre meaning. It’s where others are nudging and winking at each other, giggling with sophomoric glee because they get the sly joke.
Christian, let’s examine our words carefully. Better yet, look at the ways we express ourself and our emotions. Do those words slip out? If so, it’s time to do something about them. Get them under the Lord’s control quickly and eradicate them from our vocabulary.
Remember what James said in James 3:10. “Out of the same mouth proceedeth blessing and cursing. My brethren, these things ought not so to be.”
1https://people.howstuffworks.com/5-ways-your-grandparents-used-to-swear.htm
2Ibid.
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