Good Evening,<\/p>\n
Regarding words like gosh, gee whiz, etc., does anyone know who and when was it decided that these were words that had meanings referring to God, Jesus, etc.? As a child, my mother didn’t like the word “gosh,” so it wasn’t said. As an adult and a Christian, I don’t use these types of words, but it’s not because I think they would be not respecting God, but because I do not want to offend. These appear to be man’s idea of what a word is to mean and they have put a definition to that word to mean a certain thing. I’m trying to see when the first definitions came about and who decided these words were to mean what the dictionary says they mean. Were these back in the Greek and Hebrew languages and definitions or did this come along with the later things put in what we refer to as dictionaries?<\/p>\n\t
Every word in your note is an English word. The meanings of the words are recorded in dictionaries so that we can understand each other. The dictionaries don’t create the definitions. They record the meaning of words as they are commonly used. Fancy dictionaries will give you the history of various words. Therefore, yes, people have created the meaning of every word through how they used the words. You accept those meanings when you use the words other people use in order to communicate.<\/p>\n
As an example, Dictionary.com states that “gosh” is an interjection used as an exclamation or mild oath. It first appeared between 1750 and 1760 as a euphemistic alteration of God. You can claim whatever you want, but the facts don’t change.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Question: Good Evening, Regarding words like gosh, gee whiz, etc., does anyone know who and when was it decided that these were words that had meanings referring to God, Jesus, etc.? As a child, my mother didn’t like the word “gosh,” so it wasn’t said. As an adult and a Christian, I don’t use these…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[20],"tags":[492],"class_list":["post-49667","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-answer","tag-profanity"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":2986,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-homosexuality-condemned-in-the-scriptures\/","url_meta":{"origin":49667,"position":0},"title":"Is homosexuality condemned in the Scriptures?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: This was received in response to the answer \"What kinds of homosexuality does the Bible mention?\" Malokos\u00a0just meant soft as in weak in faith and\u00a0arsen\u00a0is male or man and homosexual means male and female gay people, so\u00a0arsenokotie\u00a0only meant a gay male temple prostitute. Levitical law is now dead so\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":63666,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-comes-out-of-your-mouth\/","url_meta":{"origin":49667,"position":1},"title":"What Comes Out of Your Mouth","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 28, 2004","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Text: James 3:1-12 \u00a0 I.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0People are not known for their consistency II.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0What we say does not match what we do \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0A.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0The Pharisees talked about doing the right things, but they did not put them to practice in their own lives - Matthew 23:1-4 \u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0B.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Claim one thing,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Sermon"","block_context":{"text":"Sermon","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/sermon\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":11868,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-pride\/","url_meta":{"origin":49667,"position":2},"title":"What is pride?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 30, 2007","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I was just wondering what pride really means. Checking the dictionary gave me too many definitions. I was wondering why it would be a sin. I mean, of course, you should love God with all your heart, but can't you also have some self-esteem or self-confidence? Answer: Pride is\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":87351,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-this-a-good-way-to-do-a-word-study\/","url_meta":{"origin":49667,"position":3},"title":"Is this a good way to do a word study?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 30, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I've been working on a personal Greek word study structure because I want to gain a deeper understanding of the original meanings of biblical words. I've created a layout for how I approach these studies, and I'd appreciate your feedback.\u00a0This is what I have so far, and I'd love\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":20593,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/arent-curse-words-of-human-origin\/","url_meta":{"origin":49667,"position":4},"title":"Aren’t curse words of human origin?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 22, 2009","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: I understand the Bible commands us to\u00a0\"Let no corrupt word proceed out of your mouth, but what is good for necessary edification, that it may impart grace to the hearers\"\u00a0(Ephesians 4:29). I understand the Bible says, \"bless and do not curse\"\u00a0(Romans\u00a012:14). I understand the passage of James 3:1-12. If\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":3128,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/careful-what-you-say\/","url_meta":{"origin":49667,"position":5},"title":"Careful What You Say (Article)","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"August 12, 2005","format":false,"excerpt":"by Jeffrey W. Hamilton Have you paid close attention to your speech recently? Many of us say things that should embarrass us if we truly understood what we said. The words that we chose to express ourselves are important. According to\u00a0Matthew 12:32-37, we will give an account to God for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49667","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49667"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49667\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49667"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49667"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49667"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}