“Why does Lia tell me that it’s bad to say ‘oh my gosh’?”, asked 10 year old Rachelle. Such was the beginning of a very interesting conversation that took the place of learning the last four measures in her piano lesson this week.

Everyone has been puzzled by this small girl who interrupts them mid-sentence, saying, “Don’t say that!” Bewildered, they backtrack, trying to figure out what they said that could be eliciting such a response. I usually end up stepping in and explaining that we are teaching Lia not to say “oh my gosh”. They look at me blankly, and the conversation continues.

Am I the only one who thinks that saying “oh my gosh” is unacceptable? Unacceptable for a God-believing, God-loving, God-honoring person to say?

My mommy taught me that “gosh” is a form of “God”. And, indeed, a brief check into the online etymology dictionary confirms it. It is an altered pronunciation dating all the way back to 1757. And though I’ve heard justifications (back when this was something people talked about, before it became a cultural standard) that, “I’m not talking about God. The word isn’t ‘God’, it’s ‘gosh’,” the truth is that in conversations in our neck of the woods, it’s interchangeable. Oh my gosh. Oh my God. Ad naseaum.

The way people use it is so innocuous, so incessant. But it is exactly that usage that is it’s greatest failing. It is a trivialization of God. Surely, among the depth of meaning in “thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain”, there is included a warning against such thoughtless language.

According to Rachelle (5th grade), kids don’t start saying “oh my gosh” until they are in 2nd or 3rd grade. And now one of her classmates has introduced the popular “OMG” to classroom use. Rachelle (who thinks that ‘oh my gosh’ is okay, but ‘oh my God’ is BAD) thinks that they should put up a picture of the 10 commandments on the wall to lead her classmates in the path of righteousness.
The first time or two that Lia corrected someone (and instructed them that “oh my hair” or “oh my goodness” were acceptable alternatives), I was a little sheepish and embarrassed. Just because we are teaching our children to reject the common and habitual OMG, doesn’t mean that we are enforcing our principle-based rules on other people. But after talking with Rachelle, I am changing my mind. (True conversation with children is always enlightening).

Lia’s moral interjections are an excellent opportunity to open conversation. To dialogue about the greatness of God and the power of our language. Because perhaps, like Rachelle, most of the people who use ‘oh my gosh’ have never thought much about it at all.

For further reading, try “The Ten Commandments From the Back Side” by J. Ellsworth Kalas. The chapter is entitled, “Living in the Name.” Another interesting scoop on the Big Ten is Shmuley Boteach’s “Dating Secrets of the Ten Commandments”.  Since the link feature is on the fritz here at wordpress, you can find them and search inside at amazon.com.