Thank Fuck It’s Friday
A query was posted to me (and others) recently…
what word can I use to replace the dreaded ‘G’ word in the phrase:
Thank God It’s Friday?!
The substitution suggestions ranged from the surreal “Mother”, to the Atheist’s spoof ”Flying Spaghetti Monster”.
I thought the answer was obvious: Thank Fuck It’s Friday!
And so, this was deemed the best answer. (With thanks to Michael Marsh, and Grover, for the photo opposite!)
But… this brings me to a deeper message.
By eliminating the lexicon of god, are we eliminating religious belief? If we avail ourselves of religious language, are we promoting religion? I once treated this in the Australasian Science Naked Skeptic column, Thank God I’m an Atheist!
It’s a topic that I want to treat extensively at some stage.
For now, here are a few Friday morning thoughts about the matter…
Does language do our thinking for us?
The desire to omit religious-based words from our lexicon suggests that we think we can influence thinking by influencing language. This is a somewhat unrefined, ill-thought out version of the Sapir-Whorf Hypothesis. Alternatively, others argue that thinking affects language. I’m not here today to present a cogent cognitive linguistics argument one way or the other, but to treat a few superficial notions that arise from this way of thinking…
Let me put it this way. Are you praising/endorsing/thinking about ‘God’ when you interject Oh my God! Or, are you expressing shock or surprise, and using a fixed phrase with no literal intention? Are you demonstrating your religious fervor, or merely accessing a common phrase that’s at your disposal?
God only knows, uttering a phrase with the word god in it does not imply belief. Why, only a few hundred years before this speech act was deemed blasphemous, and sometimes dangerously so! (For some, it still is offensive, and for some communities, it still is dangerous…) This is why we have euphemistic God-phrases such as Gosh! and Gee!
As you might be starting to think…these are idiomatic expressions or fixed phrases; they are cultural and linguistic relics; the meaning is not literal; younger people don’t even use these phrases anyway…
My point is, using God-phrases does not make you a theist, it makes you a speaker of modern English. You are a product of your own time. You use words with shared meanings. You speak to be understood.
In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins suggests that the non religious should refrain from using God-phrases. I’ve heard other such arguments from academics with no background in linguistics at all. If we’re talking about the reference to “god” in a legal oath, then I advocate its replacement with something more binding. If we’re talking about “An Act of God” in regards to insurance, then I advocate the use of something more quantifiable.
However, I do understand that these terms are used near-synonymously, to mean something else, and I’ll never be the language Nazi that militantly advocates we replace “God” in any fixed phrase because I’m laboring under the misapprehension that anyone can be some sort of guardian and arbiter of language. But this isn’t linguistic engineering, language manipulation, or some sort of Nineteen Eighty-Four-style language and thought enforcement.
Telling people how they should talk is called Linguistic Prescription. Such opinions are based in bias, not science…
By all means, omit the father, the son and the holy ghost from your own linguistic reportoire. But language has its own mind… I believe and have faith that these terms are gradually on the way out anyway. Some of these phrases will linger as cultural relics, while others will die out as archaic forms. Does anyone except your grandpa say God speed! or As God is my witness!? If your doctor says that the patient is In God’s hands now then it’s time to get another fucking doctor!
Language evolves over time. Changes are diffused very slowly throughout society. There are no linguistic intelligent designers!
If you’re blaming these words for these thoughts, and blaming language for god, then you’ve hanged the wrong man, and the real culprit is still on the loose…
And so, I will continue to take the Lord’s name into vain.
I will continue to exclaim God! to express my surprise, or frustration.
But most of all, I will continue to cry, moan and breathily whisper God! because it’s better than calling out the wrong name…
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About the skepbitch
I’m Dr Karen Stollznow, Academic, Author and Paranormal Investigator of the Skeptical Kind…
I’m a Linguist with a background in history, and I research, teach and consult.
I’m a Director of the Bay Area Skeptics, a committee member of CFI San Francisco and an insatiable writer for many sites and publications, including Skeptical Inquirer, Skeptic, the James Randi Educational Foundation’s Swift, Skepchick and my Naked Skeptic web column for the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry. I’m a co-host of the Monster Talk podcast.
I’ve spent many years investigating pseudoscience and the paranormal, including: ghosts, aura reading, psychics, medical intuitives, alternative therapies, mediums, faith healing, conspiracy theories, cults, pareidolia (seeing faces on places other than heads), religion, haunted houses, and much more. As a linguist, one of my specialties is language-based phenomena, such as glossolalia (speaking in tongues), automatic writing, body language, graphology, alien and monster languages and writing systems, EVPs, codes, cold reading, speed reading, fringe theories and bad thinking about language. I research topics, road test the theories and report my experiences.
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What’s wrong with “Thank Goodness It’s Friday”? No fiddling with the initials of “TGIF” and no dreaded uttering of the word “God”.
I wonder if “thank God it’s Friday” kind of makes sense for atheists, because it points to the fact that we really have no one to thank for it being Friday- we’re just glad it is now Friday. But perhaps the expression of any sort of gratitude- as opposed to just relief- for such a thing is itself the product of the religious mindset.
I wonder if you can shed some light on the use of the word “Nazi” in your post, instead of “fascist.” I know you’re not the first to do it, but as a linguist could you explain how “Nazi” came to be preferred over “fascist” in such contexts?
“Goodness” is definitely the euphemistic, PG-rated version.
Of course “Thank God It’s Friday” makes sense for atheists – it’s merely an expression of, as you say, relief, and has no literal meaning for most users. It’s not a ’saying grace’-like thanks for Friday at all for modern users, religious or otherwise.
Nazi is an abbreviation of National Socialist in German. “Fascist” can be broad in referenc, or indeed, refer to Italian Fascists, modern-day Fascists, etc. Nazi is a very specific historical reference. I used it for effect, “Nazi” packs more punch for my purpose.
I can see Nazi being more of an emotionally charged word. Nazi represents the extremism of a way of thought, fascists just sounds like an ideological point of view.
I prefer Thursday myself because I’m always So Happy It’s Thursday. :^)
How about IGIF (I’m Glad It’s Friday) or TgIF (lower case god). I attempt to eschew the use of god phrases, just because I am somewhat of a purist that way.
The use of Nazi is this context, is really a cheap way of controlling a discussion, once you identify someones position as “Nazi” this or “Nazi” that, the argument is now emotional and not logical. It is like invoking Hitler in a forum.
Hey Stephen,
“I’m Glad It’s Friday” makes you sound like a sugar-coated knob; the kind of ponce who says “sugar” and “shivers” instead of “shit”.
“Purist”? There’s nothing pure about subjective language. You miss so many of my points that you should go to the rear of the classroom. Your notion of purism is bias, my friend.
Lower case “g” still represents “God”, so there deflates your ‘purism’ theory…
My use of Nazi is so sensationalist that it has you talking about it still. btw – it’s a blog, and that was my blog entry, not a method of controlling discussion.
[...] and he’s already issued warnings warnings about this stuff. However the Skepbitch and “Thank Fuck it’s Friday” brings us up to speed on the use of the word “God” in common phrases. Things [...]
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In UK in the mid-90’s there was a TV show euphemistically called TFI Friday, with the F standing for fuck or four (it was on Channel 4) depending on who you listened to.
I wrote a silly kids sci-fi novel in which all the aliens used the name of the galaxy, “Jenji”, in place of “God.”
I now find myself saying “thank Jenji” and “for Jenji’s sake” in my head all the time (though I have yet to verbalize it).
If atheists like us use “God” for its irony, I have a suggestion related to your above Nazi/fascist conversation:
Why don’t we just say “Thank the Nazi’s it’s Friday”?
Seriously, how hilarious would that be if just supplant “God” with “The Nazis”. Go ahead – try it. How could that not make you smile?
Ignore the word ‘euphemistically’ above. Ta.
Thanks, Dr. T. The Poms have always done it first…god bless ‘em.
Irradiatus – Jenji is just as good a fictional character as ‘God’.
Sometimes I use ‘God’ for ironic sake, other times it’s an interjection, probbaly just force of habit. I certainly don’t intend to invoke or praise my sweet lord by doing so.
‘Nazi save the Queen’ and ‘In Nazi we trust’ make me smile…
I tend to say “thank all hell” instead of “thank god”, merely out of habit. Not sure where it came from and it doesn’t make an awful lot of sense, but it’s *technically* less objectionable than “thank fuck” – does get some funny looks though.
When I say “Oh my god”, I do not use a capital G. In fact, I refuse to use a capital G. The noun “god” with a lowercase “g” is not specific to any religion’s deity. It’s just a noun. It’s actually quite conceited, when you think about it, for somebody to insist that you conform to their rules about how to use the word – how to spell it or how to say it – considering that it implies that any time you use the word you must be talking about their god.
JFC! – what a post!
How about “Fucking ‘A’, it’s Friday!!”…after all it takes a lot of FAIF to get through the week. Can I trademark it?
Personally, I aim to shepherd the oath, “Darwin’s beard!” into common usage as soon as I can. You heard it here first. (Or, I guess technically you “read” it here first.)
неплохая мысль +1
In the UK we have POETS day. Push Off Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday. I was using this years before I heard the phrase TGIF.
I have a saying, By the Prophet Gungets Tuft. Maybe “Thank Gungets-tuft it’s Friday” would be ok?
[...] Well, Karen, the feisty skeptic after whom the blog was named, returns with a post called, ehem, Thank Fuck It’s Friday, exploring the use of the Lord’s name (the Christian one, not my personal Brass Messiah) and [...]
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“Thank Fuck it’s Friday” that’s my new official way of saying it
Being an atheist means having no one to talk to while having an orgasm.