So hell is a swear word? The hell? Why heck isn’t enough.

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So, apparently hell is a swear word? What the hell? I don’t think it is.  When you say, heaven and hell – hell is not a swear world. It is just a place. A mysterious place. One that is probably full of anger, confusion and fire. All of which that I am using feeling when I use that word.

That said I’m not religious at all and I’m sorry, but I think religion is so very dumb to begin with. We would have so many less problems in the world if there was no religion. I’m not saying we should all bow to reason and science because that can also be dangerous but I am not a fan of religion. Besides, it makes no sense – but what where God came from? Was there the big bag and there was God or something? Where did he (or her, for a goddess) come from? It’s like a nice fairy tale people made up themselves to answer burning questions. At least it proves humans are somewhat creative.  Besides there’s so many different versions too! Adam and Eve…blah blah blah.  You know Imagine  “Nothing to kill or die for/And no religion too”…it’s just not worth the bloodshed. Really. It’s not.

*if you are deeply religious, you probably avoid talking to me about religion. That said, I still think the mythology is pretty cool…it’s just not what I believe in.

I still don’t think hell is really a swear world. I am not saying you’re going to hell per se? (You may be for all I know, I don’t know…) “Heck” does not carry the same intensity, the same fire. “Heck” feels like heckle or something, it does not have the same history or meaning. “Heck” (or “hecky”) was first used  in 1863 as “hecky” and as “heck” as 1887 (Source: Oxford English Dictionary) in place of hell (as a place). 1887. This is AFTER confederation of Canada. This is barely a century ago.  It’s a relative new word as a slaughtering of hell anyway. If hell is what you mean then just use hell. I mean really. Don’t butcher the word to sanitize it. It’s awkward and wimpy.

By contrast, hell has a wonderful rich history. Beowulf  (8th-11th century, Old English) had it.   Chaucer used it in the  Knight’s tale of Canterbury Tales – and they are on a pilgrimage (although that’s a very bad argument seeing that guy was kind of a foul mouth anyway, complete with fart jokes…) .  Hell is the underworld. Evil, sure maybe. But fascinating? Oh yes! We most not forget Paradise Lost by John Milton…the one that people  sometimes argue that Satan is the hero of that epic (that I admittedly didn’t read the whole thing). Of course Shakespeare used it too. It has such a varied, rich history just in literature alone (I’m taking it out of the religious context here!).  Hell was first used as word to express anger (not as a place) in 1886.  “Heck” was used a year later, but not as an expression of anger yet. (Source: Oxford English Dictionary)

By the way, the TV show Heartland has used hell a few times and it’s considered a family show (loosely based of a series of kids’ horse books…). I see no problem of it and it was quite in-character too so…yeah.  That proves how “hell” is not really a swear word. If you would like to make it a swear word, that’s fine. Whatever.

Let’s not sanitize our language to please everyone.  Let’s keep it rich, vibrant and colourful. Let’s make it count so when people read through history – they’ll go oh that’s an amazing powerful word. Or that’s funny, we still use that swear world today. Seriously, archaic insults are entertaining.  I’m not saying over-saturate your language with exploitative – it ruins the intensity and annoys people. That’s not using it right.  But don’t run over “mild” so called “swear words” with a steamroller if you seriously believe it will enrich your point.

You may be wondering why I know something about Christianity if I hate religion so very much….well, I’m an English major and my knowledge is limited to the footnotes to contextualize the piece of literature….and there is a lot of  Christianity in it, especially with the earlier stuff. Although a random question is that if Christianity was matriarchal  would the western world be different? Would it had developed differently? Since apparently   part of the problem for oppressed women in the 18th century was that Christianity was patriarchal.

I don’t care if anyone is offended. And no, there are not going to hell because hell is just a piece of fiction as far as I’m concern.  Interesting fiction, yes.  Reality…I doubt it.  But please tell me all about hell if you ever visit there.

This is why I do not want to write commercially/professionally. I hate sugarcoating things. I really hate sugarcoating things. If Mr. SoAndSo is getting fired, then just say so – don’t skirt around the issue as if the person isn’t going to find out. Don’t hide it. It is what it is and nothing is going to change that – not even you skewing language around.  However,  I will hopefully continue to write creatively though – both here and hopefully in literary magazines and such.   Authenticity is very important to me, regardless of whether anyone is offended or not (it’s okay, I have no friends anyway).
Hell is not a swear word I think. It is a strong word. It is a not a happy word. But it perfectly captures the flames of my feelings.  I freely use it.  It’s just not a swear word to me. The F one, okay sure. But hell is not a swear word. Especially if the thing that made you go “what the hell” is very maddening because hell is probably quite an angry place from what I’ve read of it.  Or maybe I just like the word hell.  It adds much more character I think. Heck sounds like you’re always trying to hold something back…as if it’s not the real, intense you. Heck just doesn’t have the same ring to it…sorry. Maybe I just don’t like the word heck but I like the word hell and hence this argument.
It’s okay I hate kids…so I don’t have to worry about that.  I’m not fond of meeting people either so. Yeah…   And I really don’t give a damn what people think much of the time.

So that was my argument on hell and if you don’t agree, then you can just go straight to hell (no, just joking!!!…I think)

I have no social skills? Yeah…nothing new. I’m a Houyhnhnm in disguise (reason based horse)…I do wonder sometimes…

And my views on religion are quite similar to The Oatmeal’s.  (It’s a silly idea but if you’re peaceful and such – fine, do your religion thing – just keep it to yourself).

Speaking of what the hell? How did this post get to 1140+ words? Would it be better if we do it the 18th century way? The h—l, there are missing letter and we have no clue what it means? 😉