THE TRIFECTA

First off, I am not a proponent of taking the Lord's name in vain.  I do not say "God" or "Jesus F** Christ".  That duo of the trinity is highly regarded by me and not used by me in swearing.  Have I prayed to God having been angry a bucket full of times in my life, yes!  But, swearing God's name, I just can't do.  It's like taking this huge untamable loving God of creation, creator and savior of our souls and reducing him to commonness. He is far from common, though God loves common things, like us. Not a huge fan of the F-word either.  Too many teenagers, and a few adults I know, use it like a preposition:)   I also grew up with parents and extended family who really didn't swear.  Well, ok shit was used from time to time.  And, in my dad and mom's defense of the word's appearance in language in our house, it is excrement and we did live on a farm :)  I also do not use my trifecta freely or with people who I know would be puzzled or it might lead them to a state of spiritual confusion (Even though I don't think God cares about the usage of certain words - but man always has their own opinion!).  Curse words have always been funny to me.  Who decided which were swearing, profane, vulgar to begin with?  I have said before, a word is just that, a word. They hold power when mixed with emotion, but as a single unconnected word, just a word.  Was there some committee somewhere before Webster and Wikipedia reigned who determined category of words and specifically what would be curse or swear words?  Was it done right after Adam and Eve named all animal and plant life?  Did they determine swear words but it just wasn't recorded in scripture :)  To be honest, sometimes I can think of no other fitting word than damn.  Damn literally means several things; to be condemned to hell, to bring ruin on, to swear at, well beyond doubt or certainty-extremely.  I use that word well, sometimes, frequently...ok this week probably more than frequently.  And, for me the reasons for its use are many and varied.  Said in anger by me sometimes but more often just said because it is a poignant way of highlighting, with certainty, the words around it.  It's a bit tongue in cheek. This week was a rough one for me, so rough that I knew my intolerance for slow drivers would be magnified.  I literally drove the 30 minute drive from my house to work a completely different way bypassing a highway that, when I haven't been laid low, I can express anger and a bit of "damn" on a regular day.  It was best for me and probably everyone on the highway that I took an alternative route.  No doubt they missed me passing them though.  Hell is another word that I use, but with variation.  Instead of hell no, I say, "hell to the no", a phrase uttered in a group interview by another interviewee candidate sitting next to me.  The question to each interviewee was, "Is swearing offensive to you?"  Her answer was simply, "Hell to the no!".  I was offered the job and she wasn't!  But, I took from that interview her wonderful phrase (really should send her a thank you note - oh, hell to the no, I'm not really going to!).  Friends of mine love that phrase so much they have stolen it from me and now use it themselves. That's when you truly know you have made a lasting impact on other's lives!  And lastly in my trifecta of swear words (to me these are not really swear words but emphasis words), my childhood word of shit.  Shit is normally a light hearted word to me in how I use it.  Usually it's used when I make a huge inconvenient mess in the kitchen - spilling things, breaking something accidentally, using powdered sugar instead of flour in a recipe.  I also use it during all phases of any type of home improvement project that does not go according to plan either with time involved or ease versus difficulty.  I recently installed 4 overhead lights by myself with almost no usage of my trifecta.  I wasn't being a saint by not saying them, the project was one of the few that went according to plan.  A damn rarity.