Stuff like “god damn”, “fucking hell”, etc. Anything that stems from religious sources. That includes fudged varieties like “jeez/geez” and “heck”.

And to clarify, this isn’t some attempt to avoid blasphemy or anything. I’m not particularly religious and would rather rewrite the neural pathways for those “defaults”, but haven’t been able to come up with satisfactory alternatives so far.

*To clarify further, I’m all good with most other curses (shit, fuck, ass, etc). I’m not trying to be inoffensive, just non-religious.

  • vvilld@lemmy.dbzer0.com
    0·
    10 days ago

    Rather than “god damn” I usually say “gods damn”. I’m not religious at all, but I’d rather someone mistake me for a polytheistic pagan than a Christian.

    • Flax@feddit.ukEnglish
      0·
      10 days ago

      I thought the whole thing was that Christians weren’t the ones who use God as a swear word

      • vvilld@lemmy.dbzer0.com
        0·
        10 days ago

        One of their commandments is to not “take the Lord’s name in vain”. Modern Christians have interpreted this to mean not using the word ‘god’ as an interjection or swear. What was actually meant by it was to not use god as a justification for things that do not comport with god’s religious teachings. You know, like claiming god says you should hate trans people, or that god has chosen you personally to be in charge of everyone. You know, the exact thing Christians do all the fucking time.

  • TheReturnOfPEB@reddthat.comEnglish
    0·
    11 days ago

    Alan Davies from QI taught me that instead of “shut the fuck up!” one can say “shut the front door!”

  • Mothra@mander.xyz
    0·
    11 days ago

    I’m sorry but although your objective is to rewire your neurons, in order to be understood by others with precision you would have to first change culture - and that takes a long, long time.

    So in English you probably don’t have good substitutes that don’t sound religious outside of those you already mentioned and their varieties. I’d be asking a similar question to people who speak other languages, that can be fun to explore and see what other cultures use instead of “fucking hell” or “holy shit” if they have translatable expressions that don’t include anything religious.

    • Ech@lemm.eeOPEnglish
      0·
      11 days ago

      I’m not really too worried about being understood, just working on it for myself. And honestly, I think anything could be said in a certain way and be understood as a curse/outburst. Borrowing from different languages is a good idea, though!

  • Broadfern@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    11 days ago

    I’ll admit I lurked a bit to see if you’re US- based and it looks like you are. Maybe instead of “Jesus Christ” you can use “Abraham Lincoln?”

    Like “Abraham fucking Lincoln in a cabin made of shit logs” could be a satisfactory expression of frustration.

    Any name you can remember easily could work; Billy Crystal, Woody Guthrie, Greta Thunberg, even your neighbors or pets’ names.

    The others will be a bit tough since they’re so ingrained in our culture but depending how “non-religious” you intend to be you can switch to “curse/hex” and wean yourself off of that into something more secular ¯\(ツ)/¯

  • 200ok@lemmy.world
    0·
    11 days ago

    Could you replace them with the swear words you don’t mind saying? Or am I not understanding what you’re looking for?

    e.g. “For Christ sake” can be replaced with, “for fuck sake”.

  • wildncrazyguy138@fedia.io
    0·
    11 days ago

    Blathering Blatherskites! Great Scott! Great Googly Moogly Narf! Blech Hot Dog! Hot diggity! Salad! Biscuits! Corn Nuggets! Nerfherder Awoooguhhhh! Ballyhoo Farfegnugen To the mattresses! Shoo whee

  • aramis87@fedia.io
    0·
    11 days ago

    I use “fucking terts” when I’m angry at a specific person (“terts” is a derogatory term for earth humans (from Alien Nation), and “furless human” when I’m in a slightly amused mood (it’s what my cat used to curse me).