In second grade I had Mrs. Lampett for a teacher at Grand Oaks elementary school. The school was about five blocks from my home, and I walked there every week day. Mrs. Lampett also attended the Mormon church in Roseville, same ward as my family. She seemed to be very old to me. I think she was a grandmother. She was definitely a Mormon. When we were reading the work of A.A. Milne, she called the bear Winnie the Puh. She could not say Pooh. She was old school Mormon like my father. He couldn’t swear for fear of being sent to a lower kingdom in the afterlife.. Instead of shit he would say, “sap.” He would say, “dadgummit” instead of goddamit. Oh, Puh Bear, whatever shall I do with you?

Is "Puh" pronounced like "pew" or "pug?"

Oh, fetch, never mind...

It's just poo.

it rhymes with duh

"Dumn?"

I'm guessing she simply avoided the uncomfortable topic altogether.

My dad used the same "swear" words....dadgummit, consarnit, and confounded were his favorites. One day I pointed out that they were just variations on "god damn it". He seemed to think otherwise.

*

But cheese and rice is perfectly okay even though it sounds a hell of a lot more like jesus christ than jeez does.

Just a wunderin'?

HH =)

My stepsisters replaced 'fart' with 'puffing' when their daughters were growing up because it sounded more ladylike.

Instead of 'letting er rip,' it was 'did you puff, my dear?'

My TR married parents had no problem with taking the Lord's name in vain seven days a week. It was their cuss word of choice. It's a wonder to me how they managed to evade that topic during their temple worthiness interviews. They kept a lid on that like my dad kept a lid on his hidden booze stash he'd hide around the farm - according to one of my TBM bros who would find his bottles periodically.

I never felt comfortable taking the Lord's name in vain, and still don't sans Mormonism.

Most of my siblings went through an age where they cussed, too, as toddlers. My dad never cleaned up his language. He also drank alcohol, chewed tobacco, and drank coffee. His father came home from WWI chewing tobacco and he was treated poorly at church. He never gave it up.

My dad's "example" gave me some freedom in walking away, though he had a harder time accepting it than my mother. He thought I was happier when I was active mormon, but my ex leaving was the reason I was NOT HAPPY.

My daughter used to cuss more than any of us. F was her favorite word. Now she is TBM and I get to hear her cuss words like son of a biscuit, freakin' A. She had some new one this year while she was home, but I can't remember them now.

I'm great at cussing. I have been cussing since I brought twins home from the hospital.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 05/01/2017 08:14PM by cl2.

There were times when raising my children that cussing felt like a valve for letting off steam.

It wasn't something I deliberated about much. If the words rolled off my tongue as they did a few times, it seemed to release some of the pressure and actually helped me focus on being a better parent, not worse.

My children took to the F word more than me. Especially once they reached high school and college.

Cussing is ok if you are really mad. It doesn't seem right if you take the lords name in vain lightly or without the need. At least that is what I learned from Dad. He was a good hard working guy that did a lot of things for others so his cussing didn't reflect negatively on his character.

My parents (Anglicans) were very strict on the use of swear words and - as the youngest of 5 I cant recall anytime I heard my parents OR siblings say anything worse than 'Damn'.

We would have had no hesitation saying Pooh - either about the bear, or as a childish synonym for excrement - because no one in their right mind would consider it as swearing

I guess it becomes a habit because I dont swear much now,even as an adult.......and when I do, I am pretty conscious of the fact.

My partner is a polish catholic, so her swearing is limited to 'Bo-juh' (polish 'Bog' = God) and 'Jezus Maria'..... which I have sort of copied in an ironic way

Winnie the Pooh pronounced "puh" just isn't the same now, is it?

Pooh Bear is still "pooh" bear, at the end of the day.

In my BYU ward I had a home teacher who had just got back from a mission in Mexico. His mission ersatz swear word was "Suck!!" And he would say things like, "Holy suck!," or, "Stupid sucking idiot!" Everyone winced when he said it, because it's only one letter away from and rhymes with fuck. And at BYU, no one could say fuck. On the other hand, plenty of "religious" kids at BYU fucked, but they just couldn't say it. Holy suck, the stupidity.

So glad the original post referenced the author A.A. Milne. I have this hangup about hearing Walt Disney's Winnie the Pooh.

there is a russian version.........a complete rip-off, since they never paid copyright fees, or even referenced A A Milne
(he was 'created' during the cold war)
Many people who have seen both the disney and the Russian version prefer the russian version

Vinnie Pukh
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ptEZwjO1DYI

I hate to say I have been corrupted by the Disney version, meaning that is how I always picture Winnie the Pooh. Thank you for opening my mind to this very entertaining Russian version. I understood none of the dialogue (the tiny bit of Russian I do know sure did not help) but it was fun to watch nonetheless.

My mental version was shaped by the BBC Children's Hour version in the years immediately following WW2. That and my first work experience on a children's weekly publication that serialized the originals. The contract stipulated that they had to be word for word as Milne wrote them.

Maybe Mrs. Lampett was functionally illiterate and could barely read?

I am curious as to why that teacher wouldn't just skip reading that children's book if she truly objected to its content and characters. Teachers used to have tremendous autonomy as to what they used in their curriculum; let alone a story book.

For some reason, in my family "poo" was okay but "poop" wasn't. Mom would say, "Oh poo," when something went wrong. But I got scolded for saying "Oh poop." The meanings and differences we sometimes ascribe to words fascinates me.

I love your stories, Don!

Thanks

Dad would cuss when he was pissed off. Only heard him use "goddammit" once...and of course it was directed at me...and rightly so. I tended to vex him. But he used "hell", "damn" and occasionally "shit". Never heard him say "fuck" though.