Euphemism for "shit"?
>>"Crap" is much less offensive than "shit", and nobody I know considers a profanity. Parents might not like their kids saying it at a young age, but it's not a swear word by most definitions. It's certainly a milder word than, say, "damn", which is pretty mild to begin with. <<
"Crap" is milder but most people would still consider it a swear word or somewhat offensive nevertheless; it's hardly gentle on the ear like "doo-doo". But "damn" is not offensive except maybe to the ultra-religious.
If you want to go by recognized definitions to confirm the vulgarity of "crap":
http://www.thefreedictionary.com/crap
http://www.answers.com/topic/crap
http://www.bartleby.com/61/61/C0726100.html
>>It was used on Sesame Street!
Big Bird - Excuse me, Elmo. I have to go take a crap.<<
Well if "crap" isn't so disagreeable then frankly neither is "shit" which is used just as often. So we wouldn't really need "poo", "poop", "doo-doo", "dung" for legitimate euphemisms when referring to excrement. Big Bird could've asked to go take a shit instead.
> "Crap" is milder but most people would still consider it a swear word or somewhat offensive nevertheless; it's hardly gentle on the ear like "doo-doo". But "damn" is not offensive except maybe to the ultra-religious.
There might be some region where this is the case, but by U.S. standards, you are wrong. I was allowed to say "crap" long before I was allowed to say "damn". We said "crap" all the time in high school, but we only said "damn" when the teachers couldn't hear us. (Granted, the teachers probably wouldn't accept "I gotta take a crap" as readily as they'd accept "Oh, crap!".)
I don't think that the dictionary marks "crap" as vulgar and doesn't mark "damn" really means anything. It probably has more to do with the subject matter (being a scatological word) than it does with how offensive it is.
There *is* a children's cartoon that uses the word "crap", by the way, although it is an internet cartoon and not a TV cartoon: Homestar Runner (www.homestarrunner.com). They use "crap" all the time, but they never use words like "damn", "shit", etc. Even the usage of "hell" is restricted to the Biblical sense of the term, with only one exception ("These jeans are hella tight", if I recall).
- Kef
The most common euphemism in the States for "shit" is "shoot." I've heard some people use "sugar," but they tended to be from the older generation.
Again, though, "shoot" can only be used as an interjection. If you say "I stepped in dog shoot", you're probably going to get laughed at. ;)
I've never heard anybody use "sugar" that way, myself.
- Kef
>>> "Crap" is milder but most people would still consider it a swear word or somewhat offensive nevertheless; it's hardly gentle on the ear like "doo-doo". But "damn" is not offensive except maybe to the ultra-religious.
There might be some region where this is the case, but by U.S. standards, you are wrong. I was allowed to say "crap" long before I was allowed to say "damn". We said "crap" all the time in high school, but we only said "damn" when the teachers couldn't hear us. (Granted, the teachers probably wouldn't accept "I gotta take a crap" as readily as they'd accept "Oh, crap!".) <<
Same here - "damn" is definitely much stronger than "crap", which is very weak, especially in usages like "oh crap", and which is almost on par with minced curses like "darn" and "shoot".
>>The most common euphemism in the States for "shit" is "shoot." I've heard some people use "sugar," but they tended to be from the older generation.<<
Yeah, but simply using "shoot" in such a fashion will mark one as quite old-fashioned, to begin with. Just the fact that one has to use such minced curses in the first place will mark one not only as quite out of date but also as using stupid weak-sounding half-measures rather than 1) not cursing in the first place or 2) just going and cursing already. The fact that you are using them says that you do want to curse have to excessively "soften" what you say due to being far too sensitive about such kinds of things, usually due to having rather obsolete values more than anything else.
>>Again, though, "shoot" can only be used as an interjection. If you say "I stepped in dog shoot", you're probably going to get laughed at. ;)<<
Definitely agreed.
>>I've never heard anybody use "sugar" that way, myself.<<
I have heard of it, but never actually heard anyone say such in such a fashion. Anyways, just using such in such a fashion would make one sound even more dated than if one were to use "shoot".
I hear "Shiitake" fairly often.
Only the most uncultured of individuals would use such disgraceful language. Haven't you any scrap of dignity or moral character?
Holy shiitake mushrooms!!! A euphemism for "shit" would be a Frenchman.
The most euphemistic term for "shit" when not use as an interjection is probably "feces".
"Feces" isn't really a euphemism; it's a very clinical-sounding term. Although the literal meaning is the same, the connotation is almost entirely different, not merely milder.
- Kef
Well it's probably the most accepted word out of all the other terms "shit", "crap", "poop" etc.
Some people use "sheesh" as an interjection. (See old Marvel comics.) I hadn't thought of it before, but it may have also started as a euphemism.
In one Nobel prize winning paper, it was called "white dialectric substance". (This was in reference to removing bird droppings from a microwave antenna.)