Damnation - As Profanity

As Profanity

Historically, from the 19th century until the 1930s, the exclamation "damn" was mostly considered unprintable. The use of "damn" in Rhett Butler's parting line to Scarlett O'Hara in the film Gone with the Wind in 1939 challenged sensitivities at the time.

"Damn" today is a mildly profane word used in North America, the United Kingdom and Australia, although "God damn," or "Goddamn," is still considered highly blasphemous by religious people, taken either as a condemnation of God or as a violation of the commandment against taking God's name in vain. The term is mostly broadcast in the United Kingdom (usually through American imports, but it is not considered blasphemous. "Dang" or "darn" are sometimes used as euphemisms, specifically minced oaths, for "damn".

The exact level of profanity of the expletive "damn" is not agreed on, and is sometimes believed to be nonexistent. The expletive "damn" has rarely been found in G-rated movies or TV-G-rated television events, usually resulting in higher ratings on the grounds it may be unsafe for children to hear. Similar words such as "damning" or "damnation" are normally overlooked in this aspect; the expletive is usually the only form targeted by PG or TV-PG censorship. Euphemisms of "damn" such as "darn" or "dang" are rarely considered unsafe for general audiences.

"Damn" is also used colloquially as an emphatic exclamation; e.g. "Damn, he/she is fine" or perhaps "Damn, he has a nice car!" "Hot damn" may be used similarly, but it is somewhat distinct; for example, if one says, "Joe just won the lottery," a response of "Damn!" on its own can indicate disapproval, but "Hot damn!" indicates approval or surprise or pain. "Damned" is also used as an adjective synonymous with "annoying" or "uncooperative," or as a means of giving emphasis. For example, "The damn(ed) furnace isn't working again!" or, "I just washed the damn(ed) car!" or, "The damn(ed) dog won't stop barking!" (The word "damned" is usually only used in North America, whereas in other English speaking countries the word is simply "damn".)

In Indian English, there is a folk etymology connecting "I don't give a damn" with the dam, a 16th-century copper coin. Salman Rushdie, in a 1985 essay on the dictionary of Anglo-Indian terms 'Hobson-Jobson', ends with this:

"Frankly, my dear, I don't give a small copper coin weighing one tolah, eight mashas and seven surkhs, being the fortieth part of a rupee'. Or, to put it more concisely, a dam."