“Oh, my God!”When, Where, and Most Importantly,

Why people say this.

Jay R. FeiermanUniversity of New Mexico (retired)

Methodology

•Sample YouTube videos for “Oh, my God” for When and Where• Rule out several reasons “why?”• Give one reason “why?” that has not yet been ruled out.

Typical Example of Vocalized“Oh, my God!”

Live TV Something Unexpected and Very Bad

Another Example of Something Unexpected Very Bad

Something Unexpected Very BadRattlesnake Attack

Something Unexpected Very Bad

Results from Systematically Sampling Vocalized “Oh, my

God” on YouTube•Something unexpected of great emotional significance that is very bad (2nd plane hitting the WTC Bldg.)•Something unexpected of great emotional significance that is very good (winning the lottery or equivalent).

Something Unexpected and Very Good

Another Example of Something Unexpected and Very Good Happening

Something Unexpected Very Good Variation “Oh, my Lord!”

Why Do People Say“Oh, my God” When Something Very

Good or Very Bad Happens Unexpectedly? Three Possibilities.

•“Alarm Call” – ruled out• Seek God’s Protection – ruled out• Remember the Event Better

Three Categories of Words Vocalized at Times of

Unexpected Great Harm

• Deity Name = “Oh, my God!”• Copulation Name = “Fuck!”• Excrement Name = “Shit!”

Example of Saying the Excrement Word When Something Unexpected and Bad Happens

What Do These Three Categories of Words Have in Common

•They are “Taboo Words”•They are used in times of unexpected events that are very bad or very good and experienced alone or in a social group.

Euphemisms: “Oh, my goodness!”

Euphemisms: “Oh, my gosh!”

Synonyms for “Oh, my God!” with religious, excrement, or copulatory connotations

“Bloody Hell!” “Fucking Hell!” “Hells Bells” “Heaven forbid!” “Christ” “Oh, my Lord,” “My God!” “Holy Shit!” “Holy Fuck!” “Jesus Fucking Christ!”

The Not Yet Ruled Out “Why?”: Evidence for Saying “Oh, my God!” is

to Remember Events Better•Types of Memory• Advantages of Saying Taboo Words When Something Unexpected is Very Bad or Very Good and needs to be remembered

Types of Long Term Memory

Role of Sleep•Memory processes have been shown to be stablized/enhanced by nocturnal sleep and even daytime naps.• Saying taboo words (deity/excrement/copulation) when an unexpected and very important life event happens “marks” the event for recall during sleep, when the brain transforms short term memories into long term memory, like the “tab stop” key on an old fashioned type writer marks places where the carriage will stop.

Tab Stop Demonstration: “Oh, my God!” sets a tab stop to demarcate the event as important and in need of transfer to long term memory

during sleep

Possible Advantage of Saying Taboo Words When Something Unexpected is

Very Bad or Very Good

Facilitates Important Memory Consolidation where important

information temporarily stored in the hippocampus is slowly transferred to

the neo-cortex, where it is permanently stored

Role of the Amygdala•The amygdala is believed to be involved in

encoding and retrieval of emotionally charged memories

•Saying taboo words (deity, copulation or excrement) marks the event as

emotionally charged• Emotional arousal facilitates the

encoding of events into long term explicit, episodic memory

Why are deity, excrement and copulation terms taboo words cross

culturally?• Unknown• Is this species-universality of the three categories of taboo words (deity, excrement and copulation) evidence that for human beings God, like excrement and copulation, is a “natural kind”?

Using the Lord’s Name in VainBlasphemy

•Vain = to use someone’s name, especially God’s name, without due respect for reverence.• Blasphemy = irreverence

Special Case in Modern Israel where religious Jews are never to say the proper name of their God, “YEHOVA.” What do they currently say when something unexpected happens that is very bad? “ “God is not mentioned for something unexpected that is very good.” “The name “YEHOVA” never used, just the general name for God.” (Courtesy of Sigal Tifferet, Ph.D., Israeli Psychology Professor)

“ELOHIM YISHMOR!”: God guard“HASHEM YISHMOR!”: The name will guard (so as to not say the name)“ELOHIM ADIRIM!”: Great God“ELOHIM!”: God“ADONAY!”: My master“Oh, my God!” (Sigal’s teenage daughter says this is common).Note: It is significant that “YEHOVA” is not used, which is evidence against the tab marker hypothesis of saying “Oh, my God!” in English.

Comment from Peter M, a Member of the Yahoo Evolutionary Psychology Group

“I’m an atheist, and I sometimes say, “Oh, my God!” by habit. I’ve actually tried to break myself of the habit . . . People use the deity terms because they have learned them . . .”

I thank the following people for their comments to me on this topic of why do people say, “Oh, my

God!” when something unexpected is very bad or very good?

Glen Sizemore, Maarten Albers, Michael T. McGuire, Martin Swain, Lluis Oviedo, Sigal Tifferet, Ed Korber, Mark V. Flinn, Donald W. Zimmerman, Peter McCusker, Mark Hubey, Bruce Lepper, Sussa Björkholm, Robert Karl Stonjek, Martin Swain, Graeme Deeth, Arthur Noll, John Angel,

The End