"Oh my heck" vs "Oh my hell"

[yayfulness]

For years, I thought that "oh my heck" was just another unique thing about a rather unique aunt of mine. It took me years to figure out that it's actually a Utah phrase. And today, for the first time, I read the phrase "oh my [not heck]." Now I'm really curious about its origin.

[Portia]

For years, I thought that "oh my heck" was just another unique thing about a rather unique aunt of mine. It took me years to figure out that it's actually a Utah phrase. And today, for the first time, I read the phrase "oh my [not heck]." Now I'm really curious about its origin.

Hell? No one says that that. God, perhaps, or "what the" (fill that one in with an h or an f.) But "oh my hell" is NOT a thing.

[Katya]

For years, I thought that "oh my heck" was just another unique thing about a rather unique aunt of mine. It took me years to figure out that it's actually a Utah phrase. And today, for the first time, I read the phrase "oh my [not heck]." Now I'm really curious about its origin.

Hell? No one says that that. God, perhaps, or "what the" (fill that one in with an h or an f.) But "oh my hell" is NOT a thing.

I've heard it.

[Marduk]

I've heard it too. Although it seems more common just to drop the "oh."

[bobtheenchantedone]

I've heard "oh my heck" used, but pretty much only in parodies. The phrase I have heard is "what the heck."

[Portia]

I've heard "oh my heck" used, but pretty much only in parodies. The phrase I have heard is "what the heck."

I feel like this is the better euphemism, as "what the hell" is certainly used.

[Portia]

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?co ... moothing=7

Data! My instincts appear to be correct.

[Katya]

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?co ... moothing=7

Data! My instincts appear to be correct.

So the phrase "oh my heck" doesn't exist, either?

[Portia]

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?co ... moothing=7

Data! My instincts appear to be correct.

So the phrase "oh my heck" doesn't exist, either?

http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/

does return one (but only one) result for spoken English.

[Katya]

http://books.google.com/ngrams/graph?co ... moothing=7

Data! My instincts appear to be correct.

So the phrase "oh my heck" doesn't exist, either?

http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/

does return one (but only one) result for spoken English.

I still don't understand what hypothesis you're trying to support.

[Giovanni Schwartz]

Ha. Google returns more results for "Oh my heck" than "Oh my hell".

Edit:

And there's even Oh My Heck Marketing!

[Katya]

Ha. Google returns more results for "Oh my heck" than "Oh my hell".

Nice! What are the ratios?

[Portia]

Ha. Google returns more results for "Oh my heck" than "Oh my hell".

Nice! What are the ratios?

oh my heck: 300,000
oh my hell: 269,000
what the heck: 30,000,000
what the hell: 618,000,000

This lines up with my hypothesis, which is that "oh my hell" is awkward and rarely used.

[Katya]

Ha. Google returns more results for "Oh my heck" than "Oh my hell".

Nice! What are the ratios?

oh my heck: 300,000
oh my hell: 269,000
what the heck: 30,000,000
what the hell: 618,000,000

This lines up with my hypothesis, which is that "oh my hell" is awkward and rarely used.

Rarely used as compared to "what the heck" and "what the hell" or as compared to "oh my heck"?

[Portia]

Rarely used as compared to "what the heck" and "what the hell" or as compared to "oh my heck"?

All. I've never heard someone say it.

[Marduk]

There's no way to verify this with regards to spoken language, however.

Unless your secondary hypothesis is that the spoken word perfectly reflects the written word.

[Katya]

Rarely used as compared to "what the heck" and "what the hell" or as compared to "oh my heck"?

All. I've never heard someone say it.

OK. Yayfulness brought up "oh my heck" as an unusual phrase and "oh my hell" as an even more unusual phrase. You claimed that "oh my hell" definitively does not exist as a phrase, based on your personal experience. Other commenters offered counterexamples, based on their personal experience (which is the same standard you were using). The Google hits data also backs up the claim that "oh my hell" exists as a phrase and, intriguingly, is slightly less common than "oh my heck." And yes, that data also demonstrates that "oh my heck/hell" is orders of magnitude less common than "what the heck/hell," which I don't think is something that anyone is disputing, but it wasn't really the point of the conversation.

(Also, as Marduk pointed out, corpus data can be problematic when it comes to slang or casual usage, which is likely to be more common in speech than in writing.)

[C is for]

WOULD PEOPLE STOP SWEARING IN HERE IT'S MAKING ME EDGY

[NerdGirl]

I have never heard "oh my hell" but I have heard "oh, for hell's sake." One of my Sunday school teachers in high school used to say that. And I have heard "oh my heck" A LOT, but not so much outside of Utah unless it's being said sarcastically.

[Yarjka]

It's a hecking swear word, it will be used however the hell people feel like.