My parents used to just not swear around us, until traffic just got too much when I was about 14 or so. One branch of our family (one of the crazy ones) swore liberally around their kids, but only in Patois, so at least when the kid went to school (in the upper class white Detroit suburb where they lived) no one had any idea what she was on about.

Way to go to not put your heart into it.

My mother used to use 'Ayatollah Khomenei' as a swear.

My father was fond of "What the hell are you doing, shit-for-brains," which came back to bite him in the ass when my two year old brother said it to him one day.

"I swanny."

I was just thinking of this earlier. It really takes a swear-averse culture to use a euphemism for "I swear."

In the last 10 years, my mother has started saying "bitch" tentatively, when the person being described is one. I've never heard her swear. She slams things instead.

My mom says "Oh, ick," which is a very 1940's teenager way to not-swear.

A few weeks ago when my family and I were locked out of my parent's van after dinner, Mom yelled "SHIT!" in front of the restaurant entrance, which is absolutely hilarious considering how much of a goody two-shoes she is. Much of my own annoyance at the situation disappeared as a result.

When I told my mom I had a boyfriend (after almost a decade of being a total lezzie, as far as she knew), she exclaimed, "holy SHIT!!" Which sent my sister and me into gales of laughter, and then she chided herself for cursing on the Sabbath, which just made us laugh more.

I said "Oh my god," once, and my mother nearly drove off the road, she was so busy telling me how horrified and disappointed she was in me.

I often say Holy Mother of God, or Mother of God when I really want to say Motherfucker.

I do this except it usually backfires and I wind up saying Holy Mother of FUCK.

Grandma E says "oh foot!" that's the strongest thing I've heard from her ever.

I say "Jesus H Baldheaded Christ!" sometimes. When the situation demands it.