Transcript “Oh, my God!” When, Where, and Most Importantly, Why people say

“Oh, my God!”
When, Where, and Most Importantly,
Why people say this.
Jay R. Feierman
University 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 Bad
Rattlesnake 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
Long Term
Memory
Explicit
Implicit
Declarative
Non-Declarative
“Conscious”
“Unconscious”
Semantic
Episodic
Factual
Information
Specific Personal
Experiences
Various
Procedural
Memories (like
riding a bicycle)
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 Vain
Blasphemy
•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