The Swiss Army Librarian blog posted Swear like a Librarian, positing that sometimes serving the public is stressful enough to make one swear, yet swearing is the last thing one does when working with the public. While the librarians at the Santa Fe Public Library do not relate to this tendency at all, we did find the list of swear substitutions to be quite humorous, despite a few bordering on PG-13.
Also, I believe that this tendency doesn't entirely belong to other librarians. One of the examples given is Jeepers Crow, which reminds me of my much-missed departed grandfather's favorite, Cheesum Rice. Interestingly, this was almost always followed by him hollering "Shut the front door!"—another phrase on the list. I'm also reminded of colorful old-timey favorites such as dagnabbit and goldarnit. And yet, what I'm really reminded of is the end of summer, children & teachers back in classrooms, the ease of the last few months gone in just a few weeks, and I'm sure more than a few folks are biting their tongues, the phrase "Mother of Pearl" escaping from between clenched teeth.
Happy End-of-Summer, everyone! And no, that isn't a substitution for something PG-13.
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