“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” is a line from the 1939 film Gone with the Wind. It was spoken by Clark Gable, as Rhett Butler, in his last words to Scarlett O’Hara.

At home I was never allowed to use bad language or swearwords, not that my father didn’t use them more often than necessary but I swear to God I’ve never ever heard my mother utter a single rude word. My parents were brought up in the traditional way, which meant going to church on Sundays and even though my father then changed his mind about the Sunday ritual, my mother is still quite devoted to most church rites. I guess being educated at  a nun’s school ’til the age of 18 has a lot to say in this matter.

So as I said not a single taboo word was ever allowed at home although as you can imagine everything forbidden was used and overused when we thought we weren’t heard and also in the midst of some angry arguments among my siblings and me. Among the words we couldn’t use was the word ” Damn”and although we knew that it could only be used  in church ,by priests when preaching ( it is used in religious contexts to mean “To condemn to hell”) we liked to tease our parents by saying it as often as we could pretending we didn’t know it was popularly used as a cuss word.

Although it still maintains the religious connotations, the word Damn is used, nowadays, to express anger, annoyance, disgust…etc . Look at the word being used in context:
No, damn it, you wait a minute!
God damn it, the man said he’d write, so why doesn’t he send me a letter?
That car isn’t worth a damn ( worthless)
What is the Government doing to reduce global warming? Damn all (nothing at all)
Damn it all! (expressions of anger, annoyance or impatience)
I don’t give a damn about what they say ( I don’t care)

Now if you’re in the mood for more Damn, watch this video where  Beyoncé plays the role of a gorgeous housewife who can’t understand why her husband doesn’t love her:

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Why don’t you love me?
Tell me, baby, why don’t you love me
When I make me so damn easy to love?
Why don’t you need me?
Tell me, baby, why don’t you need me
When I make me so damn easy to need?

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