History Main / ParentheticalSwearing

** And in [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 1 Samuel 20]], King Saul realizes that his own son Jonathan is more loyal to rival for the throne David than he is to him. Some translations render his words to Jonathan as "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman!" This...doesn't really hide his real meaning.

** One actually recognized by Northerners, usually to their dismay, is "Thoughts and prayers", meaning "I do feel bad about this, but it's not my problem."

* In ''Film/LifeWithFather'', the closing line was originally "I'm going to be baptized, dammit!" UsefulNotes/TheHaysCode forced the removal of that mild expletive... but you can still hear the ''dammit'' quite clearly in William Powell's delivery.

* In the ''Film/WildWildWest'' movie, a narrow escape ends with James West and Artemus Gordon jumping into a slimy pond full of... something. Gordon manages to keep his head above water... and then remains stone-faced as he sees the drenched West winding up for a sneeze, barely flinches when he gets a face full of what may or may not be mud, and states, "''Bless'' you."

* The following line in ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'', regarding Jon's unpopular and [[MistakenForGay much-derided]] decision to employ [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores a former rent boy]] as his personal manservant;
-->Ser Malegorn stepped forward. “I will escort Her Grace to the feast. We shall not require your... steward.” The way the man drew out the last word told Jon that he had been considering saying something else. ''Boy? Pet? Whore?''

-->'''Jerry:''' Hello... ''Newman''.

** Apparently, she picked it up from one of their FBI consultants. It's a habit you get into when you know every word you say is going to be tape recorded... but that the recording will then be typed up as a transcript that won't catch tone of voice.

** And in [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 1 Samuel 20]], King Saul realizes that his own son Jonathan is more loyal to rival for the throne David than he is to him. Some translations render his words to Jonathan as "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman!" This... doesn't really hide his real meaning.

-->I said, "God bless you"... but it kind of sounded like "Cover your fucking mouth." Incognito.

* In the ''WebAnimation/HomestarRunner'' cartoon "Donut Unto Others", Homestar opens a donut stand near Bubs' Concession Stand. Bubs comes up to Homestar and makes small talk... at the top of his lungs, in a threatening tone, and with his face solid red. Homestar, [[TheDitz ever-oblivious]], takes a few minutes to realize "Are we in a fight?"
* In the ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}'' lore video covering the [[MegaCorp Schnee Dust Company]], narrator [[DeadpanSnarker Qrow Branwen]] refers to the Schnee family as "S-N-O-Bs" in a tone of voice that suggests the "N" should be silent.

* Search the Web for the phrase "made it sound like a curse." It seems to be endemic in FanFic.

[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/pepperoni_4.jpg]]
[[caption-width-right:350:[[ComicBook/XMen Iceman]] demonstrates.]]

* Inverted in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', [[TheBully Bakugou]] calls [[TheHero Izuku]] "Deku" as a way to call him "useless". Then comes [[NiceGirl Ochako]] and uses it as an AffectionateNickname, which prompts Izuku [[AppropriatedAppellation to use it as his hero name]].

* ''Disney/ThePrincessAndTheFrog'': "Who's been messing with the shadow man?!" sounds a lot like "Who's the dumbass?!". It helps that a CoolOldLady is saying it.

** And in [[Literature/BooksOfSamuel 1 Samuel 20]], King Saul realizes that his own son Johnathan is more loyal to rival for the throne David than he is to him. Some translations render his words to Johnathan as "You son of a perverse, rebellious woman!" This... doesn't really hide his real meaning.

** In ''Discworld/ThiefOfTime'', Lobsang tries to save his master rather than stop the obliteration of time, leading Susan to say "you ''hero''!" to him in the same tones someone would say "you ''idiot''!"
** Additionally, in ''Discworld/InterestingTimes'', one of the Silver Horde is the subject of Saveloy's attempts to make him stop swearing every single sentence. He manages to make him use {{Unusual Euphemism}}s instead, but then it is observed that he could turn the air blue just by saying "socks" (which becomes HilariousInHindsight once you read ''Discworld/MonstrousRegiment'').

** In ''Discworld/WyrdSisters'', Duke Felmet is described as the sort of person [[TranquilFury who gets more polite and restrained the angrier he gets]], to the point where he can give the cutting edge of a severe dressing-down to the phrase "Thank you very much."
** In ''Discworld/TheTruth'', Sacharissa can say "you utterly ungrateful person" like it's a curse.
** ''Discworld/NightWatch'' has a Sergeant who doesn't swear for religious reasons, so uses this trope to compensate. At one point he calls a bunch of militia recruits "You sons of mothers!"
** ''Discworld/{{Snuff}}'' shows that coppers learn to inflect "Sir" so that it sounds like "trembling ''arsehole''".

* Inverted in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', [[TheBully Bakugou]] calls [[TheHero Izuku]] "Deku" as a way to call him "useless". Then comes [[NiceGirl Ochako]] and uses it as an AffectionateNickname, which prompts Izuku [[AppropiatedAppellation to use it as his hero name]].

* Inverted in ''Manga/MyHeroAcademia'', [[TheBully Bakugou]] calls [[TheHero Izuku]] "Deku" as a way to call him "useless". Then comes [[NiceGirl Ochako]] and uses it as an AffectionateNickname, which prompts Izuku [[AppropiatedAppelation to use it as his hero name]].

* In [[Literature/ActsOfTheApostles Acts 23:1-5, Paul is brought before the Sanhedrin to stand trial, and when he declares that he has lived in good conscience to the present, the high priest Ananias orders Paul to be struck on the face. Paul says that God will judge Ananias for being tried by the law and being slapped contrary to law. When the Sanhedrin rebukes him for reviling the high priest, Paul apologizes for not recognizing Ananias as the high priest, with a touch of sarcasm in his apology.

* In ''Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries'', [=McCoy=] was always making "Vulcan" sound like a swearword.

* In ''Film/LifeWithFather'', the closing line was originally "I'm going to be baptized, dammit!" TheHaysCode forced the removal of that mild expletive... but you can still hear the ''dammit'' quite clearly in William Powell's delivery.

* [[ https://i2.wp.com/teacherluke.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2018/07/Screen-Shot-2018-07-31-at-21.05.18.png?resize=625%2C848&ssl=1 The Anglo-EU Translation Guide]], or "what British people are actually saying."

* In ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'', Kate Mulgrew once delivers the line "My name is Captain Janeway" like a ''death threat.''

* Japanese, given its society heavily emphasises politeness, has this built in. For example, お前 ''o-mae'' literally just means "you" and is perfectly fine when talking to close friends, but referring to superiors with it is considered disrespectful and in extreme cases, some people have even gotten fired over it.
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* Everyone in [[SweetHomeAlabama the South]] knows that "Bless your heart" usually isn't a "blessing." While it ''can'' be used in a nice way, the phrase itself is, more often than not, used as a [[SugaryMalice much more polite way of calling someone an idiot]] (compared to Northerners, Southerners are very big on things like manners and etiquette). It can also be a type of preemptive apology, using it to sweeten a not-so-nice comment ("Bless his heart, that's the ugliest baby I've ever seen.")