Invective is a difficult one. It's one thing I do find annoying when people write Jewish characters and try to give them typically "Jewish" swear-words; most of us live in Britain and swearing is part of our first language English vocab, so we swear pretty much the same as everyone else. Yiddish is awesome for cursing (it has like 500 words for penis with subtly different levels of offensiveness), but most people who actually swear in Yiddish are either over 70 or American.
I personally don't swear "Jesus!" or "Christ!" but I do use generally Christian-flavoured invective like "Good grief!" or "Bloody Hell!" And I certainly do know plenty of Jews, even religious ones, who swear by Jesus just as often as their secular friends. Taking God's name in vain is of course forbidden, but whether saying "Oh God!" counts depends whom you ask. Some people do avoid swearing by God, some people even avoid writing or saying the word God at all at any time they're not in a specifically religious context. (You'll notice that the film title writes God as G-d, which is not uncommon among religious Orthodox Jews. Another alternative is to always use euphemisms for God, such as "HaShem" which means literally "the Name".) So, like you say, it'll depend on Joel's upbringing and his current feelings.
And don't worry, it's not at all offensive to ask. Swearing is a really good way of showcasing a character's culture. I don't think there's a standard way that Jews swear though, not British ones of our generation anyway.
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timeasmymeasure
Invective
Date: 2013-02-22 06:32 pm (UTC)I personally don't swear "Jesus!" or "Christ!" but I do use generally Christian-flavoured invective like "Good grief!" or "Bloody Hell!" And I certainly do know plenty of Jews, even religious ones, who swear by Jesus just as often as their secular friends. Taking God's name in vain is of course forbidden, but whether saying "Oh God!" counts depends whom you ask. Some people do avoid swearing by God, some people even avoid writing or saying the word God at all at any time they're not in a specifically religious context. (You'll notice that the film title writes God as G-d, which is not uncommon among religious Orthodox Jews. Another alternative is to always use euphemisms for God, such as "HaShem" which means literally "the Name".) So, like you say, it'll depend on Joel's upbringing and his current feelings.
And don't worry, it's not at all offensive to ask. Swearing is a really good way of showcasing a character's culture. I don't think there's a standard way that Jews swear though, not British ones of our generation anyway.