Thread: God's Name

Originally Posted by it-ogo

Using word "god" and all corresponding names in vain is quite normal in colloquial speech in Russian. According to Hollywood movies it is also quite normal in USA. And according to the text of "Arabian nights" it is also quite normal in Islamic tradition. Russian Jews use something like "Б-г" instead of "Бог", which looks funny.

Originally Posted by rockzmom

Turning into a very interesting thread!

My Nana, the one who passed a way this year at 106 who was from Austria, she always used to write, “G-d willing” in her letters to me. Like, “G-d willing I will see you in November.” She was the only person I knew who did that!

There was an old or even ancient superstition in Russia about bears (of course we do obsessed with bears ): it is a bad omen to call a bear by "his name". Here "his name" stands for the word "bear" (медведь). If you will "call" the bear i.e. pronounce the word "bear" the bear can think that you are calling him and come to you. As a result there are only few possibilities: you can became the bear's breakfast, lunch or dinner. So there is a tradition to use nicknames for bears instead of the word "bear". There are plenty of them: Михайло Потапыч, Топтыгин, Косолапый etc. There is no any other animal in Russia which has so many nicknames.

Maybe using "G-d" is somewhat similar to this. People don't call the "God" without an extremely need.