Is saying "Sure as hell" swearing?

Sounds like something my dad would say. He always uses words like “ass” and “bitch” when he’s talking about a donkey or female dog
He just manages to make it as awkward as possible for the rest of us.
I’d say it’s not swearing – that’s using it as a noun, not an interjection.

Personally, I don’t really think so, but it’s enough to get chided by someone who is either religious, very proper, or your mom.

It is if you consider ‘hell’ a swear-word, which I don’t. I consider it a concept, idea or myth, so that phrase to me is more of a metaphor than swearing

@wildflower – yeah, it’s almost sarcastic. Not “Sure as hell!” but “Yeah, sure as hell dude…”

I’m tired, maybe it’s not sarcastic at all.

It sure as hell is!! LOL.. But seriously, it depends on your audience. To use that phrase is some circles it would probably not even be noticed, but in more polite society, as in church or aroudn some elderly it would probably be considered profane because of the way it is used in a sentence. With that crowd you could say hell when you are referring to the place with fire and eternal damnation, but any other use would be considered swearing.

I suspect the most common use of the phrase is one of assertion, probably evolved from a threatening statement that something would be as certain to happen as Christians believe hell to be if one does not follow the rules of the belief. For that very reason the phrase is still considered rude or threatening by most Christians, and therefore – I think- it really is more to do with cultural interpretation than how proper or not people are

I was substitute teaching in Oakland for a bit and I remember it was cool for the kids to say something was “hecka…,” but not “hella…..”

I say both hella and hecka, I just switch them out depending on my mood.

Fuck no, its 2008.

Some people are still offended by the word so I would say yes.

Some people are offended by the word poo, does that make it a swear word?

My Mother would say so! To this day she says, “H, E, double toothpicks!” !!!

no. Sarcasm. Not really swearing. But of course there is always going to be
some word out their that will offend someone…

“Jew” was a bad word in Nazi Germany, “liberal” is a bad word in Texas, and on and on.

Bad words will always reflect what is socially acceptable or reenforced through the current social trend. Curse words just seem to serve as a barometer for a group’s popular mentality, whether it be Christianty, public manners, or gender tolerance.

All this is the long way of saying what a few people have pointed out. But again, I stick with no, its not a curse word. It sure did trigger an interesting debate though. The heart and soul of Fluther.

Hell.