curse
Neither child appeared to care a curse for anybody. (T. T. T. 182. 11.)
A waiter.
I don’t care a curse = I don’t care in the slightest degree. (Ich frage keinen Pfifferling danach; Je m’en fiche comme d’une guigne.)
The equivalent I don’t care a hang is rather colloquial.
Some euphemisms for damn, damned
»Why, bless us, where’s your eyes.» (Three Men In A Boat 171. 13.)
A lockkeeper.
»What’s the difference blessed if I can see.» (Three Men In A Boat 201. 5.)
An old woman of the lower classes.
»Though I’d been sitting in the shop the whole blessed time.» (Tommy And Co. 55. 20.)
The same.
»An afternoon! Bless the man, I want them for a month.» (The Prude’s Progress 19. 6.)
A jovial ex-actress.
»Blowed if I don’t think they’ll be a chirpier lot in t’other place.» (Sketches 201. 25.)
Uncultivated Londoner.
»Blow me if it ain’t me as ’as been cheated out of the fourpence.» (Sketches 128. 6.)
An omnibus conductor.
»Blow me tight if ’ere ain’t a gentleman been looking for Wallingford lock.» (Three Men In A Boat 115. 4.)
A provincial »Arry».
»Blimy if I don’t believe ’e’s taking ’ome ’is washing up his back.» (The Passing 10. 11.)
Uncultivated young woman.
»Oh, drat the man!» (Three Men In A Boat 233. 28.)
A young lady.
»Drat the boy!» (The Prude’s Progress 48. 4.)
An elderly lady.
»I don’t see the darned good of this part of the trick.» (Woodb. Farm 24. 30.)
Young peasant girl.
»I always see his face when I look on the darned things.» (Woodb. Farm 25. 38.)
The same.
»The blarmed tent is not up yet.» (Three Men In A Boat 19. 15.)
»That blasted dog of yours.» (Novel Notes 52. 15.)
A burglar.
»No, dash it, I can’t think of that line.» (Three Men In A Boat 92. 16.)
»Danged if I see so much fun in it.» (Woodb. Farm. 57. 40.)
Young peasant.
»The dog ought to know a durned sight more about them.» (Novel Notes 152. 26.)
A sailor.
All these expressions are, of course, vulgar, but not equally so.
Darn and, to a less extent, bless are euphemisms in common use in polite circles. Blow is a little coarser, but still usable by a lady in quite private life. Blast (Cockney brast) is a distinctly profane word, generally implying ill-temper. Drat is the usual word in the language of the domestic servant. Blime or blimey (= blind me!) as well as blarmed (probably a corruption of blamed) is distinctly vulgar. Dang (esp. dang it!) is a mild form of damn; might be used even by a clergyman.