Having lived around the globe, I have been exposed to a variety of unique cultures and their respective languages.
I’ve grown accustomed to hearing Mandarin, Hindi and Spanish in their native environments, but perhaps the most foreign dialect I’ve encountered yet is the local lingo of BYU.
Being an LDS minority in international high schools, I became jaded to the constant stream of expletives employed casually by my peers. Upon moving to Provo, I was shocked to hear someone shout, “That’s bull spit!” in sincere rage.
My instinct was to laugh, but I quickly learned that such substitutions are common to BYU jargon. I am continually amazed by the creativity that is exercised to invent “clean” ways for pious students to express their frustrations — frequently used phrases like “oh my heck.”
The more creative these inventions become, the harder my mind works to retrace the linguistic leaps back to the original word. To me, this seems counterproductive. If we as a campus pride ourselves on the cleanliness of our language, why am I so frequently reminded of those profanities BYU so diligently tries to eschew?
By crafting our own words that sound enough like the originals to bear the same potency, the only distinction we create between ourselves and those we judge for their “inappropriate language” is the fact that we are simply more inventive. To coin a standard disclaimer: user assumes full liability.
Trysten Reynolds
Panama City
Feeds 
I'll second the motion. In fact, I'll also add that I've been disappointed at how many people seem incapable of expressing themselves without resorting to slang that refer to either their anatomy or its excretory/reproductive functions. Even more amazing to me is how often the same do so with apparent naivete, having given no thought to what the words they employ really mean, and no effort is made to find out--expressions like BS, POed, crap, screwed, something sucks, blows or bites. They just parrot what they've heard around them. I'm afraid I hear it all the time from good people who would never think of using the R-rated alternatives. When I ask them if they are aware of what they are saying, and fill them in on what they seem to have missed if they ask me to explain, they are usually shocked--sometimes even affronted--at what lies beneath. Some seem to think I invent it just to accuse them. We hear it over and over again from church leaders, to avoid not only profanity, but also speech that is coarse, vulgar, crude & irreverent. Apparently there are some who do not pause to consider what those words mean, either. Might I suggest that a solution could be to simply avoid slang altogether? I like what Dumbledore told Harry, that fear of a name only increases fear of a thing itself. Using slang makes it easier to laugh at and speak lightly of things that we might otherwise be a little more circumspect about, or avoid altogether. It enables and encourages lightmindedness. I am not suggesting that we all speak like the Oxford dictionary; there is a proper place and need for creative expression and clever speech. President Hinckley even said that is a skill to be sought after and cultivated ("Don't Be a Pickle Sucker", BYU Speeches, 1976, and reiterated several times since). It just needs to be moderated by discretion, courtesy and propriety; directed by a full awareness of the meaning of the words themselves, and governed by our professed desire to emulate the Christ we claim to worship.
Well said Trysten, I agree completely. People that think these word substitutions are no big deal must think the gospel is no big deal, or doesn't have to be taken seriously.
You're offended by "bullspit"? wow. I hope you live in Provo the rest of your life, I wouldn't want you to be scarred by a real profanity.
My favorite one that I never heard until I got to BYU is the phrase "kick your/their trash." Why would I want to kick someone's trash? It is probably full of rotting food and other disgusting things that will get all over my foot. What an absurd colloquialism that happens to rhyme with another word that some consider to be profane.
...A much needed and well presented exposure of the self-deception waiting to afflict those who identify with righteousness: "My church is true; the world is full of worse wickedness; therefore, everything I do is justified."
I hear the so-called "Lord's name" taken in vain many times daily here at BYU, and other words such as you mention, only masked by some lame, transparent little switch of a letter or two. The tongue is no easy organ to master, but when we find ourselves doing the same things we may blame others for, it's time for correction.
Yeah... welcome to Provo. Just put up with it for a few years while you get your education, then move away from Utah, never to return. This too, shall pass... :)