Good golly gosh!

The third commandment applies to our thoughts and attitudes not just to the sounds we make when speaking.

We may manage to avoid using God’s name as a swear word, but what about our thoughts of God?

We may have substituted “golly” or “gosh” for God’s name, but if we’re still thinking “God”, though we manage to say something else, we still fall foul of this commandment.

There’s nothing necessarily wrong with saying “golly” or “gosh”, of course. Though those words were originally a substitute for God’s name, the meanings of words depends on their usage not their origin, so it’s possible to use those words without any sin being involved

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There’s nothing wrong with expressing surprise – or whatever – with words such as “golly” or “gosh”. Ultimately it’s the heart that counts.