Your response is that English also overuses another word. I don't understand the point you are trying to make.
English overuses it the same amount, given that Allah is their word for God.
Not even close! I only have experience in the Gulf but they use "allah" words all the time!
"Alhamdulillah" (thank god) is pretty much part of the standard greeting (Pretty much just two people rapid firing a list of phrases at each other simultaneously "peace be with you / and also peace with you / how are you / thank god / how's the family / thank god") and a frequent response to almost any question.
Anything dealing with the future or uncertainty will bring in "Inshallah" (God willing). I remember the first time I asked my cab driver to take me to my destination and he said "Inshallah" that did not give me confidence!
Then there's "bismallah" and "mashallah" which I heard a bunch. And I'm not sure if we can count "yallah, yallah" which is like "hurry, hurry, let's go" which you hear all the time and is derived from "Ya Allah".
I would be willing to bet that Gulf Arabic speakers say "Allah" literally at least 10x if not 100x more than Americans say "God".
Jaysus lads, that chap... Christ, sure how would ya... Holy lord! I've never heard... My God, did you hear... Lord help us and save us, she'd only...
And I'm leaving out the more vulgar variants here.
I'm not saying we'd beat some of the Arabic countries, but I definitely am saying we very well might give them a good run for their money. I'll consciously try tone it down if I'm conversing with a non-Irish person, and then with my family I'll let loose.
Maybe Americans use God-related idioms a lot less than us, of course. The U.S. is a relatively big place though, so I'd be curious to know if there aren't some corners closer to (rural?) Ireland's usage.
He said he wouldn’t be…inshallah.
I know it’s part of their language but just as with your cab example it can be a bit annoying as an outsider, as it feels like they’re passing off responsibility. I feel the same way about some of the things Christians say too, for what it’s worth.
Anyways, that’s my infuriating inshallah story. He was late again - and he needed to find another photographer after that.
On the other hand. For example in Kiswahili "Shauri ya Mungo" (God's business). Perhaps not exactly the same, but sufficiently similar to be interesting: that some things are in fact beyond human capability and comprehension has largely disappeared from the English language (or any language from predominately secular countries).
It's still common in insurances agreements or other contracts that have to consider force majeure - natural disasters and other phenomena fall under the blanket term "Acts of God".
Also, plenty of "secular" curses/exclamations have religious connotations (because it was taboo, and cursing and the taboo are inextricably linked). "Geez", "Gazooks" (God's hooks), etc.
Same goes with English! When parting ways, people commonly say "bye" or "goodbye" which is an evolution of "Godbye" - a contraction of "God be with ye"
That said, I do not care at all that Arabs used "God" a lot or that Americans (supposedly) use "war" a lot. If anything, I like these sorts of differences.
Nah, even a short interaction with a muslim would key you into the fact that they use allah based phrases way more often than the typical american or christian.