Why do Jews leave out the "o" in "god"

[Jazzymom]

Originally Posted by Synergy1

I think that's a terrible thing to write anyone pertaining to beliefs.

You know you are probably right.... But when a simple question is asked and then someone proceeds to tell us we are all not only wrong but ignorant of our religion then I guess folks get frustrated... I know I did.....

[VelcroQueen]

It is frustrating.

And humorous!

But it happens way too often.

[Yeledaf]

So......if we really respected the President, we would spell his name BM?

I don't think so. The issue here may be linguistic, rather than religious. Unless I'm mistaken, Arabic has no vowels, as such, but uses diacritical marks to indicate the morphemes between consonants. Might Hebrew be similar, in this way?

[Chava61]

Originally Posted by laulob

I was always taught that it is out of respect. At some point the piece of paper being written on will be destroyed or discarded.

Agreed as one wouldn't be able to destroy/discard a paper with the name fully written on it as it would be disrespectfully.

[veggienut]

Is it a sin to include the "o"~?

[Richard1965]

Originally Posted by veggienut

Is it a sin to include the "o"~?

"O", yes...it is...

[BrightRabbit]

Those who replace "o" with a hyphen learned it as a sign of respect. It's a custom.

Some people use the "o." They reason: it was prohibited to utter the NAME. If a country was told not to utter the name of their King, named "George," then clearly you don't say or write down "George." But whether or not you will say or write King or K-ng is up for grabs.

So no, it's not a sin to use the "o."

My favorite variation was from a friend who wrote it this way: G!d
She was excited.

The pronunciation of The Name, which appears in Torah as 4 Hebrew consonants YHVH, is long lost. Nobody wants to mispronounce it. Instead, a complete substitute word "Adonai" is used. Adonai is a respectful title used for nobility or royalty, like saying "Sir." When someone's reading along and encounters those 4 letters (The Tetragramatron) YHVH in a prayer or Torah text reading, they say "Adonai" there, instead. And for some, even the substitution is too close for comfort so they were taught to modify the last syllable and say, "Adoshem" because "shem" is Hebrew for "a name."

[JB from NC]

Originally Posted by BrightRabbit

Those who replace "o" with a hyphen learned it as a sign of respect. It's a custom.

Some people use the "o." They reason: it was prohibited to utter the NAME. If a country was told not to utter the name of their King, named "George," then clearly you don't say or write down "George." But whether or not you will say or write King or K-ng is up for grabs.

...

This.

I replace the the Tetragramatron with adonai or haShem in both speech and writing, but the word "God" is nowhere near that level. It is simply an English word used as a title.