For God's sake Vs. I swear you by God

[sb70012]

Hello teachers,
I own a room in Paltalk messenger. Sometimes, the members wander away from the main topic. I mean, when the topic is about language functions, they change the topic to flatter in the room. Then, as an administrator, I want to tell them a sentence but I am not sure which one is much used.

Guys, I swear you by God, change the topic.
Guys, for God's sake, change the topic.

Are both used these days? Which one is the most used one?
I searched the title in the forum but I couldn't find a thread related to mine.

No source / Self made
Many thanks in advance.

 

[heypresto]

'Guys, I swear you by God, change the topic.' This sounds very odd. It sounds like a direct word-for-word translation from another language. It's not English.

'Guys, for God's sake, change the topic.' This sounds natural, and is what we might say in anger or frustration.

 

[PaulQ]

Guys, I swear you by God, change the topic. This is meaningless "I swear to you by God ..." is only used when you are claiming to be telling the truth. "I swear [to you] by God that I had nothing to do with the crime!" However, this is formal and old-fashioned and may make you sound like a religious obsessive.

Guys, for God's sake, change the topic. This is more controversial than wrong. You may well hear this informally. In this case, for God's sake is merely emphatic and has no real meaning.

However, and I think I have mentioned this before: I understand that in Islamic culture invoking a deity is common; in Western culture this should be avoided wherever possible. The effect of writing Guys, for God's sake, change the topic. on a forum would be to invite comments that ranged from

"Please do not take the Lord's name in vain!"
to
"God's sake? God? Who's your invisible friend then?! What's he got to do with the topic?"

After this, the discussion would be completely derailed as various members tried to convince those of different opinions that their view was the only rational one.

 

[heypresto]

Yes, I would agree with PaulQ about using this expression. I would advise exercising caution when, or if, you use it in a forum.

 

[sb70012]

Thanks a lot. I got it now.