"And there's damn all."

Michael K. Gottlieb michael.gottlieb at YALE.EDU
Wed Apr 28 17:11:12 UTC 1999


On Wed, 28 Apr 1999, Larry Horn wrote:

> Don't forget its use (also regionally restricted) as an intensifying
> adverb, analogous to other expletives occurring in this frame:
>
>         There's {bugger all/fuck all} I can do about it.   [i.e. 'nothing']

A propos of "bugger all," is anyone else familiar with "damn all,"
specifically in the following context:

  "And there's damn all."  I believe it means, "and that's that," or,
given Professor Horn's citation, short for "there's damn all i can do
about it."

  It still seems like an awkward shortening.  I came across it in
Schaffer's _Equus_.  Dysart is talking about his marital problems.



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