Hand to God

Jonathan Lighter wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM
Fri Mar 11 15:08:49 UTC 2011


Nobody says it in this part of the Bible Belt that I'm aware of.  Of course,
I don't know everybody....

JL

On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 9:41 AM, paul johnson <paulzjoh at mtnhome.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       paul johnson <paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Hand to God
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> paul johnson
>
> Since at least the mid fifties I've heard and used "Right hand to God"
> used in Chicago, haven't heard it much in the last 20 years, but now I
> live in Arkansas.
>
> On 3/11/2011 8:02 AM, Karl Hagen wrote:
> > Someone in an online forum asked about "hand to God" as an equivalent to
> > what she (and I) would say as "I swear to God" (i.e., a strong assertion
> > that something is true), asserting that she is suddenly hearing it a lot.
> >
> > I hesitate to say that this is new (recency illusion and all that) but
> > it's certainly new to me. I don't see it in DARE, and a quick search of
> > Google Books turns up a lot of 19th century examples of "lift your hand
> > to God" and the like but nothing early with the "I swear" sense.
> >
> > Is this an established regional term that is now spreading, or is it
> > really new?
> >
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> "And so another day fails to meet its promise and
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