Heavens to Betsy; and thanx

[Douglas G. Wilson]

>... I still think it's possible that Betsy Ross might have inspired the
>exclamation. Like "Goodness gracious me" (probably elliptical for
>"May Goodness (i.e., God) be gracious to me)," "Heavens to Betsy"
>might have been elliptical for "May the heavens be gracious to
>Betsy."

One might consider the possibility that no particular "Betsy" was involved
at all.

1. "Betsy" might have been a generic female name. By analogy, I seriously
doubt that different men named Jock, Dick, Willy, John Thomas, Johnson,
etc. gave their names independently to the male sex organ.

2. Even the word "Betsy" may not have been present originally. A fanciful
example ... consider "My stars" = "My heavens". Heaven doesn't have only
stars, it also has quarters (not garters!). For example my OED (under
"quarter") cites a 1696 work called "Quarters of Heaven", and also gives
quotations (one apparently biblical) involving such quarters; MoA (Cornell)
includes 5-6 examples of "quarters of heaven", ca. 1858-1874. If an
interjection "Heaven's quarter(s)" ever existed, one might expect a variant
"Heaven's two bits" ... and the rest is, uh, "history". (^_^)

-- Doug Wilson