Hell's bells and little catfishes

[Sam Clements]

The exclamation "Ye Gods and little fishes" goes back to at least the
mid-1800's.  Not hard to believe that some family somewhere wasn't allowed
to use "Ye Gods" and substituted "Hell's Bells."

Sam Clements

----- Original Message -----
From: "Wilson Gray" <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Friday, March 10, 2006 11:16 AM
Subject: Re: Hell's bells and little catfishes


> I've *read* a slight variation: "Hell's bells and little fishes!" This
> was in the late '40's or early '50's. I've never heard it spoken. I've
> also read, "Outhouse mouse! Let's get this show on the road!" from
> about the same time. I've also never heard that spoken, either.
> Because of their weirdness, these have stuck in my mind over the
> years. Unfortunately, I don't remember anything beyond the phrases
> themselves.
>
> -Wilson
>
> On 3/10/06, Ron Silliman <silliman at gmail.com> wrote:
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail
>> header -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Ron Silliman <silliman at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      Hell's bells and little catfishes
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> We were discussing the phrase "Hell's bells" the other day and my wife
>> grew
>> up with a longer variant, "Hell's bells and little catfishes." She grew
>> up
>> in suburban Baltimore in the 1950s & '60s, her mother being from the
>> Ashville, NC, area, her father from the Hagerstown, MD, area. My guess is
>> that the phrase comes from her mother's side of the family, but I'm
>> curious
>> as to whether it is strictly a family saying or extends further than
>> that. =
>> I
>> couldn't find a single mention of the full phrase on Google.
>>
>> Ron Silliman
>>
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>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
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