Hell's bells and little catfishes

[Jonathan Lighter]

Here's a photo of a notable "Outhouse Mouse" :

  http://www.91stbombgroup.com/outhousemouse.html

  JL



Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Wilson Gray
Subject: Re: Hell's bells and little catfishes
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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 wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: Ron Silliman
> 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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