Heard in Missouri: "but good!"

[James Smith]

I often hear the expression "but good!" used to add
emphasis.  My late father-in-law (six years in the
Navy; otherwise born, raised, lived, and died in Utah)
used it frequently and emphatically.



--- David Donnell <David.Donnell at EARTHLINK.NET> wrote:

> Question about an expression I just heard: "but
> good!"
>
> I just returned from St Louis where I was visiting
> my 88 yr old
> mother. (Born & raised in southeast Missouri, near
> Cape Girardeau.)
>
> Addressing me and her friend/contemporary, my mom
> related a
> conversation about someone's 16 yr old daughter: the
> girl had stayed
> out until 3 a.m., sans permission, with her cell
> phone turned off...
> Very worrisome to the parents, natch.
>
> My mom's friend then asked if the girl would be
> punished. My mom
> responded, "I asked [the father] if she was
> grounded...he said BUT
> GOOD!"
>
> The expression never registered with me before,
> although it sounded
> familiar rolling off her tongue; it apparently means
> something like
> "and how!"
>
> Is anyone familiar with this critter?
>
> (Hard to Google such a ubiquitous 2-word combo.)
>
> DD
> Missouri-native in NYC
>
>
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> The American Dialect Society -
> http://www.americandialect.org
>


James D. SMITH                 |If history teaches anything
South SLC, UT                  |it is that we will be sued
jsmithjamessmith at yahoo.com     |whether we act quickly and decisively
                               |or slowly and cautiously.


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