bejeebers (1941)

[Benjamin Zimmer]

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http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/14/us/politics/14palin.html
"I'm still proud of Sarah," she added, "but she scares the bejeebers out of
me."
[Laura Chase, campaign manager for Sarah Palin's 1996 mayoral run]
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HDAS has "bejabbers" and "bejeepers" but not "bejeebers". Plenty o'
Googlehits.

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1941 _Los Angeles Times_ 8 Dec. 10/2 Because the way things are going now it
is wasting the time of the shipyard workers, and boring the bejeebers out of
all of us who have to look at christenings at the movies.
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1947 _Hartford Courant_ 2 Sep. 13/5 Then he goes out and whales the
bejeebers out of his opponents, generally.
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1955 _Washington Post_ 2 Jan. C1/1 Pardon my Southern accent, but Navy's
li'l ole team from up Nawth just natu'ally beat the bejeebers out of
Mississippi in the Sugar Bowl today.
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1955 Herbert Block _Herblock's Here and Now_ 163 They can speak for
themselves and sometimes do it so loud they drown out almost everything else
and scare the bejeebers out of our allies.
http://books.google.com/books?id=stYbAAAAIAAJ
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--Ben Zimmer

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org