Hand to God

[Jonathan Lighter]

Nobody says it in this part of the Bible Belt that I'm aware of.  Of course,
I don't know everybody....

JL

On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 9:41 AM, paul johnson <paulzjoh at mtnhome.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       paul johnson <paulzjoh at MTNHOME.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Hand to God
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> paul johnson
>
> Since at least the mid fifties I've heard and used "Right hand to God"
> used in Chicago, haven't heard it much in the last 20 years, but now I
> live in Arkansas.
>
> On 3/11/2011 8:02 AM, Karl Hagen wrote:
> > Someone in an online forum asked about "hand to God" as an equivalent to
> > what she (and I) would say as "I swear to God" (i.e., a strong assertion
> > that something is true), asserting that she is suddenly hearing it a lot.
> >
> > I hesitate to say that this is new (recency illusion and all that) but
> > it's certainly new to me. I don't see it in DARE, and a quick search of
> > Google Books turns up a lot of 19th century examples of "lift your hand
> > to God" and the like but nothing early with the "I swear" sense.
> >
> > Is this an established regional term that is now spreading, or is it
> > really new?
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> --
>
>
>
> "And so another day fails to meet its promise and
> has spun out into procrasturbatory entropy."
>                        David Rakoff
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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