Hand to God

[Garson O'Toole]

Playwright Tennessee Williams used "right hand to God". In Genesis
"raised my hand to the LORD" is associated with taking an oath.

Kingdom of earth: the seven descents of Myrtle
Tennessee Williams – 1968 (Google Books snippet; not verified on paper)
CHICKEN: This looks like a genuine license to me.
MYRTLE: I give you my right hand to God! - That thing is fake!
CHICKEN: Don't give me your right hand to God. I don't want it and He
don't want it neither. Nobody wants your right or left hand to
nothing.

Genesis 14:22
New International Version 1984
But Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have raised my hand to the
LORD, God Most High, Creator of heaven and earth, and have taken an
oath
King James Bible
And Abram said to the king of Sodom, I have lift up mine hand unto the
LORD, the most high God, the possessor of heaven and earth,

On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 1:20 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Hand to God
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Fri, Mar 11, 2011 at 10:52 AM, Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
>> Influenced by "(sitting on) the right hand of God"?
>
> "[I raise my right] hand to God (as though I were swearing on the Bible?)!"
>
>
> Like Ron, I've been hearing various combinations, permutations, and
> probabilities of this all of my life. People don't only say it, but
> they also perform the gesture as much as they want to.
>
> --
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint
> to come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
>
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