purtan euphemisms

[Jonathan Lighter]

It isn't a question of "seeing through" them. "God" and "Jesus" and
"Christ" are divine names that   differ greatly from silly words like
"Gad," "Gee whiz!" and "Cripes almighty!"  Literalism, literalism,
literalism!

One exclamation the Puritans undoubtedly did use was "Gemini!/ Jiminy!"
 Clearly of learned origin, it is recorded as far back as the 17th C.

JL

On Tue, Oct 23, 2012 at 8:28 PM, W Brewer <brewerwa at gmail.com> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       W Brewer <brewerwa at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: purtan euphemisms
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Gosh darn it to heck and back! Praise the Lord that can't see through
> euphemisms.
>
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> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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

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