[Ads-l] Origin of exclamation Great Scott discussed at Slate

[Wilson Gray]

Time - Volume 81 - Page 58
https://books.google.com/books?id=YufVAAAAMAAJ
1963 - ‎Snippet view
... picked up the nickname
 _Great Scott_ - pronounced _Dred Scott_
in Sam Blow's Gullah accent - whose suit was tried twice in that
courthouse, in 1847 and in 1850.

Usually, I can never find the cite for some vague, quasi-relevant memory.
But, this time...

Youneverknow.

This /gr/ > [dr] shift is still alive and kicking in BE and not only in
Gullah. John Lee Hooker and Rick James had this feature in their speech.

On Wed, Oct 21, 2015 at 12:32 PM, ADSGarson O'Toole <
adsgarsonotoole at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       ADSGarson O'Toole <adsgarsonotoole at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Origin of exclamation Great Scott discussed at Slate
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Today Forrest Wickman at Slate thoughtfully explored the origin of the
> exclamation "Great Scott". Jesse Sheidlower, Michael Quinion, Fred
> Shapiro, and Garson O'Toole and others were mentioned /
> acknowledged.The character Doc Brown used the expression in the movie
> series "Back to the Future".
>
> Website: Slate
> Column Name: Lexicon Valley - A Blog About Language
> Article: Great Scott! Who Was Scott? The Origin of Doc Brown=E2=80=99s
> Favorite Phrase, Explained.
> Author: Forrest Wickman
> Timestamp: October 21 2015 8:02 AM
>
> Short Link: http://slate.me/1ZXEMSu
>
>
> http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2015/10/21/great_scott_who_was_sc=
> ott_on_back_to_the_future_day_the_origin_of_doc_brown.html
>
> When Forrest contacted me I pointed him to resources like Michael
> Quinion's excellent article:
> http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-gre4.htm
>
> Barry Popik has done valuable work on "Great Scott" as mentioned by
> Fred at Freakonomics:
>
> http://freakonomics.com/2011/09/08/who-first-said-great-scott-and-who-is-sc=
> ott/
>
> Back in August 2011 I posted to the list the earliest instance of the
> exclamation "Great Scott" in 1856. The OED entry was updated in
> September 2013 and the 1856 cite was listed first; apparently it is
> still the earliest known.
> http://listserv.linguistlist.org/pipermail/ads-l/2011-August/111173.html
>
> Garson
>
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-- 
-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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