[Ads-l] Antedating of Jeepers

[Stephen Goranson]

Here's one from 1906, but jeepers, the word after it is unclear.

Kalamazoo Gazette Aug 29, 1906 p.6 col. 1-2 "Major Bush Tells of Mermaid Chase....Academy Man Back From East, Where He Booked a Bunch of Swell Shows"
"....good shows in New York?"
"Did I?" ejaculated the Major...."Well, jeepers pelter [?]! I should say I did!"

Stephen Goranson
http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/


________________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <...> on behalf of Baker, John <...>
Sent: Thursday, October 29, 2015 7:22 PM
To: ...
Subject: [ADS-L] Antedating of Jeepers

Merriam-Webster has the exclamation "jeepers" from 1927.  Here's an earlier usage, in a purported letter to the editor of the Mount Carmel (Pennsylvania) News, Oct. 15, 1925, p. 2 (Newspapers.com):

"Well, anyhoe, I ketchin an evryting shees go purty gude but 2 mooch slow until we hittingk sucha stashun how you callit "Parkin Place" - den train shees go down big hill to town witch Connduckter callin "Mahnoy City" - den train shees backin up fur longk time and By Jeepers we stop "Parkin Place" again!"


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