dad-gum
This curious usage pulled me up short when I read it a news brief story in today's (London) Times. It was about a woman in Arkadelphia who revived a drowned chicken by giving it mouth-to-beak...
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It's a euphemism, formerly very common in US usage, now less so because we use euphemisms less. It's smacks of rustic/Western usage and was often uttered by cowboys and hillbillies in old movies and...
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An 1887 sighting:cornell.edu/cgi-bin/moa/pageviewerHe was crawling along, two-thirds of the way home, when his mule shied, with a great splash, and nearly reared off the roadway. Dad gum ye ! cried...
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Thanks for the quick - and full - elucidation, Jim, DrTechie and Ozzie. Jim - I love the phrase "minced oath". I must find an occasion to use it tomorrow. And Ozziemaland, that link is fascinating -...
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In today's NY Times Magazine, Safire writes about the resurgence of euphemisms such as "heck" and "darn" among politicians -- Democrat and Republican. He speculates that the purpose is more than not...
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>the author seems to be the linguistic bastard son of James Russell Lowell and Mark Twain (a strange - and unlikely - analogy, but I hope you know what I mean)Yup, pard.
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