Her writing style today?

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pete9012S
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Re: Her writing style today?

Post by pete9012S »

'Gah!' :wink:
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walter raleigh
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Re: Her writing style today?

Post by walter raleigh »

That one I can't help you with Pete! It appears to be a Mr. Goon original! :wink:
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Courtenay
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Re: Her writing style today?

Post by Courtenay »

walter raleigh wrote:I've got an old book called "A Dictionary Of Euphemisms", which agrees with Robert's interpretation. It says "The interjection has been used since at least the middle of the last century [i.e 19th] as an expression of disgut, regret, or impatience, making it a euphemism for [the word Robert suggests] in every sense.

It goes on to say that the oldest example of it's use "comes from Edward M. Field's The Drama of Pokerville (1847): "And Mr. Bagley was there to shoot any gentleman who might say 'shucks!'", which does seem to be excessive punishment if the word stood merely for disgut, regret, or impatience."
I'm not surprised if that's where it comes from, but I am surprised that the OED doesn't mention that connection even as an unproven possibility. (This despite the fact that their entry on the much less polite word is quite extensive in its detail.)
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Re: Her writing style today?

Post by Moonraker »

http://www.oxforddictionaries.com/defin ... nglish/gah" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
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Re: Her writing style today?

Post by Courtenay »

I was hoping that under "origin" it would have "Made famous by Mr Goon, character in author Enid Blyton's "Five Find-Outers" series"! :mrgreen:
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