Did you know that gee is “probably a shortening of Jesus! (or Jerusalem! )”?
Did you know that jeez or jeeze is a corruption of Jesus?
Did you know that jeepers is also a corruption of Jesus?
And did you know that sheesh is “probably an alteration of jeez ”?
I found my way to these words after using the word jeepers in an e-mail and wondering where it came from. The Oxford English Dictionary identifies all four words as originating in American English. Gee is the oldest (1895). The OED labels jeez (1923) and jeepers (1929) as slang, sheesh (1959) as colloquial. 1959? Sheesh was in use well before that. I can hear Ed Norton speaking to Ralph Kramden, somewhere in the 1955–1956 season of The Honeymooners: “Sheesh, what a grouch!” Get on it, OED.
[My answers to these questions: yes, yes, no, no.]
Thursday, November 13, 2014
Jeepers, they’re euphemisms
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comments: 9
pre-cursors
+1.
I knew that and if I did it would be amazing if you didn't! (I know so little.)
I didn’t know that!
I like my oaths minced extra fine.
What about steel-cut oaths?
Ooooo, yum. But often overpriced.
Well, jeepers, I had thought "sheesh" was a variation of "shit".
[--Fresca]
You’re looking for shucks. Really. Oh shucks.
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