St. Paul daily globe. [volume] (Saint Paul, Minn.) 1884-1896, 1888-01-23

words for parlOr and draWing-rOOm use.
''Great Scott is an Old-time favorite,
hallOWed by the use of near half cen
tury. OF course it was never intended
TO gl0rify Gen. Winfield Scott, nor yet
Sir Walter, but is so strong an ejacula-
ton and so comfortably near real hard
blue bad word that its reason for being
is more than passing good, says the Chi
cage Mail. Who knows but that the
mem'ry of that doughty warrior may be
conserved in this word as flies in amber
are or ancient reptiles in the rock thou
dost crack nuts withal?
Bloody is favOrite adjective with
the English people, and comes III so
easily that the story is told that when
once clergyman was cOnSOling be-
reaved mother for the loss of her infant
boy, by assuring her that he was in a
better land and out of the care and
worry of this vale of tears, she said:
'Oh, yes, sir; s'Dose 'e's bloody little
hangel now. 'opes as low e is"
How a gruesome. CORY word like this
should have come into such general use
is something of mystery until its
derivation is known. 1t is corruption
of ''By Our Lady," favOrite medieval
oath, cOntemporaneous with ''By my
halidom,'' without which no dOublet-
and-hOSe play could possibly be writ
ten.
"Zounds' is another old corker usu-
ally gotten Off by the irate father who
wears Il white wig and snowy ''slug-
gers" in the dramas written before the
war. 1t is threshing over old straw to
say that this is contraction of Goods
wounds" "'Sdeath" used to be Kissed
through the teeth of the old,style vii
lain of the Ha-LOrd-LOnSdale-h ereI-
t-Hi
"'sdeath!" You have probably in
your time done more real labOrlous
work than any other Semi-bad word in
the language. and now you are laid on
the shelf as out of date and obsolete.
And who is there to take your place?
Not one. What word is there to-day
that will bear being Missed through the
teeth to the accompaniment of a scowl
that p ulls the eyebrows half way down
the nose? Not one. What villain of
even the blacklist dye could survive the
shock of being made to say: Gee
whiZz! | will be r-r-revenged of you,
above thy head, old "'sdeath."
Gosh is real nice cuss word, but
lacking in refinement. 1t somehow
breathes the sturdy spirit of the back
WoOdSman, who dared push forward
into the new lands of Illinois, brave the
chill terrOrs of the scalping knife and
the still more chilly terrorS of the fever
zen ager," settle on quarter section of
land, on which city would be built.
and, by judiciouSly doing nothing but
holding fast, build up the community
and amaSS fortune by his own eXer-
lions in collecting his rents. g.. ~
There are trimmings to ''gosh'' that
make it picturesque and imposing.
''Gosh all hemlockr' carries weight
with it. but it is only heard in the far,
far Off hamlets where city people take
their summer vacations and on the
mimic boards. 1t is usually done up in
the same package with the country
jake, wearing long ''yaller' chin whisk-
erS, whiting single and squirting
tobacco juice with unerring precision.
Gosh a. mighty and 'gosh darn
are much more natural and must have
been hailed with unfeigned delight by
all good citizens when they first came
out, for they are such harmless substi-
tuteS for words that are not at all harm
less, and. in fact, are very profane.
Anyone who has seized the opportunity
the new year afforded of swearing off on
swearing will appreciate this point. for
he has ere this found that if he would
quit swearing he must entirely recon-
Struct his English language.
Now, "gOsh a mighty" comes lust as
handy to this kind of a man as piece
of chewing gum does to the jaws Of the
man who has just quit chewing tobacco.
Darn it," with its prefix, ''goldarn
it," is still in active use in various parts
nounced ''dern," and in this case it goes
along with sOmbrero and shooting
gallery, and stranger, whar dye come
frOm?' ''Dern' is put I'D for the West
ern trade and comes in chunks about so
big: ''Ill pump your dern skin full of
lead" By common consent it is tabooed
in fashionable North side society.
1t seems pity to let it out that ''Oh,
dear me-" is hard swearing, when so
many estimable ladies use the express
sion with such deal If comfort, but it
is fact, nevertheless. ooh, dear mel"
is just ''Oh, do MO-" Or ooh. my God!n
in English. This isn't such a dreadful
thing to say in French-in fact, in that
language it is about equivalent to
''Well!' but English-speaking ladies do
not Willingly take the name of the Su-
preme Being in vain, as a rule. Gen
orally in the continental languages to
swear by the sacrament is much more
prOfane than to use the name Of the
Deity.
by Jimminy!" is, of course, '.By
Gemini," that particular constellation
in the zodiac called the twins. an illus
page of Ringbone's Family Bitters
almanac for the current year. Two
babies in each others arms are repre-
scented i'll a cut of sort of dime
museum aggregation Of curiOSities. the
central figure of which is man appar-
emily in the primary stage of dis
section. These twins are embalmed
in the joke which went the
rounds of the papers in the falfi
of go and the spring of 70. 1t seems
that a man whose name could not be;
learned, and which for some reason has..
never been divulged since, was fooling
around the hind legs Of mule-any-'
thing about mule was considered eX-
tremely cOmical, not to say mirth-pro-,
voking, in those days-when something
happened-the joke didn't say that.
but it terSely recorded that "Gemini
KritZer" was his last request. Probably
KritZer was the twins last name. But,
let that pass. r.
''By golly'' and shy gracious" s.bKYi,
gravy" and ''by dad" are old prime.
favOrites, not yet fallen into innOcuOt,S,
desuetude. dad burn it" had a great,
run for while about the time those old
gray ShawlS for men were all the 90.
but with them it has almost faded 0I1tt
of the recollection of the men of to-day..o
Once in a while the old gray shawl. with
the black-headed fastening pin. is seen
on the streets, and once in while dad
burn it, is heard, but not ofteEer than
once in whichever twice in a while.
Never, never.
A great future was predicted for''gee-
whiIlikens, "but it was little too strong
Cor every day use. Not that it was ever
profane or indicate. 1t came of de-
cent people, did gee whillikens," and
never behaved itself unseemly. but
someh ow it was too sOnorOus and pom
derous for anything of less import than
q double murder or q fall from q Ton