Re: By George, I think you've got it!!!

Posted by Henry on February 03, 2004

In Reply to: By George, I think you've got it!!! posted by Lotg on February 03, 2004

: By George??? Why George? Who is this George? When, where & why did this saying originate? I feel reasonably confident in suggesting that it sounds 'terrribly Brritish'!!

: I often say, by George, I think she's got it, but it's never occurred to me before to ask why we say it.

From the 2003 archive;
BY GEORGE - ".Many of the milder oaths listed below follow the old Hebraic and Middle English tradition of avoiding the use of sacred words, such as God, by substituting words with the same initial letter. Thus for God the oaths substitute George, ginger, Godfrey, golly, gosh, gracious, gravy, grief, etc." From "I Hear America Talking" by Stuart Berg Flexner (Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1976).