Date:  Fri, 22 Sep 1995 19:03:24 -0500

From:  Nancy Dray <nancy_dray[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]UNEWS.UCHICAGO.EDU>

Subject: Gordon Bennett and friends



            Subject:                Time:6:42 PM

 OFFICE MEMO     Gordon Bennett and friends       Date:9/22/95

Regarding ague[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]REDRCK.ENET.DEC.COM(Jim?)'s suggestion (Sept. 20) that "Gord'n

Bennett!" is used as an exclamation because it resembles "God Dammit!" I was

delighted to hear that his sweet old grandmother would have used it----which

led me to wonder also about his sainted aunt, and what sweet Fannie Adams would

say! More to the point, when I hear people say "My Sainted Aunt" and "Sweet

Fannie(y?) Adams" on those British PBS shows, do they mean what I think they

mean? I always thought these shared initials with exclamations that they

bowdlerized, but for the former at least OED seems to imply not. Cf. also

"CHI-huahua!" as an exclamation in Mexico, to resemble various other

exclamations that would start out with "CHI-" but end differently.

Enlightenment appreciated.

  --Nancy L. Dray, n-dray[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]uchicago.edu