Gadzooks

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Dr. Goodword
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Gadzooks

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Jun 28, 2022 7:21 pm

• gadzooks •


Pronunciation: gæd-zuksHear it!

Part of Speech: Interjection

Meaning: An exclamation of surprise or alarm, a mild swearword, approximate equivalent to Great Scott!

Notes: Most dictionaries claim this word is archaic or obsolete, but the Oxford English Dictionary (OED) provides a 2017 citation. As an interjection, it remains a lexical orphan. Gadzookers is a playful synonym.

In Play: The Ottawa Sun on January 6, 2017, contained these exclamations: "Bloody Hell, Your Majesty, I nearly shot you. Gadzooks, that was close." Which proves that it is still alive in many if not most vocabularies: "Gadzooks! You are a divine apparition in that gown!"

Word History: The origin of today's Good Word is listed as originally a euphemism for the phrase "God's hooks" in most dictionaries. The reference is to the nails in Christ's hands on the cross. Most etymologists would disagree since Jesus was not God and nails are not hooks, and no phrase 'God's hooks' has ever been attested. That leaves the issue open to wild speculation. The OED refers to an old exclamation "God's-sokinges "God's sockings", from the verb sock, used historically as an emphatic modifier. I would like to propose that it comes from the unattested phrase 'God's sooth". Odd things happen in creating euphemistic interjections. The shift from TH to KS in this derivation is much less than the shift in Jesus to Gee Whiz or God-damned to gol darned. The origin of god is just as mystifying. (Gratitude today is due Jackson Hill, internationally acclaimed composer and professor emeritus at Bucknell, for challenging me with today's mystifying Good Word.)
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Slava
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Re: Gadzooks

Postby Slava » Tue Jul 04, 2023 10:50 am

Gadzooks! This isn't in my spellcheck dictionary. Or wasn't until I just put it there.

Gadzooks! There are still over 1,000 unanswered posts for people to play with. Feel free to jump in a test the waters!
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

Debbymoge
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Re: Gadzooks

Postby Debbymoge » Tue Jul 04, 2023 11:14 am

Slava, so much more fun to wait for you to find them and get us started.
I am but mad north-north-west. When the wind is southerly, I know a hawk from a handsaw.
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Slava
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Re: Gadzooks

Postby Slava » Tue Jul 04, 2023 11:32 am

Gadzooks! The pressure!

Gadzooks! How do they decide what words to put in the dictionary, anyway? Even a word like retainage doesn't raise a flag, though it's a very specific legalese term.
Life is like playing chess with chessmen who each have thoughts and feelings and motives of their own.

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Re: Gadzooks

Postby Dr. Goodword » Tue Jul 04, 2023 6:39 pm

Most standard dictionaries have rather large committees who take votes on them. American Heritage and Merriam-Webster even occasionally report close votes on usage.

We haven't had a Noah Webster in over 200 years to devote his or her professional life to compiling a dictionary. Or Julius Pokorny, the Czech linguist who devoted his professional life in German and Austrian universities to compiling an Indo-European etymological dictionary.
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