Ophelia in Johnson City, Tennessee, wonders about the exclamation her great-grandmother often used when something surprised her: Cat bristle! That may be her own version of a minced oath, although it fits with the idea of how a cat’s tail might look...
Emily from New Orleans, Louisiana, wonders about the expression Holy cow! to indicate surprise or delight. The phrase is a minced oath, a milder substitute for the stronger exclamation Holy Christ!, much like Holy Moses! or Holy smokes! Such...
An Alabama listener says her grandmother would express astonishment with the phrase They! My goodness! This exclamation, which is common in her grandmother’s native Appalachia, is probably an R-less pronunciation of There! as in Look there! This is...
Mimi in Plattsmouth, Nebraska, wonders about a phrase her grandmother used to express disbelief or indignation: Good grief and little fishes! Far more common is the phrase Ye gods and little fishes! or simply Ye gods! These expressions all serve as...
Dana in Reno, Nevada, wants a word for that moment when you’re playing cards or a board game and you draw what would have been the perfect card or tile for the previous turn you played. She suggests post-perfect pickup. Might there be others? Maybe...
Good googly moogly—or great googly moogly—is a jubilant exclamation for surprise, delight, or emphasis, something Lisa from Chesapeake, Virginia, remembers her father saying over a big fish at Hatteras Harbor Marina. The form was established in...
