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 euphemisms for a stronger oath. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Ye Gods!”
Hello, welcome to A Way with Words.
Hi, my name is Mimi. I’m calling from Platt Smith, Nebraska.
When I was growing up, my grandmother would often use an expression kind of as an exclamation. It was good grief and little fishes. And she would kind of use it in a way that was like, if she were really excited about something or if something was kind of like, you know, as an expression of disbelief, she would say good grief and little fishes. And nobody in my family, not my siblings or myself, really know where that came from, and she’s no longer with us, so we can’t ask her. But I’ve always wondered what the origin of that might be.
So you think of your grandmother and you think of this expression.
Yes, I sure do. She recently passed in her eulogy. Both of my siblings and myself each mentioned it in her eulogy, so it clearly stuck with us.
Oh, how sweet. Yeah, it’s not just her phrase, although it’s not that common. I’m trying to imagine the reaction that she got when she would say that. Good grief and little fishes.
She was an elementary school teacher, and she said that one time she told us that in one of her third grade classes that a little boy asked her if she was upset after a few days because she hadn’t made that expression in a few days. So she used it a lot.
I guess if you’re around grade schoolers, that’s a safe way of cursing without cursing. And that sort of brings us to the more common version of this, which is ye gods and little fishes, which is a euphemism, you know, to express indignation or amazement or, you know, the kind of thing where she might say that.
So, yeah, ye gods and little fishes is an older expression. And the shorter version of that is just ye gods. That’s been around since probably the 17th century or so. And there are lots of different variations of this. Ye gods and little fishes, hell’s bells and little fishes, ye cats and little fishes. Just a fun phrase.
And I love her version of it, which you don’t hear that often. Great guns and little fishes. I wonder what the fishes did to get such a bad rap.
I don’t know. Some people have suggested that maybe the little fishes have to do with the story of Jesus feeding the 5,000 with two little fishes and five loaves. But we really don’t know that. I think it’s probably just a goofy saying.
Huh. Well, I love that. That fits right in with, that’s on brand, as they would say.
On brand. It has been used by some writers of note. Louisa May Alcott uses it in Little Men, which was published in 1871, but out of school, you gods and little fishes, how Tommy did carouse. So it’s not completely strange to anyone who’s done a bit of reading. She might’ve come across it in her studies.
Well, thank you so much. It’s nice to have some knowledge there.
Yeah. And do you use it yourself now, Mimi?
We do within my family, and it always makes us chuckle. But any time that I’ve ventured to say it out in the public sphere, I always get raised eyebrows.
Well, it’s a lovely memory of your grandmother. How great.
Yeah. Thank you so much.
Thanks for calling me.
Thanks for talking with us, Mimi. Bye-bye.
Bye.
What expression or turn of phrase is tied to you or to the people that you love? Tell us about it and maybe we can tell you more about it. 877-929-9673. Email words@waywordradio.org or tell us and the world on Twitter @wayword.
