Re: USAGE: English adverbials 'the heck', 'the hell', etc.

Gary Shannon scripsit:

> Now Dickens wrote some pretty shady trouble makers
> into his works and a trouble maker used to be called
> "a real dickens" so "beating the dickens" out of
> someone again seems to refer literally to the
> practical matter of beating the trouble making
> tendancy out of him.
I feel fairly confident that _dickens_ 'the Devil' is not derived from
Dickens's name, but that both are independently dervied from
_Diccon, Dickon_, a hypocoristic form of _Richard_.  _Harry_, usually
in the form _old Harry_, is also applied to the Devil.

> Another euphamism for trouble maker was "snot" as in
> "he's a real snot."  So "beating the snot out of
> someone" follows naturally, although that might also
> derive from the nasal fluids exuded as the result of a
> punch in the nose.
The latter, I think, particularly because peole being beaten up
tend to cry, which causes the exudation of snot (an OE word, BTW) in and
of itself.

--
John Cowan                                <jcowan@...>
http://www.reutershealth.com              http://www.ccil.org/~cowan
Yakka foob mog.  Grug pubbawup zink wattoom gazork.  Chumble spuzz.
    -- Calvin, giving Newton's First Law "in his own words"

Reply