Gee willikers origin

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Credit: Wikimedia Commons. So consider us even. We agreed to spell check the word and get back to each other. Gee willikers seems to be the most proper. But gee willickers is also occasionally acceptable. So I was partly there.

Gee willikers origin

There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the word gee willikers. Perhaps a variant or alteration of another lexical item. Etymons: English Jerusalem! Some consonants can take the function of the vowel in unstressed syllables. View the pronunciation model here. Simple text respell breaks words into syllables, separated by a hyphen. The syllable which carries the primary stress is written in capital letters. This key covers both British and U. English Simple Text Respell. More about OED's frequency bands. Historical frequency series are derived from Google Books Ngrams version 2 , a data set based on a corpus of several million books printed in English between and The Ngrams data has been cross-checked against frequency measures from other corpora, and re-analysed in order to handle homographs and other ambiguities. The overall frequency for a given word is calculated by summing frequencies for the main form of the word, any plural or inflected forms, and any major spelling variations. Smoothing has been applied to series for lower-frequency words, using a moving-average algorithm.

Rex Fouch. As an interjection, expressing according to the intonation irony, contempt, amazement, incredulity, or the like.

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The phrase "gee willikers" is an exclamation of surprise or amazement. People use it to express surprise or disbelief, similar to saying, "Oh my goodness! The idiom "gee willikers" communicates a strong reaction to something unexpected or extraordinary. It's generally seen as a wholesome, family-friendly exclamation. The phrase has roots in 19th-century American English as a form of minced oath, which is a euphemistic expression formed by misspelling, mispronouncing, or replacing a part of a profane, blasphemous, or taboo term to reduce the original term's objectionable characteristics. In this case, "gee willikers" is a softened form of "Jesus Christ.

Gee willikers origin

Already a subscriber? Log in to hide ads. It has its origins in the 19th century, but the details are somewhat fuzzy. September 3, A reader wrote in to ask, and I had a lovely time trying to figure it out. These not-quite oaths could be quite poetic: They rhymed holy moly! The Jehoshaphat in question is the biblical king of Judah. In 2 Chronicles, Judah is threatened with invasion, and Jehoshaphat and his people pray to God for help.

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Expressing pleasure, surprise, wonder, or admiration. There are two meanings listed in OED's entry for the word gee willikers. Used as a mild expletive, expressing surprise, dismay, exasperation, etc. Expressing disbelief of or surprise at what has just been said. So it seems gee willikers is some offshoot spawn of jeez before it made its way to gee whiz. Consonants b, d, f, h, k, l, m, n, p, r, s, t, v, w and z have their standard English values g guy j jay y yore ch chore kh loch sh shore th thaw dh thee zh beige Vowels a trap ah palm air square ar start arr carry British only aw thought ay face a ng gratin e dress ee fleece eer deer err merry i kit igh pride irr mirror o lot British only oh goat oo goose oor cure or force orr sorry British only ow mouth oy voice o ng salon u strut uh letter ur nurse urr hurry uu foot. What complicates things further is that willikers — or whilikers or whillikens or whatever you might call it — has no other meaning. Jellical cats and pollical puppies. The Ngrams data has been cross-checked against frequency measures from other corpora, and re-analysed in order to handle homographs and other ambiguities. How is the word gee willikers pronounced?

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Like Loading Email Required Name Required Website. Chiefly Scottish. Entry history for gee willikers, int. Henderson was a math professor at the University of North Carolina, but was also an amateur historian and drama enthusiast. Also oh, my! Most of my social interactions these days seem to consist of smiling and nodding while I back towards the exit. So consider us even. Christ , int. As an expression of surprise sometimes only momentary or slight; sometimes involving protest , either in reply to a remark or question, or on….