What the dickens! is an oath from William Shakespeares The Merry - TopicsExpress



          

What the dickens! is an oath from William Shakespeares The Merry Wives Of Windsor referring, not to Charles Dickens, but to Satan. Dickens probably derives from a common English surname, or from Dickin, the diminutive of Dick. The reason it was substituted euphemistically for devil in the exclamation What the devil! probably has little to do with the behavior of some naughty Dickens, though. As with that other devilish substitute deuce (What the deuce!), the reason almost certainly lies in the sound and in the comic effect of the substitution itself. Many similar examples in Renaissance or modern English may be found—such as marry for Mary and gosh for God.
Posted on: Sun, 09 Feb 2014 22:15:14 +0000

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