land o' Goshen
English
[edit]Etymology
[edit]From the place first mentioned in Genesis 45:10 as the land set aside for the Israelites when they settled in Egypt (ultimately from Hebrew אֶרֶץ-גֹּשֶׁן (“ʾEreṣ Gōšen”)). Perhaps chosen as a minced oath to replace gosh, itself a replacement for God.
Interjection
[edit]- (US, dated) Used by Christians for swearing without being overtly vulgar or blasphemous.
- 1884, Lydia Wood Baldwin, A Yankee School-teacher in Virginia, New York: Funk and Wagnalls, page 210:
- "Land o' Goshen! sence I've come t' the happy land, as I call it, I ain't hed no sech tea as I used t'."
- 1971, “Suicide Song”, in Loudon Wainwright III (lyrics), Album II, performed by Loudon Wainwright III:
- Stomp on the moon and spit in the ocean / Razzamatazz and I love you / Holy smokes and Land o' Goshen / You can do anything that you want to do.
Further reading
[edit]
Land of Goshen on Wikipedia.Wikipedia