What the dickens and balderdash!

by Maria Grace 

Confound it all!

One of the frustrations of writing historical fiction is discovering your character could not do/hear/see/say something because it had not been invented yet! Such is my plight as I just discovered my Regency era heroine could not say 'Confound it!' as the saying did not exist for nearly another 40 years! A few other things she could not say (and the year in which she could have said them) include:

• botheration – c. 1835
• by gum – c. 1825
• cheeky – c. 1830
• cheerio – c. 1910
• confound it – c. 1850
• darned - c. 1815
• drat – c. 1815
• fancy that – c. 1834
• frightfully – c. 1830
• (all) right – c. 1837
• right you are – c. 1865
• smashing – c. 1850

But, when frustrated, as I am at the moment, she could have said any of these (and the year they made their appearance):

• bah --c. 1600
• balderdash – c.1675
• barmy -- c. 1600
• beastly – c. 1200
• blasted – (damned) c. 1600
• by (Saint) George – c. 1719, by Jove – c. 1570
• by the bye – c. 18th C.
• criminy - c. 1700
• daft – c. 1450
• damn- c.1300's but avoided in print until 1930's
• damnation
  - c.1300's but avoided in print until 1930's
• dang -- c. 1790
• darn - c. 1790
• deuced (damned) -- c. 1785
• devilish – c. 1450
• devil of a... – c. 1750
• dickens (What the dickens?) - late 1600
• egad -- c. 1675
• fiddle-de-dee - c. 1785
• fiddle faddle – from 18th C.
• fiddlesticks – from 17th C.
• fudge- from the 1610
• gads -- from 17th C.
• gadzooks -- c. 1655
• ghastly – c. 1325
• golly - c. 1775
• good gracious – from 18th C.
• goodness! – mid 19th C.
• gosh - c. 1760
• go to the devil – from 14th C.
• gracious – from 18th C., gracious me – from 19th
• hocus pocus from 1620
• I say – from 17th C.
• la – from 16th C.
• lo and behold -- by 1810
• Nation: abbreviation of damnation--by 19th C.
• oh! - c. 1550, oh-oh -- c. 173
• pah -- c. 1600
• pish -- c. 1595
• pooh -- c. 1600
• poop- c. 1744
• pshaw -- c. 167
• rot it – 17th -- 18th C.
• rubbish -- c. 1630
• son of a (female dog)--c 1707
• son of a gun -- c. 1710
• tosh - (nonsense) c. 1530
• What (how) the devil – from 17th C.
• zooks - c. 1635
• zounds - c. 1600

What a beastly lot of devilish rubbish it is to care whether or not she could have said any of these phrases.

Confound it all!  

Resources:
Dictionary.com
English Through the Ages, by William Brohaugh, Writer’s Digest Books, 1998
Etymology of Expressions compiled by Joanna Waugh http://www.joannawaugh.com/Expressions.html
Etymology Online http://www.etymonline.com/
 
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 Maria Grace is the author of Darcy's Decision,  The Future Mrs. Darcy and All the Appearance of Goodness.  Click here to find her books on Amazon. For more on her writing and other Random Bits of Fascination, visit her website. You can also like her on Facebook, follow on Twitter or email her.