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stranger
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OP
stranger
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I would like to know the origins and meaning of "Heavens to Betsy".
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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One suspects a bowdlerized version on "hell's bells."
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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I'd also like to know.
~Betsy
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veteran
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There is a fine book called Heavens to Betsy: and Other Curious Sayings by Charles Earle Funk, editor-in-chief of Funk & Wagnell's Standard Dictionary Series. (He also wrote three other volumes: A Hog on Ice, Thereby Hangs a Tale, and Horsefeathers.) Funk write for just under two pages in his introduction to his book about the origin and ultimate meaning of heavens to Betsy, "however, despite exhaustive research, I am reluctantly forced to resort to the familiar lexicographical locution, 'Source unknown'." His books are still in print or can usually be found, as a set, in used book stores. They date from the late 40s to early 50s.
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veteran
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The last sentence in the paragraph on your URL was:
Unless someone reading this knows different?
How many among you would write:
Unless someone reading this knows differently?
I would use the latter both in writing and in speaking, though I think it more important to write it correctly.
TEd
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journeyman
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journeyman
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Sorry, Oliveroma, I don't know the origin of the expression either, but your question inspired me to write a toast for Faldage to use when his friends gather to celebrate the anniversary of Annastrophic's birthday ... Faldage: (raising glass,) To Heaven with Betsy
(pause) To Hell with Bush.
This toast will likely be apt for the next four years 
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Carpal Tunnel
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The Canon to the Ordinary of the (Episcopal) Diocese of Olympia (Western Washington) is named Betsy. The former (now retired) bishop thought it immensely entertaining to occasionally exclaim "Heavens to Betsy" within her hearing. It was probably funny the first time.
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veteran
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I would use the latter both in writing and in speaking, though I think it more important to write it correctly.
Why don't you send Mr Quinion an email informing him of his solecism. I'd like to see what his reply would be.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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> I'd like to see what his reply would be.
Assuming he provides one. Unless it's just that I have gift for inducing unresponsiveness from wordsmiths.
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Carpal Tunnel
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I was more interested in the thoughts among my peer group, not hoi polloi.
Just kidding!
TEd
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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One might surmise that somewhere back in the Middle Ages, or earlier, some young lady named Betsy, or Murgatroyd, was acting rather naughty, and the fine puritan-thinking minds of the times were wishing her "Heavens."
Then, again, one mayn't think that, who knows?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Unless someone reading this knows differently?
Ted, I think we share the same curse: I read the entry and, with that adjective reverberating in my brain, found your same complaint in the very next post!
Um--isn't Quinion British? Maybe that explains it. (heh)
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Carpal Tunnel
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Unless someone reading this knows different?
Unless someone reading this knows differently?
I would use the latter both in writing and in speaking, though I think it more important to write it correctly.
Whose Rule is that? If it sounds awkward, rephrase it.
"Does anyone reading this know otherwise?"
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veteran
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Whose Rule is that?
The problem is, I believe, an old one. Adverbs, in present-day English, mostly end in -ly, but they are also sometimes adjectives (cf. alone as in "I studied Japanese alone rather than at school") and sometimes phrases. Cf. quick ~ quickly, but fast. There was a popular ad campaign recently that encourage its readers to "think different." Many were troubled by this and admonished "think differently." It's compounded by an ancient tendency in Germanic languages that allows underived (morphologically) adjectives to be used adverbially: e.g., German schlaf gut 'sleep well'.
I'm not using these as excuses. I, too, would probably write and say "If anybody else knows differently." But I can understand why folks might get confused.
Refactoring a written or spoken sentence is always a good idea. When in doubt, edit. And editing involves more than lexical choice.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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The only way I can construct a sentence in which 'to know different' is understandable to me is if there is a deep construction in which the word 'something' [something] is understood:
Example: John earnestly wished he could go to the game. If anyone knows [something] different, please tell us before we buy him a surprise ticket.
The construction above sounds casual rather than formal, but I can see how that use of 'different' with 'knows' would be understood.
I myself would write all of the above, but with 'differently' simply because the adverbial form feels more natural to my ear. In other words, I expect to hear '-ly' in that construction.
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enthusiast
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Carpal Tunnel
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Think Positive  Now--can anyone think of an example where 'ringed' is appropriate?
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Carpal Tunnel
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can anyone think of an example where 'ringed' is appropriate?
How about describing brids [sic], for example, like a black-ringed plover (not sure if such a bird exists, but you know what I mean, a bird with a ring of contrasting color around its neck).
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Carpal Tunnel
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>>black-ringed plover (not sure if such a bird exists...If it doesn't, it darn well should. It sounds so real. You just know that they summer in the cliffs on the shores of Newfoundland. They migrate South starting in October and migrate back in the spring to nest. Each mating pair has only one hatchling. The parents take turns keeping the hatchling warm while the other fishes for food. The hatchlings are a dull grey colour, a good camouflage against the grey of the cliffs, and develop their unique black ringed neck only when they are old enough to mate.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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The females and immature birds are often mistaken for their slightly smaller cousins the drab-coated plovers. but may be distinguished by their distictive cry of "keen-wit, kee-keen-wit". 
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stranger
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stranger
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It depends on whether one wants the state (adjective) or the manner (adverb). Either would work.
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stranger
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Carpal Tunnel
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Greetings, lysdexia (great name!!) and welcome. What posts do your two refer to?
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Carpal Tunnel
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AS:
What posts do your two refer to?
jheem:
There is a fine book called Heavens to Betsy: and Other Curious Sayings by Charles Earle Funk, editor-in-chief of Funk & Wagnell's Standard Dictionary Series.
lysdexia:
Wagnall's
TEd:
Unless someone reading this knows different?
How many among you would write:
Unless someone reading this knows differently?
lysdexia:
It depends on whether one wants the state (adjective) or the manner (adverb)
I see that I never weighed in on the different/differently question. I would say that, unless the manner in which one was thinking was different that different should be taken as an adjectival noun and could be read as an ellision of Unless someone reading this knows something different.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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could be read as an ellision of Unless someone reading this knows something..
or
could be read as an elision of Unless someone reading this knows something..
I think I would write the latter unless my referent was philologist Alexander J. Ellis's extremely stultifying, but trite, review of Unless someone reading this knows something...
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member
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Here's a thought from a site called Tacky Lumberjack Art:
"Forgotten Beatitude: Blessed is Betsy Murgatroyd, for she will inherit the heavens."
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