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Aug 2, 2024
This week’s theme
Minced oaths

This week’s words
gee-whiz
sacre bleu
tarnation
ballyhack
gorblimey

gorblimey
Illustration: Anu Garg + AI

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Loanwords and loan translations
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A.Word.A.Day
with Anu Garg

gorblimey

PRONUNCIATION:
(gor-BLY-mee)

MEANING:
interjection: An expression of surprise, dismay, etc.

ETYMOLOGY:
A contraction of “God blind me”. Earliest documented use: 1896. Also used in the form corblimey and blimey.

USAGE:
“Gorblimey! Will you look at this!”
Karla Hocker; A Deceitful Heart; Zebra Books; 1993.

A THOUGHT FOR TODAY:
I love America more than any other country in this world, and, exactly for this reason, I insist on the right to criticize her perpetually. -James Baldwin, writer (2 Aug 1924-1987)

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