Gee whillikers

I was amused, after writing an email this morning, that my spell-checker didn't recognize the expression "Gee whillikers," which is used like "Gee whiz," but has more of an "old coot" flavor. It reminded me that young people don't know everything!

Pittsburgh Pat

People have lost the ability to cuss creatively. Pity.

GOLLY GEE WHILLIKENS -- "Golly" dates back to 1743 in England. "Gee whillikens" back to 1857. I Hear America Talking: An Illustrated History of American Words and Phrases by Stuart Berg Flexner (Von Nostrand Reinhold Co., New York, 1976). This substitution of a G-word for God follows ".the old Hebraic and Middle English tradition of avoiding the sacred words, such as God, by substituting words with the same initial letter." A Minced oath. Other sources have some variations: Jewillikin ; gee whiz ; gee whitaker . From Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).