Dear
Bill:
Do
you know where the saying, 'Oh for the love of Mike' comes from?
Someone I know remembers it as a child in Edmonton in the Thirties,
where he thought it was related to Mike's Newsstand (The Sponsor
of a Boys' Band in Edmonton for decades and the local bookie). I
remember hearing it when I came to Canada in the Fifties in either
Toronto or Vancouver.
Enjoy your books!
Cheers,
A reader in British Columbia
"For the love of Mike."
In word study this kind of phrase is called a minced oath.
To mince your words means 'to choose words so as not to offend anyone.'
This particular expression began as a substitute for an outcry of
surprise or anger, namely, "for the love of God!" But
the speaker decided that using God's name in this way was blasphemous
and therefore decided to substitute something else for the word God.
In this case, St. Michael.
The phrase began as "for the love of Michael."
It was a soldier's mild curse. St. Michael is the patron saint of
warriors and soldiers and he looks after them on the battlefield.
St. Michael the Archangel is the chief of the heavenly host, the
celestial army that defends the Church. He fights the rebel angels
and the dragon of Revelations. He is patron saint of knights and
of all trades allied to the production of weapons and scales.
Indeed,
the word archangel in its original Greek means literally
'chief' (Greek, arkhos) + 'angel' (Greek, aggelos
literally 'messenger' of God). In later ecclesiastical Greek the
two roots meld to form arkhaggelos 'angel of the highest
order.'
Note
that in the currently accepted transliteration of ancient Greek
the digraph gg stands for a nasalized syllable, so that
aggelos would be pronounced approximately like anglos
with a hard g. In precise and fussy enunciation the e would be sounded
too.
The expression "for the love of Mike" is not Canadian
and is probably 600 to 800 years old!
Believe me, it did NOT originate at Mike the Bookie's Newsstand
in Edmonton. I don't believe the newsstand would have been operating
600 years ago. That would make Mike one hell of an old bookie. I
mean, Jeepers Creepers, Shakespeare himself could have been into
Mike for a couple of Gs.
A few more examples of "minced oaths" will make clear
the kind of linguistic substitution taking place here. "Jeepers
Creepers!" is a minced version of "Jesus Christ!"
Other minced versions of Jesus' name include "Jiminy Cricket!"
Yes, the Walt Disney animators were drew the little character in
Pinocchio, the cricket who sings "When You Wish upon a Star,"
were using a bit of an in-joke curse when they named the character.
Or perhaps they were not aware of the origin of the character's
name? They certainly did not invent it in the 1930s or 1940s since
"Jiminy Cricket!" as a minced oath is in print in the
United States by 1918.
Other kinds of minced oaths evolved too. In Shakespeare's time,
if you smashed a hammer into your thumb, you might cry out, "God's
wounds!." This could be minced as "Zounds!" That
oath became quite popular among the Elizabethans and appears in
several Shakespearean plays.
If
anyone has other cogent origins of the phrase "for the love
of Mike," please email them to me and I'll share them with
visitors.
Thanks!
Bill
Casselman
This
view of the Archangel Michael in Italian High Renaissance pose
depicts him subduing Satan in a 1518 painting by Raffaello Sanzi
called Raphael (1483-1520).
Here
is a typical prayer to Saint Michael in his traditional role as
defensor militis, 'protector of the soldier.'
Saint
Michael the Archangel, defend us in battle. Be our protection
against the wickedness and snares of the devil; may God rebuke
him, we humbly pray. O Prince of the heavenly host, by the power
of God, thrust into hell Satan and all the evil spirits who wander
through the world for ruin of souls. Amen.
© 2012 copyright William Gordon Casselman
Reviews of my Book
Click bookcover for preview
A Great New Review of My Latest Book!
October 26, 2011
Welcome to the Enchanted Forest
By WB Johnston
This review is about Bill Casselman’s latest e-book about words: Where a Dobdob Meets a Dikdik: A Word Lover’s Guide to the Weirdest, Wackiest, and Wonkiest Lexical Gems (Kindle Edition)
“Wade Davis, lately of National Geographic, once described each living language as “an old-growth forest of the human spirit.” Once you decide to enter the kleptomaniacal woods of our mother tongue, what you need is more than a tour guide. This is no Disney-fied ‘keep-your-hands-inside-the-car-at all-times’, point A to point B, clear-cutting mining of language. You, here, are in the hands of Sir William of Cassel, a genuine shaman modestly posing as a simple lover of words.
In the best of the spiritual tradition, Bill is the shape-shifter who constantly leads you to all the places you need to find in your soul. Every page is a new country, an invitation to an excursion into the wonderland of rich connections with the myriad of sources of what so often we unthinkingly wield as a prosaic tool.
Pay absolutely no attention to anyone who tells you that this book is anything but pure gold. It’s simply not true, sadly, that all the world loves a lover. Particularly someone whose love is so boundless.
But Sir William is fearless. You don’t earn your keep as a medicine man if you have a thin skin. While I cannot for the life of me understand how anyone could walk away from this book unmoved by its wit, its wisdom and the beautiful transparency by which the author celebrates the glorious romp of our almost unlimited linguistic exuberance, I have to sadly conclude that once in a while, you do meet someone who can’t see the forest for the trees, eh?
Read this book. Leave it on the sofa instead of the $%#!*$% TV remote. Maybe someone you care about will pick it up, even just for a moment, and fall in love with their heritage?
Leave it on your desk at work and trust that someone will riffle through it when you are out at lunch. Shamans are magicians of the highest order. The work of their hands and hearts is game-changing. Or, hey, put it on your Kindle and just feel comforted that you can wander back out into the forest with Bill even in the middle of a boring lecture.
Enjoy.”
(Casselman replies: Thank you so much, Dr. J., for the kudos.)
**********************
Jenni French of San Francisco, California writes on her blog “My Corner of the Universe” for March 19, 2011:
Casselman, Bill. Where a Dobdob Meets a Dikdik: A World Lover’s Guide to the Weirdest, Wackiest, and Wonkiest Lexical Gems. Avon, MA: Adams Media, 2010.
“I admit it: I’m a word nerd. I love words: weird words, long words, obscure words, funny words. This book is right up my alley. With chapters like “Nautical Words,” “Creepy Words,” and “Edible Words,” I have enjoyed every page of this book.
And the author has quite a way with words, so I have found myself rereading many sentences in this book and slowing my progress through it.
My current favorite sentence is found in a discussion of dog hybrid breed names: “What a revolting concatenation of cutesiness and smarmy nomenclatorial treacle parading under the name of canine hybrid breed names” (19).
I’m sure I’ll have another favorite sentence in a day or two.
This book is just that good and just that entertaining.”
(Author Bill Casselman replies: “Thanks, Jenni!” )
Just a reminder that this book contains my ALL-NEW word essays, none of which are available anywhere else in print or online.
***********************
Cindy Lapeña on her blog “Creativity Unlimited” of July 19 ,2011, writes:
Posted by mimrlith in 365 Things to Look Forward to.
Tags: 365 things to look forward to, books, reading
19. Starting a book
To a certified bibliophile like me, a.k.a. bookworm, one of the most exciting things to look forward to is to start reading a new book. In fact, sometimes the prospect of starting to read a new book is so exciting that I have to hurry to finish the book I am currently reading, just so I can start a new one.
If there’s one thing I can’t resist, it’s a book, especially if it promises to be a good one. Of course there are certain books I just won’t touch or be seen with, but at the risk of being hung by my thumbs by fans of such literature, I will not mention any genres in particular. . .
Seeing a book with a title that totally captivates me, like Where a Dobdob meets a Dikdik (yes, that is a book title!) has me so worked up, I just can’t wait to dive in. I imagine all sorts of deliciously fancifully outrageous words with a title like that. Is it obvious? I just love books on words. You won’t believe how many dictionaries I own. Or books on lexical oddities and other lexical explorations. Yes, I am a logophile of sorts. I love the new words I pick up from new books. I relish finding out the meanings of all manner of words and phrases and expressions. What could be more fun?”
(Replies author Bill Casselman: Please scroll to bottom of page or click here to link to a free seven-page preview of my book, Where a Dobdob Meets a Dikdik.
***********************
Testimonial Email
Thursday, February 3, 2011
Dear Mr. Casselman,
A search for the origins of an improbable-looking word, paraprosdokian, led me to the first piece of your prose I have had the pleasure of reading, “The Bogus Word Paraprosdokian & Lazy Con Artists of Academe.” I have just placed an order for Where a Dobdob Meets a Dikdik, Canadian Words & Sayings, and As The Canoe Tips, and will add more of your titles as I finish these.
I have just retired from a 40-plus year career in book publishing, the last thirty years spent as director/editor of a number of university presses, attempting to sort the genuine writers from the “Lazy Con Artists of Academe.” Sad to say, the latter have so over-bred the former that I could no longer see the rare gem in the avalanches of offal that daily swamped my office and desk. I visited your website and spent far too long there; it was a pleasure to meet a real writer through his work.
. . . I revisited the paraprosdokian page, and have finally quit laughing again at “Casselman’s Conclusion.” You were not unkind to the “profligate prof-lets.” During my years as an acquisitions editor, in rejection letters I often quoted Prof. Moses Hadas, classicist at Columbia University, who wrote a young scholar in response to having been sent the prof-let’s first book, “Thank you for sending me your book. I will waste no time reading it.”
I know I will enjoy your books. Keep up the good work.
Thank you,
Luther Wilson
Director (Retired)
University of New Mexico Press, among others
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