What does "Eegad!" mean?

[Henrik Bergström]

From time to time I see the word "Eegad!" (always with an exlcamation
mark) in magazines, on web-pages etc. I suspect this is some kind of
"modern" word, perhaps belonging to teen-culture or something
similar. Since I don't live in either Great Britain or the USA and
thus is not part of the culture, it's hard to find out what it means
though. Can anybody here please shed some light on the matter?

/Henrik

[Tabbie]

It is a non-blasphemious way to make the exclamation "Oh god"

Henrik Bergström wrote in message <35b0964e...@nntpserver.swip.net>...

[joy beeson]

he...@celsiustech.se (Henrik Bergström) wrote:

>From time to time I see the word "Eegad!" (always with an exlcamation
>mark) in magazines, on web-pages etc.

It's an emphatic form of "egad".

Joy Beeson
mail to : j beeson at global two thousand dot net

[JUST AN H]

"Egad!" is a mild expletive which, from what I gather, enjoyed its heyday from
late in the last century up through the end of the Edwardian Era. That, along
with its equivalent, "Zounds!" are thoroughly British.

Modern equivalents in the U.S. are "My God!" "Drat!" and "Say what?"

[Alex R. Cohen]

JUST AN H wrote in message
<199807182137...@ladder03.news.aol.com>...

>Modern equivalents in the U.S. are "My God!" "Drat!" and "Say what?"

Say what?

"Egad" sounds to me like "ye gods," and "My God" and "Drat" seem equivalent
for the purpose, as does "Darn." "Say what," however, is used with a
question mark. It means "What did you say?" with connotations of "I can't
(or don't wish to) believe you said that."

-Alex R. Cohen

[Stephen Wilson]

JUST AN H wrote:
>
> "Egad!" is a mild expletive which, from what I gather, enjoyed its heyday from
> late in the last century up through the end of the Edwardian Era. That, along
> with its equivalent, "Zounds!" are thoroughly British.

I'd guess that "egad" goes back to Elizabethan times, but I haven't been
able to find it in Shakespeare. Both "Zounds" and "Gadzooks" go back
that far, and were very strong oaths. "Zounds" is a corruption of "God's
Wounds," and "Gadzooks" is a corruption of "God's Hooks." They refer to
the crucified Lord's bloody wounds and hands. It's the "gad" in both
"gadzooks" and "egad" that convinces me that they are of similar age. I
wonder whether "egad" comes from the oath "By God" rather than "Ye Gods"
or "Oh God." The other expressions are oaths in which the speaker swears
by something holy. Has anyone heard or seen "begad?"

Steve

[murr...@compmore.net]

In article <35b0964e...@nntpserver.swip.net>,

he...@celsiustech.se wrote:
> From time to time I see the word "Eegad!" (always with an exlcamation

> mark) in magazines, on web-pages etc. I suspect this is some kind of
> "modern" word, perhaps belonging to teen-culture or something
> similar. Since I don't live in either Great Britain or the USA and
> thus is not part of the culture, it's hard to find out what it means
> though. Can anybody here please shed some light on the matter?
>
> /Henrik
>
>

Egad is a mild oath or an expression of surprise.

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[CaseyKCKC]

>"Egad!" is a mild expletive which, from what I gather, enjoyed its heyday
>from
>late in the last century up through the end of the Edwardian Era. That,
>along
>with its equivalent, "Zounds!" are thoroughly British.

Not to quibble (which means I'm about to...), but I've heard Americans
(old-fashioned ones, such as my father, born in 1918) use "egad," so I'm not
sure I would describe it as "thoroughly" British, even though I'm sure it is,
and was, more common in Britain than in the U.S.

Karen

[Pk2222]

Comes from an old English version of "Ye Gods"....making it originally British,
but imported here for common use.

pk

[Sam Brookes]

In article <199808042053...@ladder03.news.aol.com>, Pk2222
<pk2...@aol.com> writes

>Comes from an old English version of "Ye Gods"....making it originally British,
>but imported here for common use.

In this great wide wonderful world where is _here_ please.
--
Sam Brookes in southern England

[Pk2222]

I humbly beg your pardon!

I meant "here" as in "in this time and on this planet."

pk

[Murray White]

Pk2222 wrote in message
<199808042053...@ladder03.news.aol.com>...

>Comes from an old English version of "Ye Gods"...

& meaning something like "gadzooks" I'm sure <g>

Murray White APPO MPA
wedding photographer/knife collector
ICQ UIN 660718
Deja Moo--or where have I heard all this bull before?

[mgmerr...@gmail.com]

On Saturday, 18 July 1998 08:00:00 UTC+1, Henrik Bergström wrote:
> From time to time I see the word "Eegad!" (always with an exlcamation
> mark) in magazines, on web-pages etc. I suspect this is some kind of
> "modern" word, perhaps belonging to teen-culture or something
> similar. Since I don't live in either Great Britain or the USA and
> thus is not part of the culture, it's hard to find out what it means
> though. Can anybody here please shed some light on the matter?
>
> /Henrik

I had occasion to use this word today. Seeing a picture of the newest RAF fighter plane flying past a poster advertising the Royal Air Force I was moved to exclaim "Eegad, got me feeling all patriotic!". There was an element of deliberately using an archaic term as one's meaning was to echo a feeling of the 1930's and the annual RAF air display at Hendon.

[Peter Duncanson [BrE]]

Just in case no one has answered Henrik Bergström's question in the 18
years since he asked it: "Egad!" probably comes from "A God!". It's been
around for a few years in various versions:

1673 R. Leigh Transproser Rehears'd 4 Which is very civil I gad.
1791 ‘G. Gambado’ Ann. Horsemanship xviii. 80 Egod, off we set,
and never stopt till I got to the bottom.
1823 Byron Island ii. xxi. 44 Egad, she seemed a wicked-looking
craft.

Today "OMG" (spoken Oh Emm Gee) might be used instead, although I think
"OMG" has a broader set of uses. "OMG" can be much stronger than "Egad"

--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.english.usage)

[Whiskers]

Use of 'egad' seems to call for a monocle to be dropped or a cigar to be
bitten through.


--
-- ^^^^^^^^^^
-- Whiskers
-- ~~~~~~~~~~

[Dennis Davis]

In article <8b21628d-d7ab-4832...@googlegroups.com>,

<mgmerr...@gmail.com> wrote:
>On Saturday, 18 July 1998 08:00:00 UTC+1, Henrik Bergström wrote:
>> From time to time I see the word "Eegad!" (always with an
>> exlcamation mark) in magazines, on web-pages etc. I suspect this
>> is some kind of "modern" word, perhaps belonging to teen-culture
>> or something similar. Since I don't live in either Great Britain
>> or the USA and thus is not part of the culture, it's hard to find
>> out what it means though. Can anybody here please shed some light
>> on the matter?
>

>I had occasion to use this word today. Seeing a picture of the
>newest RAF fighter plane flying past a poster advertising the
>Royal Air Force I was moved to exclaim "Eegad, got me feeling all
>patriotic!".

...

If, as I suspect, that's the F-35B, there's little to be patriotic
about. That's a Lockheed Martin F-35B II[1], made in the USA and
painted up in RAF livery. Strict US ITAR (International Traffic
in Arms Regulations) mean that it has to be repaired by American
technicians and shipped back to the States for serious repairs. The
fighter will also cost more after the fall in the pound after the
brexit vote.

...yes, I know this nothing to do with the explanation of "Eegad".
Apologies for that.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lockheed_Martin_F-35_Lightning_II
--
Dennis Davis <denni...@fastmail.fm>

[Hen Hanna]

On Sunday, July 10, 2016 at 8:47:13 AM UTC-7, Peter Duncanson [BrE] wrote:

On Tuesday, August 4, 1998 at 12:00:00 AM UTC-7, Pk2222 wrote:
> Comes from an old English version of "Ye Gods"....making it originally British,

> but imported here for common use. pk


"Ye Gods" -- sounds like ... right out of old Greek plays. HH

[Dan S. MacAbre]

There is also Gads! and Gadzooks! Encountered maybe once or twice in a
lifetime :-)