When it issue forth to devising ways to convey outrage or foiling without injure any finespun and/or pious ears , human creativeness knows no bounds . There’s30 Rock ’s “ Blurgh,”Castle ’s “ exclude the front doorway , ” and otherfictional TV curses . There are also countlesshistorical cursesthat we should definitely bring back , from “ Bejabbers ! ” to “ By St. Boogar and all the angel at the backside room access of purgatory ! ”
compare to those coloured examples , for Pete ’s sake — a milder version offor God ’s sakeorfor Christ ’s sakethat does n’t violate any of the Ten Commandments — sound a fiddling slow . But it does carry a sure element of mystery : Who the heck is Pete ?
consort to theOxford English Dictionary , the first publish instance offor Pete ’s sakeis from 1903 , withfor the love of Peteappearing around the same time . By that point , as NPR ’s Michigan Radioreports , for the love of Mikehad already been in the English vocabulary . SinceMikeis thought to have been a nod to St. Michael — and the phrases understandably have a religious connection — some have suggested that the mononymous Pete is really St. Peter .
But without any actual evidence to endure that close , it ’s also potential that Pete was n’t a person at all . For compassion ’s sakehas been around since the seventeenth century ; and its forerunner , for pity , dates all the way back to the fifteenth century . As Michael Quinion direct out on hisWorld extensive dustup blog , clever cursers may have shape byPetesounding likepity . Pete ’s sakesounds even more likepeace sake — a musical phrase that bolt down up at various metre over the one C .
In short , we ca n’t be sure who Pete was , if he was anyone . So feel free to nibble your favored Pete and dedicate your execration to him .
A version of this story ran in 2021 ; it has been updated for 2023 .
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