Late Elizabethan drama contains a profusion of minced oaths, probably due to Puritan opposition to swearing. Seven new minced oaths are first recorded between 1598 and 1602, including ‘sblood for By God’s blood from Shakespeare, ‘slight for God’s light from Ben Jonson, and ‘snails for By God’s nails from the historian John Hayward. Swearing on stage was officially banned by the Act to Restraine Abuses of Players in 1606, and a general ban on swearing followed in 1623.
In some cases the original meanings of these minced oaths were forgotten; ‘struth (By God’s truth) came to be spelled ‘strewth and zounds changed pronunciation so that it no longer sounded like By God’s wounds. Other examples from this period include ‘slid for “By God’s eyelid” (1598) and sfoot for “By God’s foot” (1602). Gadzooks for “by God’s hooks” (the nails on Christ’s cross) followed in the 1650s, egad for oh God in the late 17th century, and ods bodikins for “by God’s little body” in 1709. This is similar to the use popularized in the 1950s of gee whiz as an oath for Jesus’ wisdom.
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