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sionnach commented on the word gordon bennett
Exclamation of shock or surprise, and a mild expletive - while reliable sources suggest the expression is 20th century the earliest possible usage of this expression could be in the USA some time after 1835, when James Gordon Bennett (1795-1872 - Partridge says 1892) founded and then edited the New York Herald until 1867. Known as Gordon Bennett, he was a famous newspaper innovator; the first to use European correspondents for example. Perhaps more significantly Bennett's son (1841-1918) of the same name took over the role (presumably 1867), and achieved great international fame particularly by association with Henry Stanley's expedition of 1874-77 to find the 'lost' explorer David Livingstone in central Africa, which Gordon Bennett (the younger) instigated and financed alongside the UK Daily Telegraph. Like many other polite expletives - and this is really the most interesting aspect of the saying's origins - the expression Gordon Bennett is actually a euphemism (polite substitute) for a blasphemous alternative, in this case offering an appealing replacement for Cor Blimey or Gawd Blimey (God blind me), but generally used as a euphemistic alternative to any similar oath, such as God in Heaven, God Above, etc.
From the word origins page at www.businessballs.com
July 15, 2008
johnmperry commented on the word gordon bennett
Gordon Bennett also instituted a series of sporting events to promote his newspapers. In particular a series of balloon races. The race of 1923 ended in disaster, with 5 of 17 competitors dead from wind, rain or high-altitude snow.
http://www.vectorsite.net/avbloon_2.html
July 15, 2008
chained_bear commented on the word gordon bennett
Oh dude. Epic fail.
July 15, 2008