When people say "For Pete's sake" and "Oh, for the love of...", who is Pete?

In response to last week’s question, " When people say "For Pete's sake" and "Oh, for the love of...", who is Pete? ", my punny writing and sailing friend Rich concluded that Pete was "a saint of a man who was a pumpkin eater with marital problems, and who had a principle and rabbit named after him. In his spare time he played guitar for the Who. Really, he was a Great one." However, my Parrothead friend Sam thought it "is the unnamed poor schlub that people pass in the street... Definitely not Black Pete of Mickey Mouse fame." My sailing friend Kate understands it is "some fisherman from Galilee whose name used to be Simon" while my cycling friend Ted explained that " this comes from "The Little Rascals" when Spanky was referring to his lovable pit bull Petey." Then my friend Swany declared that it is " Pete Rose. Mr. Baseball. Johnny Hustle. Most hits by anyone, ever. Banned for life. For Pete’s sake…."

This led my sailing friend Kurt to write, "You will need to narrow this one some. Being from NY, I know a lot of Petes. There is Big Petey, Little Petey..."

My dad's beach buddy Bob observed "Women say things like that. The full name is "Salt Peter". To this, my friend Richard "was going to say it's short for "saltpeter," but based upon world events (including the Gulf of Mexico), I'll say it's the abridged version of "petroleum."

"Every (good or bad) catholic knows that "for Pete's sake" is a reference to St. Peter," wrote my friend Mark. "I learned in the 1st grade from Sister Mary Charles (never got the "Charles"). My knuckles still ache from her acumen with a ruler." My former Valley colleague Larry added, "You can’t say for the love of God, God has too much power. Remember what happened during Noah’s time – global destruction. Same with Jesus & the Holy Spirit. St. Peter is about as high up as you want to go when saying an expletive." In agreeing, my cousin Wes then added, "for many Christians, Pete stands at the door of the Pearly Gates so they want to be get on his good side."

My neighbor Al expounded on this concept, writing that "these hail from a time when those phrases were considered blasphemous. Nowadays phrases like "for the love of God" and "for Christ's sake" are commonly used while the euphemisms are still used." And then Al noted, " it's a lot politer and easier than saying "...god damn mother f--cker!"


For a complete history, my friend Bruce summarizes what he recalled from the History Channel (bottom of this email). Or consider that my friend Chris explained that "very few know he was an immigrant farmer who migrated from Alsace Lorraine on the border of France and Germany around the turn of the 20th century. His full name was Peter Klinkenburg Alowishisalot and he settled in lower Manhattan where he became a prominent butcher. Frustrated at the meat market trade as well as the daily grind, he would constantly shout obscenities and his wife Betsy would correct him to be more proper. They had a daughter named Louise, who would correct him as she did not want Peter to turn away possible suitors with his blasphemy. The customers so enjoyed the spectacles that the family displayed constantly that they started using the phrases themselves in social conjecture which became popular of course, as most do. This led to the "Pete" statements as well as "Jeezle Petes'!" and "Jeez Louise!" and "Heavens to Betsy" Of course I could be completely wrong and have no idea whatsoever but for Pete's sake give me a break!

My sailing friend Jodie agreed with "Heavens to Betsy!" while my sailing Kurt cautioned, "I'm just glad my name is not Will as in "fire at…"


My college roomie John advices, " Pete is that person who is into everyone's business. We do these things "for Pete's sake" and we care enough to think about him/her "for the love of Pete"! We can't please everyone, so remember to try to please yourself!"


Please share your thoughts about "things that make you go 'Hmmm' ”  aka ponderables:


     If people bug other people,
     then what does a bug do to annoy another bug?


Live well...laugh often and heartily…. have a good week and never regret anything that made you smile!


Hal

My friend Bruce, after much research, explained that "Centuries ago in Roman times, there was a pain-in-the-*** jock student named Pete. The nerdy kids couldn’t stand Pete who would blow milk through his nose or expel gas in the Roman baths. When Pete ran for student council president, a nerd campaign used protest signs to forsake Pete.
However, the signs displayed the word “Forsake” with a picture of Pete in the middle of the word. Other students misinterpret the signs thinking it meant “For-Pete-Sake” meaning to vote for Pete’s sake or interests.
As a result, Pete was voted student council president and introduced gummy worms on the cafeteria menu. Kids would exclaim, “Oh, for the love of gummy worms!” The nerds couldn’t stand the other students going on about, “Oh, for the love of this and that and this…blah blah blah.” The nerds would then roll their eyes and mutter, “Can you believe they thought the signs said for Pete’s sake?” To this day, we roll our eyes “Oh, for the love of…” for Pete’s sake."