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Fwd: thank heavens
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At 09:34 AM 9/16/04 -0700, you wrote:
>I am still puzzled by "thank heavens." I understand the idiom is originally
>"thank heaven," but is it wrong as "to make a story short" is? Some English
>dictionaries give "thank heaven(s)." Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced
>Learners and Longman Advanced American Dictionary (probably more) contain
>"thank God, heavens, goodness," omitting "thank heaven." Does "thank
>heavens" sound strange to most native speakers of English?
> > on chapter 13
> > 45 - "My former stepfather, thank Heavens" Julia is parodying R., "who
> > had an exasperating way not only of trotting out hackneyed formulas in his
> > would-be colloquial thickly accented English, but also of getting them
> > wrong)"
Editor Don finds "thank heavens" more natural. With that and your
dictionary backing, I think that it is certainly not wrong or unidiomatic.
To me, "thank heaven" sounds more natural, but without the "thank",
"heavens" sounds more natural. E.g., "Heavens! I didn't watch the time!" or
"Good heavens! What happened?" I don't know why Julia used that particular
expression, but I doubt that she intended to parody R. Who's reporting
this? R? Could he mishear? It's hard for me to judge how all-knowing the
spirits are.
Mary Krimmel
----- End forwarded message -----
>I am still puzzled by "thank heavens." I understand the idiom is originally
>"thank heaven," but is it wrong as "to make a story short" is? Some English
>dictionaries give "thank heaven(s)." Cobuild English Dictionary for Advanced
>Learners and Longman Advanced American Dictionary (probably more) contain
>"thank God, heavens, goodness," omitting "thank heaven." Does "thank
>heavens" sound strange to most native speakers of English?
> > on chapter 13
> > 45 - "My former stepfather, thank Heavens" Julia is parodying R., "who
> > had an exasperating way not only of trotting out hackneyed formulas in his
> > would-be colloquial thickly accented English, but also of getting them
> > wrong)"
Editor Don finds "thank heavens" more natural. With that and your
dictionary backing, I think that it is certainly not wrong or unidiomatic.
To me, "thank heaven" sounds more natural, but without the "thank",
"heavens" sounds more natural. E.g., "Heavens! I didn't watch the time!" or
"Good heavens! What happened?" I don't know why Julia used that particular
expression, but I doubt that she intended to parody R. Who's reporting
this? R? Could he mishear? It's hard for me to judge how all-knowing the
spirits are.
Mary Krimmel
----- End forwarded message -----