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Re: Fwd: thank heavens
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This is all very interesting. "thank heaven" sounds very stilted,
"thank heavens" very natural... to me
--On Thursday, September 16, 2004 8:27 PM -0700 "Donald B. Johnson"
<chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu> wrote:
> 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 -----
---------------------------------------
Stringer-Hye, Suellen
Vanderbilt University
Email: suellen.stringer-hye@Vanderbilt.Edu
----- End forwarded message -----
"thank heavens" very natural... to me
--On Thursday, September 16, 2004 8:27 PM -0700 "Donald B. Johnson"
<chtodel@gss.ucsb.edu> wrote:
> 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 -----
---------------------------------------
Stringer-Hye, Suellen
Vanderbilt University
Email: suellen.stringer-hye@Vanderbilt.Edu
----- End forwarded message -----