Great Scott
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- For the Massachusetts music venue, see Great Scott (club).
Great Scott! is an exclamation of surprise or amazement.
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[edit] Possible origins
The expression dates back at least to the American Civil War, and may refer to a real person, the one-time commander of the U.S. Army, General Winfield Scott. In a May 1861 edition of the New York Times was the sentence:
- These gathering hosts of loyal freemen, under the command of the great SCOTT.
In an 1871 issue of Galaxy magazine, there is:
- ‘Great—Scott!’ he gasped in his stupefaction, using the name of the then commander-in-chief for an oath, as officers sometimes did in those days.
The phrase also appears in the 3 May 1864 diary entry by Private Robert Knox Sneden (later published as Eye of the Storm: a Civil War Odyssey):
- ‘Great Scott,’ who would have thought that this would be the destiny of the Union Volunteer in 1861–2 while marching down Broadway to the tune of ‘John Brown’s Body’.[1]
Another possible origin of the phrase is that people seeking to emulate the German Prince Albert altered and anglicized "Grüß Gott!", or "God bless!" into "Great Scott!". The etymologist and author John Ciardi once believed this, but later recanted in a radio broadcast in 1985. Despite that recantation, the expression is likely to be a minced oath: a mild substitute for invoking the name of God; very possibly derived from the phrase "[by the] grace of God".
[edit] Usage
The expression is perhaps now most famous as the catchphrase of the character Doc Brown of the Back to the Future film trilogy. Christopher Lloyd used the expression in TV ads during 2006-2007 which refer back to this role ("Great Scott! I forgot to tell Marty about DirecTV!")
However, prior to this it was commonly found in superhero comic books (it was often said by Superman). The exclamation can also be found in C.S. Lewis' The Chronicles of Narnia, such as by Digory in the first book The Magician's Nephew, or by Peter in the second book The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
In the television cartoon Sheep in the Big City, there is a character called Great Scott, who appears every time anyone says "Great Scott", saying "Ye-e-e-s?".
Mr. Wilson, a character in the Dennis the Menace TV series, frequently used the expression.
In The Rocky Horror Picture Show, one of the characters is named Scott. At one point one of the other characters sees Scott and exclaims, "Great Scott!" This line is typically lampooned by the audience.
In the TV series Heroes, time-travelling character Hiro Nakamura exclaims "Great Scott!" when he travels back in time and accidentally reaches himself on the phone.
[edit] Disambiguation
The exclamation has also been borrowed by:
- Great Scott, a live music venue in Allston, Massachusetts[2]
- Great Scott, a band from Annapolis, Maryland
- Great Scott, a defunct supermarket chain in the Detroit area
- John Schweigert, an ex-professional wrestler known as "The Great Scott"[3]
