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Definition:
c) I am feeling irritated
German translation:
for Pete's sake! = Um Himmels Willen! Um Gottes Willen! Ach du liebe Zeit!
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GOOGLE INDEX
For Pete's sake!: approximately 850,000 hits
Sample text:
How many times have you had one of those throbbing headaches and somebody says--"FOR PETE'S SAKE, it's only a little headache! Take an aspirin."
(Current Health)
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I believe we are way behind the times with regard to the way we deliver professional services by telephone, fax, e-mail, and telemedicine. The problem is not a lack of electronic devices; the technical innovations available to provide such services multiply daily. And the telephone was invented more than a century ago, FOR PETE'S SAKE!
(ENT Journal)
Did you know?
for Pete's sake!
idiom
- used to express irritation, annoyance or surprise
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WORD ORIGIN
Today's phrase may not sound like it, but it has religious origins. Imagine you are having an argument with your partner in public. Perhaps outside a steak restaurant that you would like eat at, but your partner is in the mood for sushi. The argument escalates, it gets loud and you want to scream, "For God's sake, can't we for once eat where I want?" Suddenly a nun or a priest passes by. As a show of respect, you replace the word God with something else, like Pete for instance.
Thus was the phrase "For Pete's sake!" born. But why Pete? We can't be sure, although one unproven theory is that Pete refers to St. Peter. Another explanation is that it simply derived from two earlier phrases "for the love of Pete" and "for the love of Mike."
Both of these phrases first appeared around the mid to late 19th century and were used as replacements for phrases like "for the love of God" and "for the love of Christ," which were and still are considered by many to be blasphemous (The Third Commandment: Thou shall not take the Lord's name in vain). These types of euphemistic phrases are also called "pseudo profanities," "minced oaths" and "quasi oaths."
In any case, "for Pete's sake" is used to express emotions like irritation, annoyance, impatience or surprise, depending on the situation. In most cases, it can be placed either at the beginning or end of the statement:
- The numbers are wrong on this report for Pete's sake!
- For Pete's sake, the service in this restaurant is terribly slow!
- For Pete's sake, how did you manage to get here so fast?
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SYNONYMS
For crying out loud! Good grief! For Heaven's sake! For criminy's sake! Bloody hell! For God's sake!
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SMUGGLE OWAD INTO TODAY'S CONVERSATION:
"If the price of petrol keeps going up, I'm going to have to sell my car for Pete's sake!"
And now...
Today's Learning Tip (10):
GRAFFITI YOUR COMPUTER SCREEN
Write the new word in red ink (water-soluble) in an area your computer screen which you often click. Whenever you click, say the word,... at day's end when you clean the screen, BINGO! you'll know the word!
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