Subject
Re: Fwd: TT-10,13, 14,15 (fwd) thank heavens
From
Date
Body
Dear Akiko:
This may be regional or generational, but Thank heavens definitely sounds
wrong to me. I would have said it is a confusion of various idioms -- i.e.
heavens to Betsy! But a Google search turns up many hits, including the
Dixie Chicks' song Thank heavens for Dale Evans. I still think, though --
and this is in contrast to Don -- that in the context "My former
stepfather, thank Heavens" -- the plural is "off", and that "Thank heavens"
is more likely in a longer sentence. But I'm not as sure as I was...
Eric
>Dear Eric,
>
>Thanks very much for resending your comments.
>
>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?
>
>Best,
>Akiko
>
>
>> 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)"
>
>> Eric
>
>----- End forwarded message -----
>
>EDCOMMENT. To my ear, "Thank heavenS" seems more natural. "Thank Heaven"
>seems
>to call for some specific object, i.e., "Thank Heaven for little girls" as
>Maurice Chevalier (& HH?) used to sing.
----- End forwarded message -----
This may be regional or generational, but Thank heavens definitely sounds
wrong to me. I would have said it is a confusion of various idioms -- i.e.
heavens to Betsy! But a Google search turns up many hits, including the
Dixie Chicks' song Thank heavens for Dale Evans. I still think, though --
and this is in contrast to Don -- that in the context "My former
stepfather, thank Heavens" -- the plural is "off", and that "Thank heavens"
is more likely in a longer sentence. But I'm not as sure as I was...
Eric
>Dear Eric,
>
>Thanks very much for resending your comments.
>
>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?
>
>Best,
>Akiko
>
>
>> 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)"
>
>> Eric
>
>----- End forwarded message -----
>
>EDCOMMENT. To my ear, "Thank heavenS" seems more natural. "Thank Heaven"
>seems
>to call for some specific object, i.e., "Thank Heaven for little girls" as
>Maurice Chevalier (& HH?) used to sing.
----- End forwarded message -----