I was listening to Johnny Cash’s recording of “Sam Hall” last night, in which Mr. Hall says to everyone he hates (which is just about everyone), “Damn your eyes!”
I’ve heard the phrase before, occasionally, but it caught my attention last night. Damn your eyes? Where does that come from? Why not just “damn you”? Why not “damn your ears (or nose or throat)”?
Anyone have any light to shed on the origins of this phrase? I think I’m going to start using it regularly, so it’d be nice to know.
From http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/1/messages/2661.html
" “damn-my-eyes. adj. Naut. flashy; ostentatious. 1849 Melville ‘White Jacket’ 293 (ref. to 1843): You may put that man down for what man-of-war’s men call a ‘damn-my-eyes tar,’ that is a humbug. And many damn-my-eyes humbugs there are. 1899 Boyd 'Shellback 16 (ref. to 1860’s): A tall complexioned hat and a ‘d–n my eyes’ necktie.” "
Also from Ulysses S Grant’s Memoirs found at http://www.bartleby.com/1011/4.html
"I heard a tremendous racket at the other end of the ship, and much and excited sailor language, such as “damn your eyes,” etc. "
My favorite use, Young Frankenstein.
“too late”
I think it’s older than funneefarmer’s post indicates. Not that this is the most reliable source, but in Patrick O’Brian’s Aubrey-Maturin novels, set in and around the War of 1812, Aubrey uses this phrase frequently.
Damn your eyes da_pope, you beat me to it!.
unclviny
It most definitely is older.
From OED online:
That’s Laurence Sterne and his indubitably classic novel Tristram Shandy, BTW.
No other hints about where the expression originated, why eyes, or why scavengers.
Lol…Young Frankenstein…
“He would have an enormous schweinstucker…”
“Well…that stands to reason…”
D.
That bit from Young Frankenstein made a lot more sense once I figured out that “damn those eyes” was a common phrase, and not just some random comment made by Dr. Fronkensteen.
How bizarre. I was wondering about this same phrase on Saturday. I’m going to bump the thread again in case someone has a better answer than what we’ve seen so far. If I can remember, I’ll try to research it some when I get home.
RR
Prince George IV: Ah, so you don’t approve of his plans to abolish me, then.
Sir Talbot Buxomly: I do not, sir. Damn his eyes! Damn his britches! Damn his duck pond!
Prince George: Well, hurrah for that!
Sir Talbot: I care not a jot that you are the son of a certified sauerkraut-sucking loon!
from the theatrical production “Dish and Dishonesty” a very old reference, from oohhh… I’d say…um well, not that old really. Sorry.
“…It matters not to me that you dress like a mad parrot and talk like a plate of beans negotiating their way out of a cows digestive system!..”
Baaaa . . .
RR