# Origin of "not by a dam/damn site/sight" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 29, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-not-by-a-dam-damn-site-sight/677404 "2013-12-29T13:24:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![bizerta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/3be4f8/32.png) [@bizerta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bizerta)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-not-by-a-dam-damn-site-sight/677404/1 "2013-12-29T13:24:08Z")
Is it “dam” or “damn”. Is it “site” or “sight”. To what are they referring? Where/how did this originate? Google was no help. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 3:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-not-by-a-dam-damn-site-sight/677404/2 "2013-12-29T15:27:09Z")
Damn sight, in parallel with “long sight”. [Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang](http://books.google.ca/books?id=5GpLcC4a5fAC&pg=PA228&lpg=PA228&dq=%22long+sight%22+%22damn+sight%22&source=bl&ots=2ylVQ4cjA9&sig=OhnqCbs_Z3_blBc2nQs1mm7fuzo&hl=cy&sa=X&ei=rD7AUqOLAYv7oATx04Fg&ved=0CD4Q6AEwAw#v=onepage&q=%22long%20sight%22%20%22damn%20sight%22&f=false). “Long sight” is a measure of distance (how far you can see). “Damn” is a gerenal intensifier, i.e. “damn [long]” = “very long.” ---
**Author:** ![Xema](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/9de053/32.png) [@Xema](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Xema)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-not-by-a-dam-damn-site-sight/677404/3 "2013-12-29T18:36:54Z")
I’d be puzzled to say how to make sense of “damn site”, “dam sight” or “dam site”. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-not-by-a-dam-damn-site-sight/677404/4 "2013-12-29T19:08:04Z")
And of course, it occurs to every burgh located next to a dam to advertise themselves as “Best town by a dam site”. “Not by a dam site” would make sense as a prohibitory remark concerning something that would be dangerous to do in the proximity of a dam, I suppose. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-not-by-a-dam-damn-site-sight/677404/5 "2013-12-29T19:12:04Z")
And of course, for all you people always looking for a damn cite, here’s a dam site cite: [http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/11207726.jpg](http://static.panoramio.com/photos/large/11207726.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-not-by-a-dam-damn-site-sight/677404/6 "2013-12-29T19:18:48Z")
> [@yabob](#): > > And of course, for all you people always looking for a damn cite, here’s a dam site cite In other words, that’s a damn dam site cite sight. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [December 29, 2013, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-not-by-a-dam-damn-site-sight/677404/7 "2013-12-29T19:38:02Z")
It’s an Americanism, dating back to at least the 1830s. It was “damned sight.” Early useages in print would quite often say “d\_\_\_\_d” to avoid cursing. \*\* Dr. Drake\*\* got it essentially correct. > [@OED](#): > > . Phr. by a long, damn, etc., sight , by a long way, by a good deal (usu. in negative contexts). U.S. colloq. > > 1834 C. A. Davis Lett. J. Downing iv. 41 ‘Gineral, do you want another report?’ ‘Not by a darn’d sight.’ > > 1840 Niles’ Reg. 9 May 149/2 He asked him if he was not going for Harrison and the whigs. ‘No,’ said he, ‘not by a d——d sight.’ > > 1844 Republican Sentinel (Richmond, Va.) 22 June 1/2 These animals begin to venture out a little of nights, since the Baltimore Convention, but are slyer by a long sight than foxes. > > 1884 ‘M. Twain’ Adventures Huckleberry Finn i. 20, I asked her if she reckoned Tom Sawyer would go there, and, she said, not by a considerable sight. > > 1894 ‘M. Twain’ in Cent. Mag. Mar. 779/2 It ain’t on’y jist Essex blood dat’s in you, not by a long sight. ---
**Author:** ![Jim\_Pissot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ecae2f/32.png) [@Jim\_Pissot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_Pissot)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-not-by-a-dam-damn-site-sight/677404/8 "2019-10-25T16:41:37Z")
Whenever someone said, Best in the west …" my mother always added “by a damnsite.” I never asked her why. Then we drove through the town of her birth, Bassano, Alberta, Canada. On the outside of town was a big sign: “Town of Bassano. Best in the west by a damsite.” Bassano boomed when the Bassano Dam was built on the Bow River, attracting farmers like my grandfather. So, at least ONE town that is by a damsite … and is damn proud of it! [![](https://img.youtube.com/vi/yhx-CX8-enk/maxresdefault.jpg "Best in the west by a "Damsite" Part #1") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yhx-CX8-enk) ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-not-by-a-dam-damn-site-sight/677404/9 "2019-10-25T18:25:53Z")
Someone’s got to say it, if only out of a sense of professional pride: “Civil Engineers are best by a dam site.” ---
**Author:** ![Enola\_Straight](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dec6dc/32.png) [@Enola\_Straight](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enola_Straight)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-not-by-a-dam-damn-site-sight/677404/10 "2019-10-25T19:17:58Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > “Long sight” is a measure of distance (how far you can see). I Vaguely remember a post from a member a while ago regarding the distance one can see being called a “look”. ---
**Author:** ![RioRico](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f04885/32.png) [@RioRico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RioRico)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2019, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-not-by-a-dam-damn-site-sight/677404/11 "2019-10-25T23:34:28Z")
Does five years of quietude make this a zombie thread by a damn sight? Would modest speakers say “dang sight” or “darn sight”? Are there minerals named damzite, dangzite, or darnzite? If not, should there be?