# The Phrase "Ever-Loving" -- Origin? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [September 5, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292 "2011-09-05T17:25:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 5:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292/1 "2011-09-05T17:25:40Z")
Where did the phrase “ever-loving” originate, as in “You’re out of your ever-lovin’ mind!” It seems very “1960s” to me, but I might be wrong. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 6:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292/2 "2011-09-05T18:10:36Z")
To me it seems like it is mother-fucking -\> mother-loving -\> ever-loving. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 7:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292/3 "2011-09-05T19:25:34Z")
The OED indicates it derived from a colloquial that meant a wife (i.e., someone you love forever). > [@OED](#): > > ever-loving adj. that loves for ever; usu. as a stock colloq. epithet for a wife; hence as n., one’s wife. > > 1931 D. Runyon Guys & Dolls (1932) i. 26 Maud Milligan, who is well known to one and all as the ever-loving doll of Big Nip. > 1938 D. Runyon Furthermore v. 87 His ever-loving wife is passing a tambourine around. > 1968 ‘P. Barrington’ Accessory to Murder ii. 34 The old fool was devoted to his ever-loving. I reckon she was damn lucky. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292/4 "2011-09-05T21:01:03Z")
In general usage, I don’t think there’s any particular meaning attached. Like _cotton-picking_ or _motherfucking, ever-loving_ is just a way to add syllables to intensify the statement. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 11:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292/5 "2011-09-05T23:07:09Z")
I would have guessed that it derives from being one of the attributes of God. But I shan’t argue with the OED on it. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292/6 "2011-09-05T23:23:00Z")
> [@Mr\_Downtown](#): > > In general usage, I don’t think there’s any particular meaning attached. Like _cotton-picking_ or _motherfucking, ever-loving_ is just a way to add syllables to intensify the statement. Not that I know, but it seems to me that those first terms have specific meanings. A cotton picker would be someone who does a menial, back-breaking job. So saying someone has ‘cotton-picking hands’ would be to imply that the subject is a peon. The latter phrase’s implications are self-evident. But you wouldn’t insult someone by calling him an ‘ever-lover’. A fellah’d be apt to grin and say, 'Line 'em up! 😃 ’ ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [September 5, 2011, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292/7 "2011-09-05T23:48:28Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The OED indicates it derived from a colloquial that meant a wife (i.e., someone you love forever). “Ever-loving” as an intensifier was used by 1919. “Ever-loving mind” (specifically) is only found from the early 1960s, as the OP guessed. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292/8 "2011-09-06T12:45:07Z")
Wow! Ignorance fought. I didn’t know anyone other than The Thing had ever used it! (But it wouldn’t surprise me if Lee’s use of the phrase helped it gain currency.) ---
**Author:** ![gytalf2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ac91a4/32.png) [@gytalf2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gytalf2000)\ **Post date:** [September 6, 2011, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292/9 "2011-09-06T13:04:54Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > Wow! Ignorance fought. I didn’t know anyone other than The Thing had ever used it! (But it wouldn’t surprise me if Lee’s use of the phrase helped it gain currency.) Yeah, it was Benjamin J. Grimm that immediately came to mind. Also, some of my classmates in elementary school (mid and late 1960s) used the phrase. ---
**Author:** ![x27](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/x/7993a0/32.png) [@x27](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/x27)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292/10 "2011-09-08T04:49:22Z")
I assumed it was a “cleaned up” alternative to “goddamn”, sort of like saying “church key” so as to avoid saying “beer plug”. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 6:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292/11 "2011-09-08T06:48:07Z")
In Runyonese, btw, “ever-loving wife” more or less translates as “ball and chain”. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [September 8, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-phrase-ever-loving-origin/595292/12 "2011-09-08T15:05:15Z")
A _[minced oath](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minced_oath)_ is a cleaned up version of a well-known expletive. _Gosh-darned_ or _frickin’_ or _oh snap.__Ever-loving_ is an intensifier more than it is an oath.