Bob Hope was sponsored by Swan soap after he switched sponsors from Pepsodent, and he used “Well, I Swan!” on his show, too.
What is this american language of which you speak?
Well, our american (as in USA) language uses mostly english, but has a lot of other stuff mixed in. In some circles it’s refered to as “american english”.
Is that what you’re asking?
I’da swan it meant “sworn”. That’s how I’ve always heard it used. As if to say: “I would have sworn to God you couldn’t have done something so stupid.”
So what you’re saying is that if I use “he” it should be interpreted as “he or she” right? Like folks did back in the 50s. I can understand that idea pretty clearly. I don’t necessarily agree with it, but I understand what you’re saying.
But …
If so, then your second sentence means that when I use “it” that should be interpretted as “it or they/them.”
So per your rules the sentence “he picked it up” means “one or more male or female person(s) picked up one or more widget(s) of no sex and / or one or more creature(s)/persons/people of either or both sex(es).”
I don’t think you really meant to destroy all sense of number or sex in English pronouns.
You rule would also imply that “they”, the most common non-sex-specific pronoun in use today can only properly refer to plural quantity not single. Because if singular includes plural, then plural can’t also include singular without destroying all possible distinction between singular and plural. And there’s no doubt the main long-standing use of “they” is as third person plural.
In other words, per your rules, everybody who now says “If your friend likes burgers they probably like fries” should really be saying “If your friend likes burgers it probably like fries” . I don’t think your idea is gonna fly.
May I use that? 
Ok, so, for fun, how about this, from the British North America Act, aka, the Constitution Act; the law that established Canadian self-government:
Can a woman be a Senator?
No, I already stoled it (#12). It’s mine.
I have a feeling that a mod is going to notice that the question has been answered, and it’s going to threaten to close this thread and suggest that someone start another around the “he/she - they - it” discussion.
I say let it do as it will.
mangeorge, unimpressed by convention.
This was a favorite saying of my grandmother in Arkansas too, although I’m pretty sure she said “I’ll swan.” I used to think she picked it up from old radio programs. She was born in 1905 and would have listened to radio in its Golden Age. Swan dishwashing liquid sponsored some shows and used the catchphrase “I’ll Swan!” in their commercials. I used to think this was the origin, but this has been discussed in other threads, and I think it was Sampiro who gave evidence that the saying actually predated the 20th century. IIRC, he used the Swannee River example.
As someone who has lived in the South for more than 30 years, I agree with you. However, a true Southerner would say “I would have sworn to Gosh…” :)".
Or, if a man and really riled, might have something like “swear to god, 'scuse me ma’am”.
Sure, but I stole ‘illiterate pedants’ directly from Exapno Mapcase, who likely invented the term.
Not at the time that was written, no.
Using ‘he’ as a generic is not only offensive (‘men include women,’ pfft) but often misleading.
Have you never “swanned off into the sunset”?
Is that a common term outside this island?
The act still says “he”, though. That’s what the whole Persons case was all about.
But the reason it was written as he was because women weren’t eligible for, well, anything much at all back then. Now we say ‘oh, they meant it as shorthand for all humanity,’ but most of the time they actually just meant men. Continuing to use he to mean either gender is basically saying ‘men are more important. We don’t even need to admit that women exist!’
mangeorge is probably right about this being too much of a hijack, though.
It falls so trippingly off the tongue.
Probably. If anyone wants to discuss the hijack further, he should take it to another thread.
I grew up in East Texas and I heard this everyday of my life and, to be quite frank, I never wondered what it meant. It was just something grown-ups said. I heard both “I’ll swan” and “I’ll swanee.”
Based on my memory of context, I think it means something akin to “I swear,” or “Is that the truth?” in regards to something that surprised you or you already knew about the surprise, but you didn’t want to let on.
In other words, what it meant was either “No shit,” or “You’re kidding me,” in the sense that you already knew what the person was telling you, but you didn’t want to let on.
Except, sometimes, it really did mean you had no idea about what the other person was telling you.
In all instances, it was intended not to offend the other party.
As I think about it, the old people would also say “Well, I swan,” whenever something unexpected happened, such as a visitor, usually a relative, showed up unexpectedly. As in, when sitting down to lunch after church and hearing a car horn. Then looking out the door and seeing some cousin or some such. “Well, I swan, here’s Melba, set another place at the table.”
But thanks for bringing this up. It reminds me of my grandmothers. They died years ago, but the memories are happy.