# Where is Mergatroid? (As in heavens to...) **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 9, 2000, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889 "2000-06-09T17:50:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/1 "2000-06-09T17:50:41Z")
We’ve all heard the sayiing, but where is or was Mergatroid? ---
**Author:** ![sirdiesel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90ced4/32.png) [@sirdiesel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sirdiesel)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/2 "2000-06-09T18:01:47Z")
Mergatroid was a small city in the south of France. Called by many “The Cadillac of small cities in the south of France”, Mergatroid was a popular tourist destination until it suddenly ceased to exist around 1917. An air of mystery still surrounds Mergatroid, as the people who visited it refuse to talk about it. This could be due to the fact that they are dead, but I suspect they’ve been paid off. ---
**Author:** ![Crusoe](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/49beb7/32.png) [@Crusoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crusoe)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/3 "2000-06-09T18:25:11Z")
That would be **Murgatroyd**. There seems to be no general consensus on the origin - see [here](http://clever.net/quinion/words/qa/qa-hea1.htm), for example. ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/4 "2000-06-09T18:29:27Z")
The origin of Murgatroyd can be found [here](http://www.actrix.gen.nz/users/murgatroyd/constable.htm). > [@](#): > > In 1371 there was a constable appointed by the king who named himself Johanus de Morgateroyde, and this is the first recorded instance of use of the name. Literally meaning John of Moor Gate Royde or ‘from the clearing by the gate to the moor’. Indeed there is such a place and a great house is built there even today. Not the original but commanding a prominent position above the neighbouring lands as indeed the house of Murgatroyd must have once done. Now all an alert member of the Teeming Millions has to do is link this John of Moor Gate Royde to the expression “heavens to Murgatroyd”. I’ve done most of the groundwork, who wants to pick up the ball? 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/5 "2000-06-09T18:33:41Z")
P.S. Forgot to say that I think it was some feline friend of Yogi Bear (a cougar?) that used that expression frequently. ---
**Author:** ![rowrrbazzle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rowrrbazzle/32/414_2.png) [@rowrrbazzle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rowrrbazzle)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/6 "2000-06-09T18:37:16Z")
I think “Murgatroyd” in this expression is just an arbitrary euphemism, used instead of something stronger. The expression was used by the Hanna-Barbera character Snagglepuss, and my WAG is that he was based on some obscure radio or early TV character. Some more information is at [http://www.phoenix.net/~ishmal/ntn/news.html](http://www.phoenix.net/~ishmal/ntn/news.html). ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/7 "2000-06-09T19:09:18Z")
There are more Murgatroyds in **Ruddigore** than you can count. So it goes back that far. That’s 1887. [http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~melbear/hruddigore.htm](http://homepages.ihug.co.nz/~melbear/hruddigore.htm) ---
**Author:** ![BobK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/439d5e/32.png) [@BobK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobK)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/8 "2000-06-09T20:48:40Z")
The feline friend of Yogi Bear was “Snaggletooth” or “Snagglepus”, if I recall properly. ---
**Author:** ![ren](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/ed655f/32.png) [@ren](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ren)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/9 "2000-06-09T20:57:12Z")
I think Murgatroid is near Carnuba (you know, where they make that wax?) ---
**Author:** ![MisterJackPunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3be4f8/32.png) [@MisterJackPunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterJackPunch)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/10 "2000-06-09T21:14:25Z")
Great, we found Murgatroyd, but what about “Heavens to…” and how does Betsy fit into all of this Heavens to Betsy. _nudge nudge_ ---
**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:** [June 9, 2000, 9:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/11 "2000-06-09T21:20:07Z")
Did this phrase even exist before “Snagglepuss?” If Messrs. Hanna and Barbera created it (or DePatie and Freleng, or whoever) ex nihilo, then they would be the ones to ask. I’ve never heard this phrase uttered by anyone other than the cat. ---
**Author:** ![jmullaney](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/85e7bf/32.png) [@jmullaney](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jmullaney)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/12 "2000-06-09T21:27:31Z")
Well, there’s the motto of Paris: fluc·tu·at nec mer·gi·tur Close enough. Means “it is tossed by the waves but does not sink” – so if mergitur means sunken (mermaid, mermen, etc.) that makes mergatroid what, an underwater city. Heaven being in the sky, the heavens come to mergatroid would be an unlikely, or unwelcome, event. I’m not exactly remembering the context old Snagglepus would have used it. Joel (spreading ignorance since 1974, doing it well) ---
**Author:** ![MisterJackPunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/3be4f8/32.png) [@MisterJackPunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MisterJackPunch)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2000, 9:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/13 "2000-06-09T21:36:56Z")
Maybe mergatroyd means an underwater asteroid crater and Heavens to mergatroyd would be like Henny Penny running in circles saying “The sky is falling!” ---
**Author:** ![QirQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/848f3c/32.png) [@QirQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QirQ)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2000, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-is-mergatroid-as-in-heavens-to/21889/14 "2000-06-10T01:21:22Z")
I had a teacher back in 1969 who had a ping pong paddle that she used for smacking kids that were “out of line”. She called her paddle Murgatroid. I imagine that was supposed to induce fear. exit…stage left.