what in tarnation illustration

What in tarnation?

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"Tarnation!" reads the title at the bottom of the Aug 1922 National Sportsman cover.
“Tarnation!” reads the title at the bottom of the Aug 1922 National Sportsman cover.

“What in tarnation?” is one of a wide variety of euphemistic expressions of surprise, bewilderment or anger that arose in 18th and 19th century America. Perhaps due to our Puritan legacy, Americans were, during this period, especially creative in devising oaths that allowed us to express strong emotions while still skirting blasphemy.

Such inventions as “heck,” “drat,” “darn,” “gosh,” “jiminy,” “gee-whiz” and “goldarn” were all devised to disguise exclamations that would have been considered shocking in polite society. “Sam Hill,” for example, is simply an early 19th century euphemism for “hell” (and while there have been many people named Sam Hill throughout history, the expression does not come from the name of any particular Sam Hill).

“Tarnation” first appeared in writing in 1784, says Geoffrey Hughes in An Encyclopedia of Swearing, shortly after “darn” (1770), but before “dang” (1790) or “durned” (1876). It’s an interesting example of this generation of euphemisms because it’s actually two euphemisms rolled into one word. The root of “tarnation” is “darnation,” a euphemistic modification of the word “damnation,” which at that time was considered unfit for polite conversation. “Darnation” became “tarnation” by being associated in popular speech with “tarnal,” an aphetic, or clipped, form of “eternal.”

Desdemona and Emilia - Act IV, Scene III, Othello, by Edwin Austin Abbey

EMILIA: I will be hanged,

If some eternal villain

Some busy and insinuating rogue,

Some cogging, cozening slave, to get some office,

Have not devised this slander. 

I will be hanged else!

Othello

Act 4 Scene 2

It may seem odd that “eternal” would ever have been considered a curse word, but to speak of “the Eternal” at that time was often to invoke a religious context (God, Heaven, etc.), and thus to label something or someone “eternal” in a disparaging sense (“You eternal villain!”) was considered a mild oath. Shakespeare, for example, used “eternal” in this way in at least two of his plays.

So at some point someone, probably in a moment of exasperation, mixed “darnation” with “tarnal,” and we ended up with “tarnation.”

Joke from an 1877 book that uses 'tarnation' as an adjective.
The Oxford Dictionary insists ‘tarnation’ is a noun and an exclamation. This joke, from an 1877 book of humor, uses it as an adjective.

Sources: www.word-detective.com/050404.html

An Encyclopedia of Swearing: The Social History of Oaths, Profanity, Foul Language, and Ethnic Slurs in the English-speaking World, by Geoffrey Hughes, M.E. Sharpe, 2011

More articles on Appalachian phrases/sayings:

Mountain songs and sayings have living reality(Opens in a new browser tab)

North Carolina politician gives us the word ‘debunk’(Opens in a new browser tab)

The origin of the phrase Duke’s Mixture(Opens in a new browser tab)

31 comments

  1. Now, I have a word for you — do you know the derivation, and from where this phaase comes from, “red the table”. In our family the phase is used for “clearing the table.
    For a long time my mother thought it was from her Pennsylvania Dutch ancestors. However I have read that it might come frome the Scots-Irish. Do you have an idea about this phrase?

  2. Not a clue! My Dad’s mom came from a long line of Scots-Irish and his dad came from a long line of Pennsy Dutch, so I would’ve thought I’d have encountered that phrase somewhere coming up.

    Ok, readers! Jump in here.

  3. I just said “what in tarnation?” and my co-workers asked from where I get my sayings. Your explanation was great. Thanks

  4. I always figured it was a Southern thing, since I’ve only seemed to ever hear Southern people say it.

  5. The only thing I would add is that the two root words you mention actually go together in one curse: “Eternal damnation!” Also, this is a common coupling of the two words in “fire and brimstone” gospel preaching that was common in those days. So it makes even more sense that they would come up with “tarnation” as a way to quickly curse the situation, or person (or the predator hawk as seen in the old advertisement above), without actually crossing the line into literal cursing.

  6. Ummm, almost correct…”What in the Sam Hill?” derives its origins from Samuel Ewing Hill, who was sent by the Governor of Kentucky to see what was going on in reference to the Hatfields & McCoys family feud in 1887. Between 1880 and 1891, the feud claimed more than a dozen members of the two families, becoming headline news around the country, and compelling the governors of both Kentucky and West Virginia to call up their state militias to restore order. The Governor of West Virginia once even threatened to have his militia invade Kentucky. Kentucky Governor Simon Bolivar Buckner in response sent his Adjutant General to Pike County, Kentucky to investigate the situation. Newspapers from around the country awaited word from Adjutant General Sam Hill to find out “what in the Sam Hill was going on up there.”

  7. What in tarnation — “What in the entire nation” — is this all about?
    ~modern usage

  8. Thanks Mandel Mus. “What in tarnation — “What in the entire nation” — is this all about?”

    Maybe that’s why I say I’ve been all over tarnation looking for such and such. Don’t know how modern this usage is since I’d have picked it up from grandparents born before 1900, and they’re from Chicago, btw.

  9. This post would make a lot more sense if the author realized that it was one phrase.

    “Eternal damnation” to “tarnal darnation” to “tarnation”.

    Then you wouldn’t have to make up the part about ‘eternal’ being an epithet.

  10. Well dag-nab-it & goldang; I haven’t heard that one for awhile. That sure was a bodacious explanation; thanx

  11. I always thought tarnation meant hell! Tar as in (hot tar) as in (hot like hell), and nation as in a place (hell). And red the table I always thought was RID the table (as in clean, get rid of, the stuff on the table).

  12. My dad born in the 50’s said,”What in tarnation”, all the time with my 3 brothers and I!

  13. My grandfather, a Christian minister born in 1872 would always say things like, “thunderation”, “what in tarnation”, and “what in Sam Hill” and his wife, my grandmother would refer to automobiles as “machines” when I was a kid in the 50’s. Gotta love those old expressions !

  14. Raised in the South (NC—The “Tar Heel” State), I’ve also always thought that “tarnation’ had a connotation of “remote,” “out there,” and “in the boonies.” I’ve heard not just “what in tarnation?!” used but also “WHERE in tarnation?! as in “Where in tarnation have you been?” “Where in tarnation is that?!”.

  15. Also, I think it’s only fair to give the writers of the character of Jed Clampett in the “The beverly Hillbillies” TV show their due for bringing the phrase “What in Tarnation?” into national lime light as one of Jed’s favorites sayings.

  16. My grandmother was from NC and used the phrase a lot. “What in Tarnation have you done!”, and “Where in tarnation have you been!”. She graduated from college Magna Cum Laude in her 50s.

  17. I always wanted to ask Yosemite Sam this question. But I was afraid he would Blast me to Smithereenies

  18. @Carson – Nah. That’s one possible explanation, but, much like “the whole nine yards” and “ok,” “what in the Sam Hill” doesn’t have a definitive, documented origin.

  19. Love your site! Thank you for the insight on that; I will be using your website more often. I am from the Appalachians—Southern Ohio.

  20. I have always understood that ‘tarnation’ was a shortened version of the phrase “the entire nation”.

  21. @Brian – Hahaha! Good one! That’s what I was going to say! I definitely learned almost all of the euphemisms mentioned in this article from being a dedicated cartoon fanatic as a child in the late 80s and early 90s. Yosemite Sam (is his last name Hill by any chance?) is definitely the character that first comes to mind when I hear, “What in Tarnation!”. He sure did have quite the repertoire of “slang” terms or just strange noises to use in place of curse words during his usual barrage of temper tantrums. Haha! Good times.

  22. Pingback: 海外ドラマで英語学習 - “What in tarnation?” - ケヌキブログ
  23. So, Carson Barham, the person who printed “what in sam hill” in 1839 showed remarkable prescience

  24. I don’t agree with this translation. It’s too complicated for nothing. My understanding has always been that the phrase ‘what in tarnation’ is just slang for ‘what entire nation’. It’s that simple…

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