Heavens to Murgatroyd (popularised by the Hanna-Barbera cartoon character Snagglepuss in Top Cat).
Heavens to Betsy (A variation of Heaven’s Sake)
Gordon Bennett (A playboy during the late nineteenth century known for his extravagant lifestyle and shocking behaviour. Used liberally in TVs Only Foolsand Horses.)
Hells bells and buckets of blood (Exclamation of frustration or surprise; Australian soldier Joseph Maxwell used it in the title of his 1932 WWI memoir, Hell’s Bells and Mademoiselles.)
He’d have your guts for garters (The threat isn’t an actual and literal one and the overstatement of reprisal is meant to indicate humour)
Flaming Nora (Nora is not a woman’s name but a form of the word “horror”. The phrase started off as “flaming horror” as a cry of dismay/disbelief.)
The four horsemen of the bathroom cupboard
The four horsemen of the bathroom cupboard. Photo / Supplied
I am lazy, here’s how...
“I would text my flatmate that I needed to talk to her,” writes a reader. “She would come to my room. I would bring up something like, ‘Do you mind if I have a friend round at the weekend?’ She would be chill and tell me I don’t need permission and then leave. But I would ask her to switch the light off on the way out. All because I couldn’t be bothered to get out of bed, walk two metres and switch it off myself.”
