Entry in progress—B.P.
“For the love of Pete” (“for Pete’s sake”) is a similar saying.
(Oxford English Dictionary)
love, n.
colloq. for the love of Mike [probably showing euphemistic substitution of the male forename Mike (compare MIKE n.4) for God]: an exclamation of exasperation or surprise; ‘for goodness’ sake!’
1901 S. CRANE in Home Mag. N.Y. Jan. 77/2 ‘For the love of Mike, madam, what ails you?’ he spluttered.
1909 Syracuse (N.Y.) Herald (Electronic text) 21 Dec., For the love of Mike, man, haven’t you got a heart?
1922 J. JOYCE Ulysses III. 727 O move over your big carcass out of that for the love of Mike listen to him.
1925 T. DREISER Amer. Trag. (1926) I. I. ix. 57 For de love o’ Mike, will you listen to dat, now.
1934 J. BROPHY Waterfront i. 14 For the love of mike..shut those blasted windows.
1941 Penguin New Writing 8 91 Well, for the luvva Mike!
Google Books
Dick: a story for boys and girls
By Anna Chapin Ray
New York, NY; Thomas Y. Crowell & Co.
1896
Pg. 207:
“Oh, for the love of Mike!”
Google Books
The Cambric Mask: a romance
By Robert William Chambers
New York, NY: Frederick A. Stokes Company
1899
Pg. 141:
“Give me food, for the love of Mike!”
Above, a 1934 plaque from the Big Apple Night Club at West 135th Street and Seventh Avenue in Harlem. Discarded as trash in 2006. Now a Popeyes fast food restaurant on Google Maps.
Recent entries:
•Entry in progress—BP13 (4/18)
•Entry in progress—BP19 (4/18)
•Entry in progress—BP18 (4/18)
•Entry in progress—BP17 (4/18)
•Entry in progress—BP16 (4/18)
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Above, Big Apple Corner at 54th Street and Broadway in Manhattan. Google Maps. Stolen and missing, 2021-2024.
Above, John J. Fitz Gerald, from the Aug. 15, 1931, Binghamton (NY) Press, pg. 14.
Listen to Robert Emmerich introduce "The Big Apple," a hit song from 1937. Music written by Bob and performed by Tommy Dorsey's Clambake Seven with Bob on piano. Lyrics written by Buddy Bernier and sung by Edythe Wright. Audio provided by Dorothy Emmerich.
Also listen to a 1937 "The Big Apple" song by Ozzie Nelson and his Orchestra. See a 1929 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald and a 1931 photo of John J. Fitz Gerald.
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