Minced Oath

No, it is not a spicy oath. 'Bye George, by George we’ll miss ya!'  The minced oath, “by George” where one letter - ‘g’ word is substituted for another ‘g’ word. In this case, the second George is substituted for God, because some people did not believe in God. The use of George came into use around the turn of the 20th century and usually meant great or OK, as in ‘everything is George’.

Minced Oath

Minced oaths are a sub-group of euphemisms used to avoid swearing when expressing surprise or annoyance. 'For Pete's sake' and 'for pity's sake' originally meant 'for St. Peter's sake'. Other common ones include By gosh - By God, By gum - By God, By Jove - By God, Gee whizz - Jesus, Sam Hill - Hell, Tarnation - Damnation, Good grief - Good God, Cripes - Christ, Begorrah - By God, Dagnabbit - God damn it.
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