Who the hell is Pete?

Language is an incredibly fascinating thing. At some point in my lifetime, I’d like to do a deep-dive into the study of the origins of languages, accents, all of it. Like, I’m typing right now and you understand what it means, and you would understand it if I spoke these same words. THAT IS CRAZY, THINK ABOUT IT. 

Who sat down and was like, “okay,” (this guy invented the word ‘okay’ I guess) “this is an apple. And there will be three different spellings and meanings of one word that people will still misuse in the year 2017: there, they’re, and their.” 

???? Maybe that’s not exactly how it happened. Regardless, we have this whole language we use and all understand, speak, write, and think – that’s freaking fascinating. 

Just as fascinating as the language itself are the expressions we use. And where the hell did they come from? Who decided their meaning and told all of their friends to start using it, and from there how did it become widely-used? I’m telling you, fascinating.

I’m writing this today because I’ve always been curious about these things (hello, I’m Tori, I’m curious) but this particular morning an expression popped into my head that I actually stopped and said out loud, “where did that even come from?”

The expression: ‘For Pete’s sake!’

WHO IS PETE? WHY IS HE SO IMPORTANT? WHY ARE WE DOING THINGS FOR HIS SAKE? 

My curiosity was piqued enough to have a look. Thanks to our trusty friend Google, here’s what I learned:

‘For Pete’s sake’ was first recorded in 1903 as a substitute for ‘for Christ’s sake.’ Pete is presumed to be Saint Peter, but others say it’s a variance of pity – ‘for pity’s sake.’ As a replacement for ‘for Christ’s sake,’ the Apostle Peter certainly makes more sense – but we don’t know for sure. 

COME ON GOOGLE, I NEED TO KNOW MORE. If it does refer to St. Peter, why not ‘for Mark’s sake’ or ‘for Luke’s sake’ or ‘for John’s sake?’ And who said it first and where were they? How many friends did they tell for it to gain so much traction that it’s still used over 100 years later? What if after all it was just some guy named Pete who had a serious ego problem and wanted all things to be in his sake?!

Oh for Pete’s sake, I give up. 

Curiously,
Tori

PS. I feel kind of itchy thinking about all of those 12 page research papers in college, but if you’re a member of the Research Police and want to know my sources for info: USA Today and Dictionary.com.