Why do they say "for Pete's sake?" Who the heck is Pete?

The phrase "For Pete's sake" is often referred to as a variety of euphemism which is used as an expression of annoyance called a 'minced oath.' A minced oath is a phrase that is substituted, sometimes at the last minute, for a swear word or blasphemous phrase. The minced oath usually sounds similar to the original swear word or expression. Examples abound with such ditties as oh ‘my goodness,’

gosh darn it,’ ‘shucks,’ ‘shoot,’ ‘fudge, ‘holy cow’ and ‘Mother Fletcher.’ For Pete's sake is probably a minced oath used in lieu of the more virulent forms "for God's sake," or "for Christ’s sake," or the milder "for Saint Peter’s sake."

PETE’S SAKE! The ‘Pete’ here is a euphemism for St. Peter, an expression of annoyance (“For Pete’s sake, stop fooling around!) probably dating back to at least the late 19th-century America.

FOR PETE'S SAKE

Q. I was wondering if you can shed any light on "for Pete's sake". A very interesting explanation was given on a TV show, which attributed it to Michelangelo requesting funds for St Peter's. [Wayne R Zeides, USA]

A. Alas, that's a classic example of folk etymology. Not only has the speaker invented a story to explain a puzzling expression but he hasn't any feeling for history, or indeed geography. There is, for example, the annoying small fact that Michelangelo spoke a dialect of Italian and that we have to account not only for the phrase getting from Italy to (presumably) England, but for its swapping languages at least once along the way. There's also the problem that the expression isn't recorded before the 1920s, so where has it been in all the centuries in between? About the only thing he got right was that Michelangelo did work on St Peter's.

Pardon my irritation! It's easy to show such stories are nonsense, albeit usually well-meaning attempts to explain the inexplicable, but it's often hard to put anything sensible in their place. After all, these tall tales very often grow up because conventional scholarship has failed to find out the facts.

In this case, we're not totally without ideas. The clue is that another version of the exclamation is "for the love of Pete", which seems to be slightly older (it's recorded in print from 1918). In turn that reminds us of "for the love of Mike", which is older still, from the 1880s. This last expression seems to have been a euphemistic cry to replace "for the love of God", which is known from the early eighteenth century as an irritated exclamation. It looks very much as though at some point around 1918, for no clearly discernable reason, Pete joined Mike as the person to invoke when you were impatient, annoyed, frustrated or disappointed in someone or something, both men being stand-ins for the God that it would be blasphemous to mention.

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For Petes Sake

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In Reply to: Re: Pete's sake posted by ESC on April 20, 2000 : : : : : : How did the saying "For Pete's Sake" come from? : : : : : Biblical origins. Think of St Peter. Think of the omnipresent medieval church and think of hitting your thumb with a hammer. You can't swear, else the local priests will have you up before the Bishop and the Lord alone knows what the outcome of that will be, so you exclaim, in appropriate tone of voice, "For Saint Peter's sake" and carry on erecting the shelves. This phrase was amended to "For Pete's Sake" in later, less religiously oppressive, times. : : : : This is called a "Minced oath," a substitution of a less offensive word. : : : Not by me it's not; I just consider it a mild swearword to be used in polite company to express irritation at some other person's action or, more likely, inaction. Never ever think of it as a 'minced oath' which conjures up visions of mooing cattle, butchers in white aprons and the awful grinding sound of meat being extruded. : : : Relax, please. No one should ever have such a passion for a phrase. : Let me try this again. A "minced oath" means when a person starts to let go with a really bad swear -- like God damn -- realizes he/she shouldn't say it and substitutes a harmless phrase like "Godfrey Daniel." And along the same line, a person starts to say "For God's Sake" and says "For Pete's Sake" instead. Or starts to say the F-word and says instead, "For goodness sake." Let me also try again. Why a 'minced oath'? Where did such a phrase originate? Why not a 'mild Swearword', a 'Substituted Oath', even a 'Religious Oath' for goodness sake. A 'minced oath'; never use it, never heard anyone else use it and would advise all vegetarians to avoid it like the plague. Let's face it, it just not PC to introduce mince into swear words, however mild they may be. I hope this answers your question

Phrases like "for Pete's sake" are euphemisms for the phrases "for the love of God/Christ" or "for God's/ Christ's sake" and hail from a time when those phases were considered blasphemous. Nowadays phrases like "for the love of god" are commonly used, but the euphemisms are still used. Why Pete? Most likely it is a reference to the catholic Saint Peter.

Sake Definition

I don't know Jack about it

for a long time now, this phrase has been common, I still don't know why 'Pete' instead of 'God' ?

pete wentz

the emo lord

St. Peter was a Jew, not a Catholic.