God knows how
- idiom
- Informal
:
Dios sabe cómo
- So the Picasso's are going to go for God knows how many hundreds of millions now go in the future because, you know, there's more of a demand for them, right?
Jim, I've admired you for God knows how long.
- Jim, I've admired you for God knows how long.
- Not as bad milk I think is the way you say Milk reminds me of the taste that you get when you actually drink cow's milk, which I haven't done in God knows how long.
- We'll see how this goes because this is like the God knows how many time I've tried to blog and then I quit because that's what I do when things aren't good enough, I just quit.
- So the Picasso's are going to go for God knows how many hundreds of millions now go in the future because, you know, there's more of a demand for them, right?
Examples
-
I can't believe it took her so long to finish; God knows how she managed to keep going.
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God knows how I’ve lasted Living with this bastard in the house!
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We'll see how this goes because this is like the God knows how many time I've tried to blog and then I quit because that's what I do when things aren't good enough, I just quit.
-
The weather has been unpredictable lately; God knows how many times it has changed in just one day.
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He kept losing his keys; God knows how many pairs he has gone through this year.
Synonyms
∞
2.7
In a way you do not know how or why
Surface Forms
Morphology
The phrase uses literal constituents ('God' + 'knows' + 'how') and the idea that only God would know something makes the intended meaning — that the manner is unknown or hard to explain — inferable. However, this is a conventionalized emphatic/idiomatic use relying on cultural/pragmatic knowledge (invoking God's omniscience), so a B1 learner may need exposure to the formulaic use rather than deriving the exact pragmatic force purely compositionally.
Etymology
God knows how comes from the idea that only God can truly know everything, so when something happens in a strange way people say this to show it is a mystery. That's why it is used today to say something is 'unknown' or 'hard to explain'.