mercy sake's alive
- idiom
- /ˈmɜrsi seɪks əˈlaɪv/
- Archaic
:
¡Dios mío!
- Mercy sake's alive, I haven't seen you in years!
Examples
-
Mercy sake's alive, what in the world happened to your car?
-
Did you really just say that? Mercy sake's alive!
-
Mercy sake's alive, this cake is absolutely delicious!
-
Oh, mercy sake's alive! I can't believe you did that!
-
Mercy sake's alive, I haven't seen you in years!
-
Mercy sake's alive, what in the world happened to your car?
-
Mercy sake's alive, this cake is absolutely delicious!
Synonyms
422
7.5
A small amount of care or worry about something
347
8.9
An angry or surprised question showing you do not believe something
90
8.9
A short cry to show surprise, confusion, disbelief, or casual acceptance
65
9.7
A strong expression showing anger, surprise, or urgency
26
9.9
A strong phrase people say when they are very surprised or shocked
22
9.8
A short word people say to show surprise, admiration, or annoyance
17
9.4
A short informal cry showing surprise or strong feeling
16
8.3
A short sound people say to show surprise or excitement
8
7.6
A short phrase people say to show surprise or disbelief
7
9.1
A short sound people make when they feel a quick pain
5
7.5
A short phrase people say to show surprise or shock
4
9.5
A short word people say when they are surprised or shocked
3
8.4
A short sound people make when they suddenly understand something
3
9.6
To say when you are very surprised or shocked
2
9.9
A short cry showing surprise or sudden understanding
1
9.9
A short old word people say to show surprise or strong feeling
1
9.9
An old Irish word said to show surprise or strong feeling
A short shout that shows surprise or shock
Shout loudly because you are surprised or shocked
An old word that people say to show surprise or strong feeling
A short phrase people say when they feel surprised or do not believe something
A short shout to show surprise or amazement
A short phrase people say to show surprise at something amazing
Words people say to show relief, joy or surprise
A strong old word people say to show surprise or shock
A loud informal shout that shows surprise, shock, or strong annoyance
A short cry showing surprise or shock
A strong cry showing surprise or shock
Often comes before a word to show anger or surprise
An old word people say to show surprise, anger, or shock
A strong spoken request or cry that shows shock and anger
Surface Forms
Morphology
mercy + sake's + alive
This is a fixed, dialectal exclamation (e.g. “mercy sakes alive!”) whose meaning ‘an expression of surprise or disbelief’ cannot be compositionally derived from the literal senses of mercy (compassion), sake(s) (purpose), and alive (living). The constituent words and their literal relations do not transparently yield the interjectional force, so a B1 learner who only knows the parts would likely not predict the overall meaning.
Etymology
Mercy sake's alive comes from older religious cries. People would shout mercy to ask God's help and add sakes alive as a folk extra when they were very surprised, so the phrase came to mean 'surprise' or 'disbelief'.