Talk:Great Scott

Phrase "Great Scott" origin
Does anyone know who the Scott who is so Great is/was?


 * I added some information on the mysterious Scott from World Wide Words. They suggest it was possibly a famous Civil War General. Dugwiki 22:27, 9 June 2006 (UTC)

2007-02-7 Automated pywikipediabot message
--CopyToWiktionaryBot 00:39, 7 February 2007 (UTC)

Who is Great Scott?!
The exclamation is used in Bram Stoker's Dracula. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 71.228.39.126 (talk) 04:02, 18 October 2007 (UTC)

This can't be related to the Civil War. At all.
It's a lie, since it can also be found in lots of Doyle's Sherlock Holmes stories, and I don't think he cared about the Civil War at all.'''

12 Aug 2008 —Preceding unsigned comment added by 74.61.36.213 (talk) 08:11, 12 August 2008 (UTC)

Usage in Movies
Ray Milland uses the phrase in The Uninvited (1944 film), if anyone cares... -- megA (talk) 17:29, 1 September 2008 (UTC)

as well as Doc Brown (Christopher Lloyd) in "Back to the Future" series 109.67.54.97 (talk) 10:18, 29 October 2015 (UTC)

Notability of bar
Am I misunderstanding notability guidelines? I don't get what makes this place, which, while it may not be particularly famous, is at least known locally, and on the internet, and which is currently up, running, and relevant, less notable than a defunct Michigan grocery store chain that was sold in 1990, or a radio company whose top four Google hits are all from its own website. Don't get me wrong, I'm perfectly willing to accept that none of these things is notable to an exacting standard of encyclopedic inclusion (and heaven help me if I collude with advertising), but if the other two belong on the page, then it seems to me the bar does too. ☯.Zen Swashbuckler  .☠  15:10, 6 April 2011 (UTC)

Other WP pages with a mention

 * Tourist History World Tour
 * Fall Tour
 * Boston hardcore
 * Not Accepted Anywhere album tour
 * Culture in Boston — Preceding unsigned comment added by Zenswashbuckler (talk • contribs) 18:29, 6 April 2011 (UTC)


 * It's a bar; we don't act as a directory for bars, even if they use a common term for their name. The fact that there are hits on the web does not warrant inclusion in and of itself; the content has to be encyclopaedic in nature. A large chain (37 stores) is significantly more notable based on its scope than a bar. (Simply booking acts does not make it notable either, as that is what bars do.) If you wish to make your case here, by all means do so, but please do not keep adding the material without establishing consensus that it is appropriate. --Ckatz chat spy  21:36, 11 April 2011 (UTC)


 * Now that the article seems to have a consistent notability threshold, I realize that this may not quite make the cut. Thank you for clarifying. ☯.Zen  Swashbuckler  .☠  13:56, 12 April 2011 (UTC)

Civil War Origin = ridiculous
What is it about Americans and their love of stealing other nations cultural tropes? The saying is from Sir Walter Scott who was the ' Great Wizard Of The North' and is revered as one of Scotlands great writers, the term stems from his novel Waverley and has NOTHING to do with Mark Twain and his bigotry. Yes it had usage in the American Civil War (see diaries) but it's origins go back to 1814 long before the war of 1861, subsequently the section needs updating, especially the opening paragraph.Twobells (talk) 12:03, 10 September 2011 (UTC)
 * Sounds like someone has their own problem with bigotry - I, an American, have never stolen any other nations tropes - sorry. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 192.158.48.17 (talk) 15:22, 11 November 2013 (UTC)
 * What's stopping you? -Jason A. Quest (talk) 15:19, 12 April 2012 (UTC)
 * op is an idiot. If he has a reference dated 1814, let's see it, as nobody else seems to be aware of it. Yes we have "great" as an attribute of [Walter] Scott in 1830, but that is completely divided from using "Great Scott" as an exclamation. The earliest known evidence of that so far dates to 1856. The earliest explicit reference to Winfield to 1864, and the earliest to Sir Walter to 1871. The appearance of the phrase in 1856 in a completely non-military and non-literary context seems to confirm, if anything, that it is simply an "arbitrary euphemism" for "Great God", as stated matter-of-factly by OED. After that, it becomes an obvious corollary that it would be used in reference to prominent "Scotts", i.e. the general, the poet and the Greek dictionary. --dab (𒁳) 14:54, 20 December 2014 (UTC)

Usage in TV
"Great Scott" was a catchphrase of Mr Wilson in the 1959-1963 "Dennis The Menace" television show. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.157.160.13 (talk) 13:46, 12 April 2012 (UTC)

Usage in Comics
Charlie Brown knew that phrase back in the 50s: http://www.gocomics.com/peanuts-begins/2015/05/21 ("Peanuts Begins": http://peanuts.wikia.com/wiki/Peanuts_Begins) --79.232.138.127 (talk) 23:57, 4 November 2015 (UTC) Oliver.

Grace of God
This has struck me as a possible origin, but I have had no luck finding sources. All the best: Rich Farmbrough, 13:34, 22 April 2017 (UTC).

Grüß Gott is also used in Bavaria
...and it definitely has nothing to do with "Great Scott", it is used for greeting someone. According to a non-Bavarian German joke, when you meet Bavarians, "they do not greet you, they greet God" (sie grüßen dicht nicht, sie grüßen Gott) — Preceding unsigned comment added by 95.245.142.247 (talk) 14:32, 8 November 2019 (UTC)
 * I've noticed the phonetic similarity myself, but I have to agree: it just doesn't seem very plausible that a German greeting would be borrowed into 19th-century (initially American) English as an exclamation of amazement. The reference given is also oddly vague: I'm not sure what "identified with Grüß Gott" is even supposed to mean. I don't think it counts as a clear suggestion of a borrowing or "corruption". --Florian Blaschke (talk) 14:08, 5 July 2023 (UTC)

"inoffensive" unnecessary
The word inoffensive describing the exclamation in the first paragraph is unnecessary. It's like saying "This distinctive but safe car is from Germany," no? 182.2.141.243 (talk) 08:17, 18 March 2024 (UTC)