Just curious as to where this expression came from and when it came into being. It's one that is commonly used (among other variations, e.g. "Oh for crying out loud!"), but where does it come from originally?
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1A classic blasphemous curse, subverted into decency by crying out to St Peter, perhaps? – PyroTyger Feb 8 '11 at 14:08
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For Pete's sake can be found earlier than 1924.
1903's The Pedagogical Seminary and Journal of Genetic Psychology, Vol. X., includes a paper called "Children's Interests in Words, Slang, Stories, Etc." by Edward Conradi.
From page 377 in a list of slang expressions used by girls:
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@Pacerier Probably by searching Google Books, finding something which was only available in preview, and then searching archive.org for the same title in full view. Sometimes hathitrust.org also has them too. – Hugo Feb 16 '16 at 14:17