"Very strange use for a chest of drawers. Is the lady right in her head?"
Val, very indignant: "Goodness gracious! mercy me! I should think so!"
"I've told you not to use those exclamations."
"No, you didn't say—"
"Do I understand you to be contradicting me?"
"You said I wasn't to say 'Oh, Lord!' nor 'Gee-rusa-lem!' nor 'Dear me suz!' nor 'Holy Moses!' I don't see what there's left to say."
"I said let your speech be 'Yea, yea,' and 'Nay, nay.' You are not to bring sacred names into common talk. The Jews of old had a proper instinct for these things. They never uttered the name of Jehovah even in prayer. No Jew would step upon a piece of parchment, for fear it might be inscribed with the name of God. It is impious to call upon the mercy of the Most High on trivial occasions."
"I don't call on Him—never."
"Yes, you do, when you use those expressions. God is 'gracious'; He alone is 'goodness.'"