Oh wigwams!!

Was talking to my daughter about things I used to say as a child, and it's amazing what one recalls ... When I was a little girl I'd never heard anything that today I'd call a real swearword (The first time I ever heard obscenities was when I was about 16 and joined the church youth group -- the guys there used language I'd never heard before in my life), the worst word I'd ever heard was bl**dy, and I'm not even sure most modern Aussies (not counting my mother or the prohibitions she drummed into me) would even think that was really a swearword. So I thought that words like 'damn' and 'blast' were very wicked, but I wanted to have something dramatic I could say when I got upset, that I couldn't possibly get into trouble for. So, after long hard thought (ok, a day or 2, but remember, I was only 5 at the time!) I came up with my own special expression: when i was upset I would go round saying "Oh wigwams!" I have no idea how long that phase lasted, but I'm quite sure that this was something I NEVER got into trouble for saying! (though I don't think I said it in adult hearing very often, just in case ..) When I told my family about this, for some reason they found the picture of a cross little pickle going round saying "Oh wigwams!" incredibly funny ..

Another thing was that the adults around me were in the habit of saying "Heavens!" when they were surprised. But of course, by now I was on a roll, and I couldn't just repeat what they said. But my new expression didn't last very long, for some reason they all laughed at me when I put on my most grown up voice and said, "Heaven on earth above earth!"