shazbot

English

Etymology

Popularised by the character Mork (played by Robin Williams) on the American television sitcom Mork & Mindy (1978).

Pronunciation

• Audio (General Australian):

  (file)

Interjection

shazbot

1. (slang) An excited utterance used to convey disappointment, particularly as a euphemism for shit.
   • 1978 February 28, “My Favorite Orkan”, in Happy Days, season 5, episode 22, spoken by Mork (Robin Williams):

     Shazbot, I missed!

   • 2005 December 29, Diablo Cody, Candy Girl: A Year in the Life of an Unlikely Stripper, Gotham, →ISBN, →OL, page 26:

     I spent the next frantic seconds (felt like a year, actually) trying to disentangle myself from the pole while the crowd and the contestants guffawed. Shazbot!

   • 2011 May 10, Roy Blount Jr., Alphabetter Juice: or, The Joy of Text, New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux, →ISBN, →OL, page 149:

     When I lurch back toward where I can make out what CNN is saying, CNN has broken for commercial. Shazbot!

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:shazbot.

See also

• Appendix:Fictional English curse words