As an elementary teacher, my mother could string together colorful phrases using the names of fourth-grade art supplies, just to avoid a “swear word.” She had strict rules on what was allowed to be said and what was considered poor manners. I would write them all here, but the list is lengthy. One common phrase she tossed around was, “What the dickens!” It became so ingrained in my vocabulary that I started to hear my children yelling the words at their confused friends. They yell other things now, but I can’t control everything.

Scrolling through an endless offering of holiday films, I recently watched “A Christmas Carol,” based on the Charles Dickens 1843 novella. I’d always attributed my mother’s obsession with her favorite phrase to this author, but alas, I am once again incorrect. It is becoming a habit. Shhh, don’t tell my kids.

I need to brush up on my Shakespeare. In Act III, Scene II of “The Merry Wives of Windsor,” Mistress Page says to Robin, “I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my husband had him of. What do you call you knight’s name, sirrah?”

This play was written around 1597 and Charles Dickens was born in 1812. So the expression “What the dickens” or “It hurts like the dickens” was being bantered around by swear-word avoiding people for over two hundred years before the author Dickens became a household name.

I’m most likely stating the obvious, but the word dickens is a euphemism for the devil. Now I need to reevaluate how I think about Charles Dickens’ last name. I wonder what his ancestors did to receive such a handle? Was it a pen name?

Nope. Dickens was his family name, with numerous living descendants keeping the name and author’s legacy alive. They know their legacy doesn’t include an idiom for the devil. According to Ancestry.uk.com, the name Dickens means “son of Dickon or Richard,” symbolizing a brave ruler. But does it make Shakespeare wrong for using the word to allude to the devil?

My children enthusiastically embrace the news that we have been quoting Shakespeare all these years. Nowadays, saying “devil’ doesn’t carry the same taboo as in the past. But this phrase is easier to spit out than a list of fourth-grade art supplies.

What the dickens?