doggone
exclamation, adjective (before a noun) informal (US)

- used to express feelings of anger, annoyance, surprise, or pleasure

- used as a more polite form of “damn”

- used as an exaggeration word (such as in the word “very" being replaced by doggone)

The Cambridge Dictionary, Merriam-Webster

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WORD ORIGIN

The word “doggone” is a mild expletive in American English, used to express annoyance, surprise, or emphasis (e.g., “Well, doggone it!”). Its etymology is both fascinating and an example of linguistic creativity aimed at softening profanity.

The most widely accepted theory is that "doggone" is a softened or altered form of "God damn", used to avoid blasphemy. Variations like "doggarn" and "dog on it" are thought to have contributed to the evolution of the term.

Mark Twain and other 19th-century American writers used “doggone” to add authenticity and humour to the speech of rural or colloquial characters.

"Doggone" has been used as an interjection to express annoyance, surprise, or emphasis, and occasionally as an adjective meaning "confounded" or "damned". It became particularly popular in American English during the 19th century and remains in informal use today.

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DOGGONE BRITISH

Enjoy the following list — it was fun compiling it, P&H :-)

- Bally = "That bally dog has dug up my prize-winning roses."

- Blast it = "Blast it! The car won’t start again."

- Blessed = "We've missed the blessed bus by just thirty seconds!"

- Blinking = "The blinking train is running late for the third time this week."

- Blimey! = "Blimey, that was a close one—nearly dropped my tea!"

- Bloody hell = "Bloody hell, I can't believe I missed the train!"

- Bloomin’ heck! = "Bloomin’ heck, it’s freezing in here!"

- By gum! = "By gum, that lad’s grown a foot since Christmas."

- Confounded = "I've spent all afternoon looking for those confounded glasses only to find them on my head."

- Cor blimey! = "Cor blimey, you weren’t joking about the traffic!"

- Crikey = "Crikey, it’s freezing outside!"

- Dash it all! = "Dash it all, I’ve spilled tea on my shirt!"

- Dashed = "The dashed meeting has been rescheduled yet again."

- Flipping = "That flipping cat has knocked over my favourite vase."

- Flippin’ Nora! = "Flippin’ Nora, you scared the life out of me!"

- Good grief! = "Good grief! The intern just accidentally deleted the entire client folder."

- Gordon Bennett! = "Gordon Bennett, how long does it take to boil an egg?"

- Ruddy = "I've had it up to here with this ruddy computer and its constant updates."

- Strewth! = "Strewth, he actually pulled it off!" (originally Australian, but occasionally used in British English)

- What a faff = "What a faff! I’ve got to redo the whole report now."

- What the Dickens! = "What the Dickens is going on in there?"

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U.S. SYNONYMS

consarned, cotton-pickin’, dad-blamed, dad-burned, dad-gummed, dad-ratted, dagnabbit, dang, danged, darn, darned, ding-dang, ding-darn, DOGGONE, doggone-it, ever-lovin’, gall-dang, gall-durned, goldarn, goldurn, gosh-durn, goshdang, heckin’, tarnation

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“I never realized that DOGGONE had so many equivalents in British English."

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