DEAR ABBY: I am blessed to be 70 years old and have few problems. Your column today got me wondering about something. You answered, "For Pete's sake..." to a question. I just wondered, who is Pete? I have heard the expression all my life and am just curious. -- DALE IN THE SOUTH
DEAR DALE: That's a good question, because I didn't know where the phrase came from either. "For Pete's sake" is a mild oath. According to my online research, it's a cleaned-up version of what was originally "For Christ's sake."