Popular notion nowadays is that the word “Doggone” is an affected or prim American version of “God damned.”
The fact is, however, that British writers, long before any record of American usage is found, were using “dog on it,” as a form of mild oath, much as earlier writers had been using “a pox on it.”
We think it most likely, therefore, that doggone is nothing more than a misspelling of dog on.
