A brief excerpt from this morning's online conversation:
<KT> oh, heavens to mergatroid
<Matt> (who is mergatroid, anyway?)
<KT> I dunno, something Marvin the Martian says sometimes
Which, of course, lead to a discussion of just who this person is (or was, or purported to be, anyway). Imagine my shock and dismay when I couldn't find it at all in either OneLook or Wikipedia!
Actually, the original phrase is "Heavens to Murgatroyd!" In meaning, it's pretty much the same as "Heavens to Betsy!", or "Oh, my!" It seems to have been popularized by (but didn't originate with) the cartoon character Snagglepuss, who debuted on "Quick Draw McGraw" in 1959. (I remember him better from "The Yogi Bear Show," which came a little later.) I say it didn't originate with Snagglepuss, because some sources note that the phrase seems to have been used in the 1940s as well (thanks for the link, Matt!). Google even turns up a 90s blues-punk band called "Thee Headcoats," who came out with an album called "Heavens To Murgatroyd, Even! It's Thee Headcoats (Already)".
So who was Murgatroyd, anyway? Well, there's some discussion over that, too. The 8th Man link above notes that it was a term used in tiddlywinks. The writer also suggests that the phrase *could* have been coined in reference to the accursed Bad Baronet of that name from Gilbert & Sullivan's Ruddigore, or The Witch's Curse (if you're interested in more about the opera, check out this very nice Ruddigore site). On the other hand, there is a real British family name of Murgatroyd, and they seem to have had a pretty disasterous encounter with Cromwell's Roundheads. Personally, I think it just got picked up as a word that's fun to say. :)
And while we're speaking of nonsense words, I also offer you Alfred Hitchcock's MacGuffin, a neat word for a plot device. Technically this is not a New Thing I learned just today, but it was a New Thing for me not too terribly long ago (thanks again, Matt) and I've found myself using it a great deal lately (thanks, KT).