Son of a gun

Son of a gun is an exclamation in American and British English. It can be used encouragingly or to compliment, as in "You son of a gun, you did it!" Definition The Cambridge Advanced Learner's Dictionary and Webster's Dictionary both define "son of a gun" in American English as a euphemism for son of a bitch. Encarta Dictionary defines the term in a different way as someone "affectionately or kindly regarded." The term can also be used as an interjection expressing surprise, mild annoyance or disappointment. Etymology The phrase is found in a piece of comic verse from 1726: A 1787 correspondent to The Gentleman's Magazine suggested that the phrase originally meant "a soldier's brat".