run like the dickens??

Here is the context:
Among the worst of the "bad" fats are margarine and the fats found in anything fried. And if you see "partially hydrogenated" on the label, run like the dickens.
What is it? Who'are these dickens? Looking up dictionaries and browsing internet, I found some information, but still don't understand - why dickens? And is it a slang expression or pretty neutral? British or American?

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=The+dickens

http://www.runlikethedickens.com/
Thanks

Dickens is a euphemism for the Devil. The expression has been in the language for centuries and predates the birth of Charles Dickens by at least 200 years. Mistress Page utters it in Shakespeare's The Merry Wives of Windsor (Act 3, Scene 2): "I cannot tell what the dickens his name is my husband had him of".

It just means to run away quickly. Similar expressions are:

Run like mad
Run like a bat out of hell
Run like crazy
Run for your life

It is quite British sounding to me, and I can only imagine only people using the phrase.

Ye it is definately british sounding to me too. Sounds kinda upper / upper-middle class to me but maybe I'm just stereotyping here.

i think mostly old people would say it, its sumthing my nan would say lol

<<I can only imagine only people using the phrase.>>

???......not animals?

That is funny that you say that John... That's exactly what I was thinking...

Oh, yeah, I am thinking that too...

It is basically a British expression although I've never actually heard anyone use it myself - it's much more of an "English" thing I reckon. I can't ever imagine a Scot using it - no way! - and of the English who may still use it I have a feeling that it is a wee bit class based as well, and perhaps it has fallen out of use now anyway. I can't imagine a refuse operative* from Brixton or Battersea ever using it to be honest with you.

It does mean something done with the maximum of effort or effect, or something that is causing maximum hassle - "run like the very dickens" or "this is one dickens of a problem to sort out." Shakespeare did use it, that's true - and Pepys' diaries are peperred with "dickenses". It's interesting to see how the certain words from the time of those illustrious men of letters have completely changed their meanings today. Eg: the "merry" of 16th/17th century England does not mean the same as it does today. Other words in common parlance back then have long since passed out of use now.

I wonder what the spoken English of 22nd century Britain will be like? Or later.....assuming we haven't all been submerged by the oceans by then.
I mean - watching some of those old B&W films of 40, 50 or 60 or so years ago makes you realise how speech patterns have changed - cheers to that for starters!

*PC speak for binmen, rubbish/trash disposal men (I've never, ever seen a female doing those jobs).

What's the Mac speak for them? I don't like PCs.

Refuse or rubbish men - in Corstorphine anyway! :-)

I've heard Americans use this. I don't know if I've heard anyone in their twenties use this, but I certainly understand it.

I've heard this in America extensively. Mostly older people or ministers, parents, etc. people who wouldn't wanna be heard cursing.

What the dickens are you lot on about?

I'm familiar with the expression, but I pretty much never hear it.