Old blasphemies (not for the faint-hearted)
Posted by Kiwi49 on September 30, 2002
Hi folks -- I'm brand new
here. Mr Google sent me, because I wanted to check out a story from my high school
days (1964). Our English teacher (who was English) once told us that the working
classes in Britain used to blaspheme frequently, so the upper crust brought in
a law banning the practice. However, the ever-inventive citizens circumvented
this by simply shortening their expressions. Contrary to another post here (http://www.phrases.org.uk/bulletin_board/5/messages/695.html),
cripes doesn't mean just Christ, it means Christ's piss.
Likewise:
Gosh
= God's shit
Crikey = Christ kick me
I'll leave "crikey dick" to your imagination.
Can
anyone confirm this? Most dictionaries give a much more PC definition.
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