Blue Murder
Does anyone know the origin of the phrase, " Blue murder," or, " screaming blue murder."
Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable says
Blue Murder: To shout blue murder. Indicative more of terror or
alarm than of real danger. It appears to be a play on the French
exclamation
morbleu; there may also be a distinct allusion to the common phrase
"blue ruin."
It goes on to define "blue ruin" as gin (from its tint) a phrase
that is no longer common, perhaps because most gins these days are
clear, lending new nicknames to the old truth serum: see-through,
for one.