Scientists know that our universe is expanding rapidly, competing research groups are struggling to determine how rapidly. According to the New York Times one of several teams working on the problem is known as “BOSS”. Baryon Oscillation Spectrascopic Survey is just too hard to say. The group from the Max Planck Institute is known as HOLiCOW, short for who knows what.

Oh, those irreverent scientists. Some folks detect a note of blasphemy in Holy Cow (Might this be an insult to the sacred Hindu cow?) Unlikely, it seems.

More likely, we have an example of a “minced oath,” meaning a euphemism for a blasphemous term. Holy Cow has been in use since 1914, as a euphemism for Holy Christ. It’s an old tradition. Examples from the seventeenth century include zounds, an expression of astonishment derived from “god’s wounds,” and the similar exclamation, gadzooks, for “god’s hooks,” referring to the nails in the cross.

Jeez, gee whiz, and the shortened version, gee, all substitute for Jesus. Crikey is associated with Australia, but it’s origin is English, mid-nineteenth century. At that time the various states within the U.S had different versions of laws on blasphemy and innumerable expressions appeared in the American vocabulary. Gosh and golly for God, darn and dang for damn, heck for hell.

From that time, holy has been used as an intensifying word in expletives. Holy mackerel (from 1876) was one of the many phrases substituted for Holy Mary. With the Batman comics, holy became attached to anything, holy cats, holy buckets, holy smokes. From the 1940’s, the popular baseball broadcaster, Harry Caray, used a trademark exclamation of “Holy Cow!” to avoid any vulgarities that might otherwise pop out of his mouth.

Holy smokes (from 1883) is another expression that has come under suspicion for insulting religion, suggesting that it refers to the smoke that signals the announcement of a new pope. On the other hand, others have noted, that the word combinations of holy with another long o vowel sound good, hence: Holy Toledo, Holy Moley substituting for Holy Moses.

As late as 1941, a federal judge threatened a lawyer with contempt of court for using the word “darn.” In 1952 the U.S. Supreme Court declared the blasphemy laws unenforceable infringements on free speech. That’s good news. But we all need to be careful overseas.

Pakistan is only one example. This happened in 2011. A woman working in the fields got involved in a dispute over a drink of water and allegedly uttered an oath. She was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. The Pakistani politician, Salman Taseer, who tried to intervene on her behalf was gunned down for his efforts and a radical segment of the population cheered the gunman. Crikey!

As late as 1941, a federal judge threatened a lawyer with contempt of court for using the word “darn.” In 1952 the U.S. Supreme Court declared the blasphemy laws unenforceable infringements on free speech. That’s good news. But we all need to be very careful overseas.

Pakistan is only one example. This happened in 2011. A woman working in the fields got involved in a dispute over a drink of water and allegedly uttered an oath. She was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. The Pakistani politician, Salman Taseer, who tried to intervene on her behalf was gunned down for his efforts and a radical segment of the population cheered the gunman. Crikey!