Idiom question

A. Vine avine at ENG.SUN.COM
Fri Jan 21 22:25:44 UTC 2000


"Aaron E. Drews" wrote:
>
> On Fri, 21 Jan 2000 Mark_Mandel at DRAGONSYS.COM wrote:
>
> }Jim Smith wrote:
> }
> }>>>
> }I've been told, by someone who used it in the wrong
> }place (England) and was strongly reprimanded, that
> }"holy cow" is an insulting (no kidding!) reference to
> }the Queen of England.
> }<<<
> }
> }Hmph. Not bloody likely... as coming from the people who think "bloody" is a
> }blasphemy!  ;-)\
>
> That's starting to lose it's "weight" of vulgarity.  It's still stronger
> than "damn", but weaker than the universal expletive.
>
> }
> }But Seriously Folks, that one does sound very strange. Has anyone else heard of
> }it?
>
> I can't say that I've ever heard that particular insult applied to Her
> Majesty.  I'll ask around, since the Scots tend to be more (proudly)
> anti-monarchy than the English.
>

I asked my English husband, who said he'd never heard of such an association.
I was reminded while watching BBC World News, and listening to Joanna Gosling
say "Che'chen".

Andrea



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