"jeezum crow"

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:46 PM -0400 10/29/10, Ann Burlingham wrote:
>On Fri, Oct 29, 2010 at 10:53 AM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at stanford.edu> wrote:
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>  Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
>>  Subject:      "jeezum crow"
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  taboo-avoidance form for "jesus christ"; it appeared in a comment
>>from a Facebook friend who grew up in Maine. googling pulls up
>>Vermont and New Brunswick as well, and another Facebook friend
>>added northern NY. DARE has it for Vermont and Northern NY, but
>>it's clear that the distribution is wider, and almost surely takes
>>in New Hampshire as well.
>>
>>  though apparently still geographically restricted. does anyone
>>have reports of the form from speakers without a history in this
>>region?  (the friend who first used it now lives in California, and
>>before that in Boston, but she picked it up in her Maine
>>childhood.)  Jon, do you have it in your files?
>>
>>  almost surely it was innovated by people in a very small group --
>>since it's fairly distant from the model -- and then spread, but
>>this is the sort of history we'll probably never be able to unearth.
>
>The phrase seemed familiar to me, but maybe that's from going to
>school in New England. A quick survey of co-workers: the one in her
>fifties who grew up in western NY: never heard of it. The 33-year-old
>who grew up all over, knows it from going to school at SUNY
>Plattsburgh, where, he reports, there was (is?) a band by that name.
>
>I was surprised to hear or read someone else using "Christ on a
>crutch". I have no idea where I got that one from, either but I use it
>a lot.
>
 From the same family (but perhaps not the same store) as "Christ on a cracker".

LH

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