Jesum Crow
- idiom
- /ˈdʒiːzəm kroʊ/
- Offensive
:
Jesucristo
- "Jesum Crow, that was a close call!" he exclaimed as the car skidded.
Examples
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When the news was announced, Aunt May cried, "Jesum Crow, what a shock!"
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Jesum Crow! I never expected to see you here after all these years.
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Jesum Crow! I can't believe you did that!
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Did you just say that? Jesum Crow!
-
"Jesum Crow, that was a close call!" he exclaimed as the car skidded.
-
Jesum Crow! I never expected to see you here after all these years.
-
When the news was announced, Aunt May cried, "Jesum Crow, what a shock!"
Synonyms
1
9.9
A funny online spelling of Jesus used to show surprise
1
9.9
An expression people say to show surprise or disbelief
1
9.9
A mild old word people say to show surprise
An old Irish word said to show surprise or strong feeling
A short old Irish phrase people say to show surprise or strong feeling
A short phrase people say to show surprise or strong feeling, often jokingly
Surface Forms
Morphology
Jesum + Crow
The phrase is an archaic regional exclamation and its parts offer no compositional clue: 'Jesum' is not a standard lexical item and 'crow' is just a bird, so their literal meanings do not yield the exclamative sense. It appears to be a minced oath (likely from 'Jesus Christ') and thus is idiomatic and culturally specific; a B1 learner who knows the constituent words would not reliably infer the meaning.
Etymology
Jesum Crow may come from people changing the holy name Jesus Christ so they would not swear, turning it into a safer-sounding shout. They kept the sharp sound by using the ordinary word crow instead of 'Christ', and so Jesum Crow became an old-fashioned exclamation used 'to express surprise' or disbelief.