Tuesday, April 25, 2006

Words: Bloody

Why do we use "bloody" as a swear word? Take Our Word For It says it's either from "Our Lady" (meaning Mary, the mother of Jesus), or from the nickname, "Bloody Mary", for Mary, Queen Of Scots. Wordorigins.org adds "God's blood" or "By our Lady", or it may be a reference to menstruation.

But everyone seems to agree that "zounds" derives from "God's wounds".

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