Jesus H. Christ: Difference between revisions
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[[File:Campbell Alexander.png|Alexander Campbell around 1855|thumb]] | [[File:Campbell Alexander.png|Alexander Campbell around 1855|thumb]] | ||
The earliest use of the phrase is unknown, | The earliest use of the phrase is unknown. An early printed usage appeared in <i>The Morning Democrat</i> of Davenport, Iowa, on May 20, 1857, where the phrase was quoted as a novel phrase and an example of increasingly elaborate profanity: "By Jesus H. Christ it is so."<ref>{{cite news |title=Swearing as One of the Fine Arts |newspaper=The Morning Democrat |location=Davenport, Iowa |date=May 20, 1857 |page=3 |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-morning-democrat/172358026/}}</ref> In his autobiography, [[Mark Twain]] (1835–1910) observed that it was in general use even in his childhood.<ref>"In that day, the common swearers of the region [i.e., around his home town of [[Hannibal, Missouri|Hannibal]]] had a way of their own of ''emphasizing'' the Savior's name when they were using it profanely". The context of Twain's remark (given here in the main text) makes it clear that he was referring to "Jesus H. Christ". Source: Harriet Elinor Smith, ed. (2010) ''The autobiography of Mark Twain''. Berkeley: University of California Press, p. 458.</ref> Twain refers to an episode from 1847, when he was working as a printer's apprentice; Roger Smith (1994) tells the tale thus: | ||
<blockquote>[Twain] recounts a practical joke a friend played on a revival preacher when Twain was an apprentice in a printing shop that [[Alexander Campbell (clergyman)|Alexander Campbell]], a famous evangelist then visiting [[Hannibal, Missouri|Hannibal]], hired to print a pamphlet of his sermon. While checking the galleys, Twain's fellow apprentice, Wales McCormick, found he had to make room for some dropped words, which he managed by shortening Jesus Christ on the same line to J. C. As soon as Campbell had read the proofs, he swept indignantly into the shop and commanded McCormick, "So long as you live, don't you ever diminish the Savior's name again. Put it all in." The puckish McCormick obeyed, and then some: he set Jesus H. Christ and printed up all the pamphlets.<ref>Smith 1994, 332. See also R. Kent Rasmussen, "Wales McCormick", in ''Critical Companion to Mark Twain: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work'', Infobase Publishing, 2007, p. 786.</ref><ref>Draper (1993) offers further details: the printing shop was the printing facility for the ''Hannibal Courier''. Avoiding "J. C." required three of 16 pages to be reset.</ref></blockquote> | <blockquote>[Twain] recounts a practical joke a friend played on a revival preacher when Twain was an apprentice in a printing shop that [[Alexander Campbell (clergyman)|Alexander Campbell]], a famous evangelist then visiting [[Hannibal, Missouri|Hannibal]], hired to print a pamphlet of his sermon. While checking the galleys, Twain's fellow apprentice, Wales McCormick, found he had to make room for some dropped words, which he managed by shortening Jesus Christ on the same line to J. C. As soon as Campbell had read the proofs, he swept indignantly into the shop and commanded McCormick, "So long as you live, don't you ever diminish the Savior's name again. Put it all in." The puckish McCormick obeyed, and then some: he set Jesus H. Christ and printed up all the pamphlets.<ref>Smith 1994, 332. See also R. Kent Rasmussen, "Wales McCormick", in ''Critical Companion to Mark Twain: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work'', Infobase Publishing, 2007, p. 786.</ref><ref>Draper (1993) offers further details: the printing shop was the printing facility for the ''Hannibal Courier''. Avoiding "J. C." required three of 16 pages to be reset.</ref></blockquote> | ||
Latest revision as of 08:09, 1 July 2025
Template:Short description Template:Use mdy dates
Jesus H. Christ is an expletive interjection that refers to the Christian religious figure of Jesus.[1] It is typically uttered in anger, surprise, or frustration; although often with humorous intent.[2]
History
The earliest use of the phrase is unknown. An early printed usage appeared in The Morning Democrat of Davenport, Iowa, on May 20, 1857, where the phrase was quoted as a novel phrase and an example of increasingly elaborate profanity: "By Jesus H. Christ it is so."[3] In his autobiography, Mark Twain (1835–1910) observed that it was in general use even in his childhood.[4] Twain refers to an episode from 1847, when he was working as a printer's apprentice; Roger Smith (1994) tells the tale thus:
[Twain] recounts a practical joke a friend played on a revival preacher when Twain was an apprentice in a printing shop that Alexander Campbell, a famous evangelist then visiting Hannibal, hired to print a pamphlet of his sermon. While checking the galleys, Twain's fellow apprentice, Wales McCormick, found he had to make room for some dropped words, which he managed by shortening Jesus Christ on the same line to J. C. As soon as Campbell had read the proofs, he swept indignantly into the shop and commanded McCormick, "So long as you live, don't you ever diminish the Savior's name again. Put it all in." The puckish McCormick obeyed, and then some: he set Jesus H. Christ and printed up all the pamphlets.[5][6]
Roger Smith suggests that "Jesus H. Christ" is a specifically American profanity, and indicates that at least in his experience it is uttered primarily by men.[7] British writer Michael Quinion likewise specifies the phrase as belonging to American English.[8]
Stress pattern
Multiple authors emphasize the practice of placing a strong stress on the "H", relating it in various ways to expletive infixation. Thus Quinion writes:
Its long survival must have a lot to do with its cadence, and the way that an especially strong stress can be placed on the H. You might also think of it as an example of emphatic infixing that loosely fits the models of words like abso-bloody-lutely or tribu-bloody-lation.[8]
Similar remarks were made by the linguist Dwight Bolinger, who mentions "Jesus H. Christ" in a discussion of the strategies used by English speakers to add additional stresses to "highly charged words" for purposes of emphasis.[9] Horberry suggests "The strong emphasis on the H somehow improves the rhythm of its host phrase."[10] The Green's Dictionary of Slang says "the H is redundant other than for rhythm".[11]
Etymology
Using the name of Jesus Christ as an oath has been common for many centuries, but the precise origins of the letter H in the expression are obscure. While many explanations have been proposed, the most widely accepted derivation is from the divine monogram of Christian symbolism. The symbol, derived from the first three letters of the Greek name of Jesus (Script error: No such module "Lang".), is transliterated iota-eta-sigma, which can look like IHS, Script error: No such module "Lang". (with lunate sigma), JHS or JHC ("J" was historically a mere variant of "I").
For how this learned-sounding abbreviation could have served as the basis for vulgar slang, Smith offers the hypothesis that it was noticed by ordinary people when it was worn as a decoration on the vestments of Anglican (i.e., in America, Episcopal) clergy.[12] The "JHC" variant would particularly invite interpretation of the "H" as part of a name.
False etymology
While the above is the most likely origin of the "H", there are other popular false etymologies. One commonly held origin is as an initial for the name "Harold", which is mentioned by Smith as the basis of a variant form, "Jesus Harold Christ".[13] The "Harold" may arise from a common misinterpretation (often by children) of the phrase in the Lord's Prayer, "Our Father who art in heaven hallowed be thy name." This phrase can be mistakenly interpreted as specifying the name of the Deity ("thy name is ... "), rather than the true reading, which is "may thy name be hallowed". The confusion would arise from the phonetic similarity of hallowed (IPA [ˈhæloʊd]) to Harold (IPA [ˈhærəld]).[14]Template:Better source
Facetious etymology
In a joke made by biology students, the H is said to stand for "Haploid"; the implication being that since by the doctrine of the Virgin birth Jesus had no biological father, his genome would have been inherited entirely from his mother, the Virgin Mary. For the scientific background of the joke see Ploidy.[1]
Variants
The number of variant forms, usually with "H" replaced by something longer, is vast.[15] In addition to the folk etymology of Jesus Harold Christ, Smith lists Jesus Holy Christ, Jesus Hecking Christ, and Jesus H. Particular Christ.[12] Green's Dictionary of Slang lists Jesus H!, Jesus H. Johnson!, Jesus H. Mahogany Christ!, Jesus Christ!, Christ!, Jesus J Christ!, and Judas H. Christ!.[16]
For Smith, the very presence of so many spelled-out variants is part of the humor—and blasphemy—inherent in "Jesus H. Christ". He suggests that the H offers "the power of taking the Lord's name in vain by adding something to it that the imagination is invited to complete: What does the H. stand for? — whatever the errant imagination proposes and the imaginer is disposed to enjoy."[12]
Offensive status and blasphemy
The term is considered offensive by some, most notably within Christianity, where most denominations view Jesus as part of the Trinity and consubstantial with God. Thus, saying the name "Jesus (H.) Christ" can be taken as a form of contempt or disrespect for God and a form of blasphemy.[17] More specifically, the interjection is considered by some to be a violation of the commandment, Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord thy God in vain.
Citations
General and cited references
- Bolinger, Dwight (1986). Intonation and its parts: melody in spoken English. Stanford, CA: Stanford University Press. Cited extract may be read on line at Google Books: [1].
- Bottoms, Stephen J. (2000). Albee: Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
- Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- Draper, Mark (1993). "Alexander Campbell", article in Christie Graves Hamric (ed.) The Mark Twain Encyclopedia. Taylor & Francis.
- Falvey, Kate (2010). Dark humor in Edward Albee's "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?". In Harold Bloom and Blake Hobby, eds., Dark Humor. Infobase Publishing.
- Horberry, Roger (2010). Sounds good on paper: How to bring business language to life. A&C Black. Cited passages may be read online at Google Books: [2].
- Lennox, Doug (2013). Now you know absolutely everything. Dundurn. Cited extract can be read on Google Books: [3].
- Quinion, Michael (2009). Why is Q Always Followed by U?: Word-Perfect Answers to the Most-Asked Questions About Language. Penguin UK.
- Ransom, Ian (2006) Waiting for the Rapture. iUniverse.
- Salinger, J. D. (1951). The Catcher in the Rye. New York: Little, Brown.
- Script error: No such module "Citation/CS1".
External links
- Explanation from WorldWideWords by Michael Quinion (supports the IHC theory)
- Harold be thy name! (has an interesting connection to Epistle of Barnabas (9:6—7) (written between 70 and 190 AD) which says "The eighteen is I (=ten) and H (=8)—you have Jesus".)
- ↑ a b Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ The humor resides in the apparently arbitrary choice of "H", which has no Biblical justification. In addition, as Horberry (2010:26) points out, use of a middle initial would imply that "Christ" was Jesus's last name; it is not; for discussion, see Jesus. For more on humor, see "Variants", below.
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ "In that day, the common swearers of the region [i.e., around his home town of Hannibal] had a way of their own of emphasizing the Savior's name when they were using it profanely". The context of Twain's remark (given here in the main text) makes it clear that he was referring to "Jesus H. Christ". Source: Harriet Elinor Smith, ed. (2010) The autobiography of Mark Twain. Berkeley: University of California Press, p. 458.
- ↑ Smith 1994, 332. See also R. Kent Rasmussen, "Wales McCormick", in Critical Companion to Mark Twain: A Literary Reference to His Life and Work, Infobase Publishing, 2007, p. 786.
- ↑ Draper (1993) offers further details: the printing shop was the printing facility for the Hannibal Courier. Avoiding "J. C." required three of 16 pages to be reset.
- ↑ Smith 1994, 331–2.
- ↑ a b Quinion (2009).
- ↑ Bolinger (1986:84-86)
- ↑ Horberry (2010:25)
- ↑ Green’s Dictionary of Slang
- ↑ a b c Smith 1994, 332.
- ↑ Smith 1994, 32.
- ↑ For web attestations of the misinterpretation, see [4], [5], [6], [7], and [8]
- ↑ A machine search of the internet for expressions occurring in the frame "Jesus _____ Christ", both h-initial and more generally, is reported by blogger "Tenser" at [9].
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".
- ↑ Script error: No such module "citation/CS1".