2006-09-11 03:39:19 · 3 answers · asked by minesaphatone 2 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Blue murder. To scream or shout blue murder. Indicative of terror and alarm rather than real danger. It appears to be a play on the French expression "morbleu"
"Morbleu" is an obsolete curse. "Mor" is derived from "mort", death. The expression "morbleu" literally means "blue death". The word "blue" ("bleu") is used as a substitute for the word "God" ("dieu") in some French-language curses. For example, the expression "sacré bleu", which remains in common use, literally means "sacred blue". It is more accurately rendered as "God damn".
Brewsters Dictionary
2006-09-11 03:44:07 · answer #1 · answered by Saskia M 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
In Brewer's Dictionary (dictionary of phrase and fable), the following entry for "blue murder" appears:
To shout blue murder. Indicative more of terror or alarm than of real danger. It appears to be a play on the French exclamation 'morbleu'; there may also be a distinct allusion to the common phrase “blue ruin.”
2006-09-11 10:46:37 · answer #2 · answered by askyourq 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
blue murder means killing a cop
2006-09-11 10:40:12 · answer #3 · answered by Grin Reeper 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋