Does anyone know the inside meaning of the "oh, my leg" joke on Spongebob Squarepants?

Question

Whenever something catastrophic happens in any given epsiode there is someone in the background that moans "oh, my leg." It is always the same voice and this character is never seen. It happens it over half of the episodes.

and fires cannot burn underwater and yet they can have campfires

Answer 1

I never noticed this until you brought it up! :)

I think it's a way for kids to know something bad has happened - like they couldn't figure it out any other way. Oh, my leg! is a simple way to mean that someone's hurt.

That brings up another point...

Fish don't have legs. Perhaps that's the joke!

Maybe they have an appendage complex or something.

The world may never know. :)