Oh, EMMA!

[Johnny L.A.]

As a teenager in the late-'70s, a friend would occasionally exclaim, 'Oh, Emma! -- usually when seeing an attractive girl (or 'fox', in the contemporary vernacular). I assume he got the phrase from his father, and that it was probably from his father's era. Near the end of the Hollywood movie Memphis Belle (to differentiate it from the real film), one of the crew says 'Oh, Emma!' as he hefts a machinegun.

Where does the exclamation 'Oh, Emma!' come from?

[Kimstu]

Apparently from a Victorian-era song (or more than one) featuring that phrase:

I don't mind telling you,
I took my girl to Kew,
And Emma was the darling creature's name.
While standing on the pier,
Some folks did at her leer,
And one and all around her did exclaim:
Whoa, Emma! Whoa, Emma!
Emma, yon put me in quite a dilemma.
Oh, Emma! Whoa, Emma!
That's what I hear from Putney to Kew.

Found a reference in an 1879 Cambridge Review:

Let me, before advancing further, stop to point out one essential characteristic of the songs of the day, their imitation, repetition and parody. A song is successful, and has a great run, and half-a-dozen more built on the same lines are at once in the field. For instance, " The two Obadiahs" pair off with " The two Marias"; " Tommy's Uncle " has " Sally's Aunty " to keep him in countenance, and " Nancy Lee " has to answer for the sins of " Nancy Free." " Whoa Emma " is still more fruitful, and is echoed by " Oh Emma," till it calls forth a song with a most sensible title, " Why can't you let Emma alone ?" For, as it justly complains, " Wherever one goes, you hear nothing but ' whoas' Prefixed to the Christian name Emma," while it clears up a difficulty as to the origin and nature of the famous phrase, by which many must have been perplexed

And more than a hundred and thirty years later, we're still fighting the perplexity! Hope that helps.

[AskNott]

In a more recent song, after the gentleman was in his teens in the 70s, Frank Zappa sang "I got a big dilemma about my Big Leg Emma."

Certainly, the Victorian song started it, but men still sing about Emma.

[Arkcon]

Wow. "Emma" was it? I thought we were all just muttering "Oh, momma" from the 17970's onwards, from the earliest days of Funk to Bender's orgiastic galactic electrocution when he was addicted to jacking on. Who knew. Emma. I just may have to start using it, just to be correct. Wouldn't want people to think I wasn't hep. To the jive. That is.

[Squink]

Emma Peel brought the name into common use amongst some 60's teens.

[Kimstu]

There was also a well-known song "Whoa, Emma!" from the 1951 musical Texas Carnival, which doubtless helped keep the meme alive.