# "Sacre Bleu" Definition? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 11, 2011, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sacre-bleu-definition/605854 "2011-12-11T22:49:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![mnemosyne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/c4cdca/32.png) [@mnemosyne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mnemosyne)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sacre-bleu-definition/605854/21 "2011-12-14T06:06:48Z")
I didn’t know that, though I admit the only time I ever hear it are in over-the-top stereotypical depictions of the French (France) either in English or Québecois French comedies. It’s “cliché France”, I guess. I don’t recall hearing anyone swear in French the last time I was there, but it’s not like I was listening for it, either! 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 2:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sacre-bleu-definition/605854/22 "2011-12-14T14:13:28Z")
> [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](#): > > [Respectfully submitted for your perusal](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=15355) Specifically [post=261559]this post[/post] by **bibliophage**. Summary: according to the _Trésor_, it’s made of ‘z’ + ‘ut’. The origin of ‘ut’ is obscure but it may be a deformation of _foutre_ (to fuck) or the first word of _Ut tibi prosit meri potio_, a sentence that was used by printers to wish good luck to each other. The ‘z’ was added after people liaised with ‘ut’ a preceding word ending with ‘s’. It’s the same process that lead to Ned and Nancy being nicknames for Edward and Anne in English. (“mine Edward” –\> “mine Ed” –\> “my Ned”) ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sacre-bleu-definition/605854/23 "2011-12-14T14:24:58Z")
> [@clairobscur](#): > > I might be wrong, but I doubt it had anything to do with Mary, regardless of what wikipedia says. > > If you look at old French curse words, you’ll notice a lot of “bleu” : morBLEU, ventreBLEU, sacreBLEU, etc… > > In fact, “bleu”, here doesn’t refer to the colour but is an euphemism for “dieu” (god). So, “sacrebleu!” most correct translation would be something like “Holy gosh!” > (And in the case of ventrebleu, whose actual hidden meaning would be “by God’s belly”, I always suspected that “ventre” (belly) was itself an euphemism for a more private part of god’s anatomy.) That’s the common explanation I learned too at school. But what I had also learned back then (not saying it still holds today), was that Dieu was used greatly in swearing, and, at one point, it came to be seen as blasphemous to use Dieu/God in swearing, so a language shift was made and Dieu was replaced with Bleu\*. \*BTW, aristocrats in France were said to have “sang Bleu” in their veins (I guess back then it was read both as metaphorical and somehow real), meaning they had God’s blood, and thus were fit to reign. Like the King being personally mandated by God. ---
**Author:** ![Fish\_Cheer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fish_cheer/32/17179_2.png) [@Fish\_Cheer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fish_Cheer)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sacre-bleu-definition/605854/24 "2011-12-14T16:42:58Z")
> [@Capitaine\_Zombie](#): > > at one point, it came to be seen as blasphemous to use Dieu/God in swearing Isn’t that what blasphemy means to begin with? Using god’s name in vain? ---
**Author:** ![Capitaine\_Zombie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e95f7d/32.png) [@Capitaine\_Zombie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capitaine_Zombie)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2011, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sacre-bleu-definition/605854/25 "2011-12-14T17:14:34Z")
> [@Fish\_Cheer](#): > > Isn’t that what blasphemy means to begin with? Using god’s name in vain? Yeah, but they thought they could pull it off because they were French. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sacre-bleu-definition/605854.md?page=1)