My 9 year old daughter has taken to saying this phrase around the house lately. She claims she heard it on a kids show. I’ve heard this phrase all my life and I’m aware that it’s considered a mild profanity, but how bad is it exactly? If she said it at school, would her French teacher gasp? What would be the English equivalent of it? I know it translates to “Sacred Blue” but what would be an equivalent phrase or curse in English? Oh Shit?
Probably the most literal translation would be “Holy gosh”. It’s a substitute for “Sacre Dieu” (Holy God).
Most etymologies I’ve seen makes it functionally analogous to “gosh darn”, which is a minced oath for “God damn”. The idea is “bleu” is substituted for “Dieu” (“God”), so (legalistically) avoids the prohibition on profaning His name.
Literal analogy (i.e., translation), would be “Holy blue!” in place of “Holy God!”… and I guess that’s equivalent to just saying “God!” as an curse, which is as elemental a violation of the Fourth Commandment as it gets.
Aaannd… ninja’d.
If she really wants to swear in French, introduce her to the word tabernacle. But only in Quebec.
Also, merde and zut alors.
Anecdotally, I’ve always heard that it’s a reference to the blue cloak/scarf/drapeything that Mary wears in iconography. (I doubt this is in any way rooted in actual reality, based on gnoitall’s post.) So she’s swearing on Mary’s cloak, which might be worth an askance look, but not much more than that. (IMO, certainly.)
People used to swear by God’s blood or God’s balls; I’d put “sacre bleu” up with the former, but less offensive than the latter. However, I also grew up in the finest fundamentalist Protestant tradition (Seventh Day Adventist) and when I was little, I got in trouble with my teacher for using “Egad!” a lot. She felt it was a minced oath, and thus just as bad as if I’d said something really foul. I got it from Sherlock Hemlock on Sesame Street - I really doubt he’d lead a 9-year-old that far astray.
I’ve never actually come across “sacré bleu” in France, even from archaic sources (novels etc.). It seems to be much better known amongst anglophones. According to wikipedia we can thank Agatha Christie for that.
“Putain” is probably the most common French (France) swearword - it means “whore”, but can be used pretty much wherever “fuck” is used in English. Going from milder to more intense : “Putain”, “putain de merde”, putain de bordel de merde" etc.
I like “sapristi!”, which is an old-fashioned French expression meaning basically “good heavens”.
True or not, I heard that originally King Louis IX (later Saint Louis) disapproved of people being profane, and so courtiers started saying Sacre Bleu, Bleu being the king’s dog’s name.
I’m pretty sure I first heard “Sacre Bleu” from Savoir Fair, the mouse in the Klondike Kat cartoons. That would have been in the early 60s. It’s a pretty common phrase. I doubt I’ve ever considered what it actually meant.
I was just going to mention that very thing! “Savoir Fair is everywhere!”
Or Maudit Herod! One of my favourites.
I think I first learned “Sacre Bleu!” from Richie Rich’s chef, Chef Pierre. He said it pretty much constantly.
That’s because the ‘fare’ he served was not too ‘savoir’.
Maybe it’s still in use in Quebec, I wouldn’t know, but “sacrebleu” hasn’t been in France for centuries. You’re only going to hear it when watching “the three musketeers” or a similar movie. It isn’t even understood as a swear word nowadays. Just what the movie hero (or the child playing) will say when drawing his sword.
The French teacher will probably smile. 
Saperlipopette!
My theory: Sacred Blue = Holy (good) Blue (sky) = “Good Heavens!”
Nope, not used in Québec either.
Actually, your link makes it clear that it’s not using God’s name disrespectfully that is the problem; the problem is using God’s name for a false oath (‘in vain’), or, for using God in a magical sense, that is, making God the binding arbiter of human oaths.
Of course, one shouldn’t be disrespectful to an omnipotent being, either.