Crying out loud!

[fredpuli47]

An exclamation of despair, frustration or anger is " For crying out loud!". It's understood, but what does it ,literally. mean? What does 'for' indicate? Is it 'for' as 'instead' so the speaker is saying 'instead of crying out loud, complaining, do something' or 'Instead of my crying out loud,shouting at you, do something? And what does 'crying out loud' mean? Who is, or would be, doing that?

[A.Guest]

http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/minced-oath .html

[fredpuli47]

Blimey! (q.v.) Ta.

[terambulan]

Heathen's remark instead of 'for Gods sake'.

[Clanad]

Pedantically, it's actually a euphemisim replacing "for Christ's sake" . .. our friends at On-line Etymology Dictionary believe the phrase originated as "...U.S. colloquial for crying out loud is 1924..."