blue murder

[charlandy]

What does it mean when somebody says "i'll scream blue murder".

[Quizmonster]

The words �blue murder' appear in phrases such as �scream blue murder' or �get away with blue murder'. The idea comes from French. If something dreadful occurred, the French used to say �Mort Dieu!', meaning �God's death!' Over time, this altered euphemistically to �mortbleu/morbleu' and that translated as �blue death' or �blue murder' in 19th century English. The same use of �bleu' is seen in the French exclamation, �Sacr� bleu!' Nowadays, the phrases mentioned in the opening sentence above just mean �a lot of noise about nothing' and �something terrible'.