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You are here: Home / Language / Where does the phrase “for crying out loud” come from and What does it mean?

Where does the phrase “for crying out loud” come from and What does it mean?

March 17, 2020 by Karen Hill

An exclamation, usually indicating complaint or astonishment; as, “For crying out loud, why did you do a thing like that?”

Many of the users of this expression would be shocked to learn that it is in the category known as a minced oath; that is, a substitute based on, but slightly differing from a profanity.

The expression is a high-school adaptation of about twenty-five years’ standing of the profane exclamation, “for Christ’s sake.”

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Filed Under: Language

About Karen Hill

Karen Hill is a freelance writer, editor, and columnist. Born in New York, her work has appeared in the Examiner, Yahoo News, Buzzfeed, among others.

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