Idiom
Jesus, Mary and Joseph
Meaning
Expletive, used in surprise, in disgust, or to add emphasis, particularly by Catholics.
Meaning adapted from Wiktionary, available under CC BY-SA 4.0.
Examples
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, you scared me!”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, please stop making that loud noise with your pen.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, it is freezing outside today.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, look at the size of that bill for just one dinner.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the traffic is so bad that we might miss the start of the wedding.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I just realized I left the oven on before we drove away from the house.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the basement is completely flooded and all of our old photo albums are ruined.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I cannot believe you actually agreed to work on such a dangerous project.”
Examples
simple
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, you scared me!”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, please stop making that loud noise with your pen.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, it is freezing outside today.”
contextual
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, look at the size of that bill for just one dinner.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the traffic is so bad that we might miss the start of the wedding.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I just realized I left the oven on before we drove away from the house.”
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, the basement is completely flooded and all of our old photo albums are ruined.”
complex
“Jesus, Mary and Joseph, I cannot believe you actually agreed to work on such a dangerous project.”
Origin
The expression derives from the traditional practice of reciting the names of the Holy Family—Jesus, Mary, and Joseph—during prayer. It was originally employed as a formal appeal for intercession, calling upon these figures for spiritual assistance before the sequence was adopted into the vernacular as a general exclamation.
Key words
Related idioms
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