<P> "Holy cow!" (and similar) is an exclamation of surprise used mostly in the United States, Canada, Australia, and England and is a minced oath or euphemism for "Holy Christ!" The expression dates to at least 1905, and its earliest known appearance was in a tongue - in - cheek letter to the editor: "A lover of the cow writes to this column to protest against a certain variety of Hindu oath having to do with the vain use of the name of the milk producer . There is the profane exclamations, "holy cow!" and, "By the stomach of the eternal cow!" " The phrase appears to have been adopted as a means to avoid penalties for using obscene or indecent language and may have been based on a general awareness of the holiness of cows in some religious traditions . </P> <P> From the Dictionary of American Slang (1960): </P>

Where did the word holy cow come from
find me the text answering this question