<P> "Holy cow!" (and similar) is an exclamation of surprise used mostly in the United States, Canada, Australia, and England . It is a minced oath or euphemism for "Holy Christ!" Holy Cow! dates to at least 1905 . The earliest known appearance of the phrase 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 . These 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 expression holy cow come from
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