Gorblimey

This expression, which is confined to British English, is an interesting instance of two features of swearing, namely the survival of a powerful oath in a euphemized and disguised form, and the genre of the “self-immolating oath.” The origin of the expression lies in the bizarre appeal “God blind me!,” recorded from about 1896, when J.R. Ware listed it in Passing English (1909) as “a gutter phrase” recorded from “about 1875.” (Although not exclusively lower-class, the expression is now more commonly encountered in working-class milieus, and especially in Cockney argot.) The genre exists in various expressions of surprise, as in “Well blow me down!” in which the name of the Almighty is excluded, or “Strike me dead!” in which it is implied, and the archaic nautical exclamation “Shiver me timbers!”

Because the phrase was originally oral it has appeared in various forms, such as gawblimy and Cor blimey , suggesting that its profane origins were not really understood. The form Gor does not have an extensive recorded existence, even in dialect dictionaries, although Shakespeare has “By gar!” in The Merry Wives of Windsor (I iv 123). It is occasionally encountered as an expression of surprise as Gor! and Cor! Consequently, the currency of the original phrase has obviously diminished, as the word is not understood. Thus the abbreviated form blimey , now the common survivor, is recorded from slightly earlier, in Barrère and Leland’s Dictionary of Slang, Jargon and Cant (1889).

Blimey has an unusual historical currency in American English, where it was recorded from 1918 as meaning “an English person, especially a Cockney,” an identification with the most frequent users of the word, and possibly through proximity to limey . References include “the frogs [French] and the blimeys” (1924). The association of a distinctive swearword with a particular people or social group is also found in goddam and fuckoff. Blimey continues to have a thriving currency in British English, especially in the southern varieties. In Australia and South Africa it is encountered, but principally among expatriate British communities.