Wednesday, October 20, 2010

Jesus...

...H. Christ! You have probably heard that version of Jesus' name many times, I know I have heard it over and over again. I have heard it in heated conversations going on in bars, in surprised statements on the street, in war movies, even at Catholic summer camp and in Catholic School. I have heard it for years but yet I am baffled about that middle initial. So, what I want to know is this: For what does the H stand for?

Any relevant and polite feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,
Glenn B

9 comments:

James R. Rummel said...

That is a very good question, but not one I can answer.

Sorry Glenn!

BadIdeaGuy said...

Him?

David said...

Wikipedia is your friend:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jesus_H_Christ

Judges from the image there it seems an appropriate answer. It seems the phrase is very old.

Alan J. said...

Howard, as in "Our father who art in Heaven, Howard be thy name..."

OK, so I stole it from Harrison Ford, but it's still my favorite answer to this question.

Bonus points if you can name the Harrison Ford / Henry Winkler movie that has this quote in it.

Anonymous said...

Holy?

Anonymous said...

Found this but can't confirm - "It recalls the H in the IHS logo emblazoned on much Christian paraphernalia. IHS dates from the earliest years of Christianity, being an abbreviation of "Jesus" in classical Greek characters. The Greek pronunciation is "Iesous," with the E sound being represented by the character eta, which looks like an H. When the symbol passed to Christian Romans, for whom an H was an H, the unaccountable character eventually became accepted as Jesus's middle initial. "

Anonymous said...

It stands for Hallelujah, but it is often just shortened to Hal.

Glenn B said...

Some enlightening information, though maybe not conclusive as to the meaning of the H.

Sam L. said...

I always thought it was "HolyGhost".