Wondering about wild grapes

Monday, June 6, 2011

Jump’n Judas Priest” as my Grandpa would say.

Yes, I just found out that there is a heavy metal rock band by that name, but ever since I was a little kid (now I am talking about the 1940’s) I heard my Grandpa use that phrase as sort of a cuss word or exclamation of surprise. My Grandpa never swore, except for that phrase, and I would hear it a lot. During that time and since then I have never heard any other person ever use that phrase. Now, this morning, I am going to use it as an exclamation of disappointment. Let me tell you why.


Yesterday evening a lot thunder storms rolled through our area. Some were quite heavy with damaging winds, but most were just plain good old fashion East Texas summer thunder storms which, to say the least, were badly needed. I checked the radar and they were coming from east to west and there seemed to be quite a few of them. On the radar it looked like a bunch of them were headed right for me. WRONG!! They seemed to separate and some went north of me, but most of them went south of my location. Oh so close; I could see them, hear them, and smell them, but they did not reach out and touch me. “Jumping Judas Priest!!!!” OK, let’s have a little faith, maybe today???

They said on TV that since last October this area has been in the worst drought in recorded history, and my place has been dryer than all around me. I guess I should not have said how much I like the desert and how nice it would be to live there. Another thing; we broke all standing records by a bunch yesterday with the temperature hitting 105 at the big airport. The hottest I saw it here was 103, but I probably didn’t look at the thermometer at the hottest part of the day.

Well there you have it. It was a hot time in the old town last night.

If any of you have ever heard the phrase (Jumping Judas Priest) used before, let me know. My Grandpa was the only one that I have ever heard use it.

You all stay cool and have a great week, you hear?

11 comments:

  1. Never heard the phrase.. Daddy never cussed, but on rare occasion he'd Blurt out.. God... Jesus and Mary!!

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  2. My maternal, WV grandfather use to say,"Good God in Heaven!" My paternal PA grandfather just cussed.

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  3. My Grandfather swore in French..want to know any dirty words in France :)..
    The rain will come, the Gulf it way to warm and they expect an active hurricane season.

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  4. The rain missed me in Houston for two days now...even with all the thunder and lightening!

    Guess we are just plain out of luck!

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  5. I am sure that Judas Priest is a character in literature, but haven't been able to find anything about it. I did find that "Judas Priest" was an acceptable substitute for "Jesus Christ" as a swear word, back around the time of WW I.

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  6. First, let me apologize for not answering your comments sooner, but I received a rush job at noon yesterday and had to work continuously until late into the evening.

    Ben, I have never heard anyone else use the exclamation that my Grandpa did.

    Sharon, seems everyone has their own unique expressions.

    Frann, I know no French, have enough trouble with English. Yes, tropical storms are a threat. Ten years ago a tropical storm came by and sat off shore dumping 37” of rain in one day. That broke all the records. It caused as much if not more damage than a hurricane.

    HJ, well I guess I don’t have to feel alone.

    Gypsy, thanks for the information, that is more than I knew. I just thought that it may have been followers of Judas Iscariot.

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  7. In a novel I recently read there is a character, a nurse in a WWII field hospital in England, who learned some interesting swearing when taking care of the Yanks. One such phrase was "Jesus H. Roosevelt Christ". I've heard the expression, but never with Roosevelt added to it.

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  8. I say jumpin' Judas Priest all the time ipo swearing. Used to be only JP, but I added jumpin' for emphasis. My uncle used to say JP, or By Judas, so that's where I picked up the JP as a kid, and I also grew up in the 1940s-50s in Canada. A few others in my family have now picked it up also.

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  9. I grew up along side a neighbor in Upstate New York who in lieu of swearing would always say jumping Judas Priest I actually searched it as a term to arrive at this article.

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  10. I am just seeing this article and I wanted to say that I just came in contact with my high school basketball coach from over 30 years ago and the one thing I told him that I remember and stood out was when he was mad he would yell, " Jumping Judas Priest!!"

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