I'm looking for about 20 phrases such as, and including, "Holy Cow",
"My God", and "My Goodness".  In particular, I'm hoping to be able to
choose the appropriate one by connotation, depending on the situation.
 If you would like to comment on the connotation of the phrase, that
would be wonderful, but is not required.

For instance, "Holy Cow" could be said to be more childish than the
others, and conjures images of Robin (Batman).  "My God" seems to be
more useful in situations of fear or awe, such as one might have when
standing at the edge of the grand canyon.  "My Goodness" seems to be
more commonly spoken by older individuals, and could be said to
connote surprise.

One final note: if you do choose to comment on the connotations, don't
worry about inflection; imagine you are seeing the phrase in writing. 
Also, don't worry about being subjective, everyone is bound to have
different understandings of the phrases.  Have fun with it!

---

Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 03 Jun 2004 09:45 PDT

You might find the list here a useful starting point:

http://www.halfbakery.com/idea/crumbs!

Holy cow!
Man alive!
Land sakes!
Dear lord!
For heaven's sake!

Holy shamoka!
My stars!
My goodness!
Wowsers!
Holy Mary, Mother of God!

Oh, boy!
Man-oh-man!
Jeepers creepers!
Jesus H. Christ!
Jesus H. Christ on a bicycle!

Mercy me!
My heavens!
By Jove!
I say!
Cor!

Blimey!
How about that!?
How do you like that!?
Whoa!
Holy sh.t!

Perfect!  Thanks to everyone who contributed.

In India, they do have Holy Cows so, presumably, the expression
originated there. (Just guessing.)

Oh, interesting!  Etymology could be fun too.  My God would be
interesting - it sounds like it allows for acceptance of multiple
gods, which narrows down the number of religions it could originate
from considerably.

Perry White of the old Superman TV show favored "Great Caesar's
Ghost!"--in fact there was even an episode that revolved around that
phrase.

I have purposefully not listed any interjections (which these are)
that contain expletives.

Here are 25 off the top of my head:

"Good grief!"
"Good heavens!"
"Mercy sakes!"
"Bless my soul!"
"My word!"
"Cool."
"Goodness gracious!"
"Oh dear."
"(Oh), For heavens sake."
"(Oh), For crying out loud."
"Darn!" "Dang!" 
"Dog gone it!"
"Hell's bells!"
"Gosh darn it!"
"Shoot!"
"Criminy!"
"Gee willikers!"
"Cripes!"
"Crud!"
"Ack!"  (See, e.g., the comic strips "Cathy" and "Calvin and Hobbes")
"Inconceivable!" (See, e.g., "The Princess Bride")
"Jiminy Christmas!"
"Jumpin' jehosophat!"
"Holy moly!"
"Holy smokes!"
"Ai Carumba!"

Morphologically, many of these seem to be dervied from an expletive in
an effort to soften it.

Great Jumpin' Jehosophat!
Great Gawd Almighty!

And my mother's all time great one, which so far as I know no one else
ever used, and it was the only "oath" I've ever heard her utter - and
then under the most dreadful of circumstances:

    Jesus, Joseph &  Mary on a bicycle!

Somehow my little sister and I conjured up the virtual picture, and
while we scattered to avoid whatever was coming, we always giggled at
that one!

Crikey: /'Kraiki/ interjection Colloquial (an expression of surprise;
a mild oath). [euphemistic variant of CHRIST]

I prefer the ever useful, "Well, Crap"

Others? (some duplicated)

http://www.innvista.com/culture/religion/deities/oaths.htm
http://www.main.nc.us/spchurchofchrist/tongue.htm

Wow, thanks for the great replies!  Jumping Jesus on a pogo stick!

Mine, similar to seranata's, is: Jesus Christ on a glass bicycle...

Hi Severisth,

I'm unsure if it's what you are looking for, depending on your country
of origin and where you choose to use the phrases:

"What the ????"
"From the mouths of babes" (in awe of insightful wisdom from youngsters)
"so, so, so"
"Suffering Christ"
"Suffering Jesus"
"As sure as God made little apples" (definite, will happen, a certainty)
"For Christ's sake"
"For God's sake"
"Sweet Mary and Jesus in/of Bethlehem"
"Lordy, lordy"
"Sweet Mary, Mother of Christ/Jesus"
"Christ Almighty"
"Pig's arse"  (a suggestion that a statement told as truth is not so)  :)

Thanks for the fun, Phil

Are you also interested in expressions that are not really words in
the usual sense?--for example:

If you say "brrr," it means it's cold (or you're cold).
If you say "boo," your tone means either disapproval (e.g., when
shouted from the audience) or just-for-fun scaring or startling
someone.
If you say "yay" or "hurray" or one of several variants, it means
approval, pleasure, applause, delight--the opposite of "boo."

I think these nonword words are very interesting, and they're *so*
culturally embedded.  When we study another language, why don't we get
a vocabulary lesson that includes "ouch" (something hurts), "grrr"
(growling), "mmmm" (something tastes good), "hmmm" (thinking,
pondering), and "hmmm?" ("what did you say?").  These learned
utterances are just as apt to vary with language as regular vocabulary
does.

Apteryx

My all-time favorite, "Judas Priest!!"