american-englishetymologyexclamations
I was reading online and noticed this phrase in the comments.
Holy Toledo
What is the origin of this phrase?
It appears in Max Shulman's 1951 collection of stories, The Many Loves of Dobie Gillis:
"Holy Toledo!" said Petey reverently. He plunged his hands into the raccoon coat and then his face. "Holy Toledo!" he repeated fifteen or twenty times.
But online explanations of its origin disagree, and dictionary coverage of the phrase is hard to find.
The only result in Google Books is 2006's Brothers and Sons: An Epic Comedy Adventure by Dana Myrick:
"Holy crap on a cracker! That paint job would cost three or four thousand dollars in the city,” exclaimed John loudly. When John saw the expression on James's face, he knew he had said too much. “But, of course, they rip people off in the city, and you're not like that, are you Gator?" said John.
In Google Groups there's an older result from Jul 13, 2001 in by John in rec.music.phish:
Holy crap on a cracker!! I wish I could go!
There's a dozen "crap on a cracker" results, the oldest is apparently from 1992's Usher's Passing by Robert R. McCammon but there's no preview to confirm. The next is 1996's The Basement by Bari Wood:
"I'd say it was crap on a cracker, Reed. But what did happen to those bees?"
The oldest "Holy * on a cracker" from Google Groups is "Holy hell on a cracker!" from Oct 12 2000 in alt.roundtable.
The related "Jesus Christ on a cracker" can be found in 1993's Save me, Joe Louis by Madison Smartt Bell:
"Jesus Christ on a cracker," Macrae said. "You about killed me there."
Finally, as a bonus, here's what holy crap on a cracker looks like.
Each of the three meanings can be paraphrased...
I [was in the habit of being] [accustomed to] [employing] it.
I assume OP wonders about the first meaning, but in reality I think it's just a tautological overlap with the second. It makes for an ugly sentence, to say the least.
The association of used with acclimatised over time, through repeated exposure or use seems unremarkable to me. I imagine the usage could have been re-coined repeatedly before it became a familiar part of normal speech and writing.
The expression used to in the sense of was in the habit of, has been around a very long time, as @Philoto assiduously researched. But originally it was as likely to be the present tense form use to as past tense used to. I think any such present tense usage today is simply by mistake, not in an attempt to convey 'archaic' connotations.
For some reason I can't really explain, the past tense form shot to prominence in the early 1800s.
Best Answer
It's a humorous mock-swearword based on the taboo against blaspheming religious terms. There are hundreds of variations on the phrase, such as "Holy Guacamole!" and "Holy Cow!" Most of these are considered entirely non-offensive, with the exception of the best-known version, "Holy Shit!," which intensifies the taboo by combining the religious modifier with the taboo against directly referring to the fruits of the bathroom.
In the campy 60's television version of Batman, his sidekick Robin was noted for endless versions of the phrase (a habit briefly satirized in the 1997 movie "Batman and Robin").