Quick question: Who was Jehoshaphat? Quick answer: A ninth-century B.C.E. king of Judah, popularly known also as Jehosaphat.
Follow-up question: Why has he often been described as jumping?
For a follow-up answer, we turn to London’s Daily Mail: “Around the middle of the 19th century, his name was used in the United States as a mild oath, a euphemism for Jehovah or Jesus. The expression ‘Jumping Jehoshaphat’ is first recorded in 1866 in Headless Horseman, an adventure tale set in Texas by British author Mayne Reid—but it is probably older.”
But was Jehoshaphat indeed known for his jumping ability? No, according to London’s Guardian newspaper: The phrase was “used for alliterative effect, rather than because there is any record of his leaping about the place.”
Hold on. Not so fast. In a Washington Post story titled “Leaps of Faith: Praise Dancing Gets Foothold in Area Churches,” Reverend Betty Peebles, senior pastor at the Jericho City of Praise, is quoted as stating that “praise dancers originated in the Bible with King Jehoshaphat under attack.” According to Reverend Peebles, “God told Jehoshaphat, ‘Don’t carry any weapons into battle; just get yourself some praise dancers,’” citing a story about the king from 2 Chronicles 20.
No matter what its origin, for today’s readers there is something almost self-consciously quaint about the expression “Jumping Jehoshaphat.” It is therefore not surprising to find this phrase in newspaper features that harken back, either implicitly or explicitly, to earlier, seemingly simpler times. For example, in lauding the return of family-friendly television, USA Today advises interested viewers to “make yourself at home in Avonlea, the Disney Channel’s popular Canadian import that returns for a third season.” Even though it bemoans the fact that this series is available only on cable, the article reassuringly notes that “at least somebody’s willing to present a vision of life where the harshest words uttered are ‘dang it’ and ‘holy Jehoshaphat.’” In like manner, a reviewer for The New York Times opines that viewing an HBO-produced movie “probably left most fans of westerns longing for the days when the hero never even kissed the girl and when the raciest flight of language might be Walter Brennan shouting ‘jumpin’ Jehoshaphat!’”
That same “vision of life” is found in numerous road stories, both present and past. The St. Petersburg Times published a correspondent’s travel memories from the early 1930s: “As we drove eastward across Pennsylvania’s old Route 30, we ran headlong into a winter storm. My parents debated whether to turn back … Daddy sat hunched over the steering wheel, straining to see through swirling whiteness. ‘Jumping Jehoshaphat! What a storm!’ he exclaimed.” Lord knows, if that driver had been me, the exclamation would certainly have been somewhat different (and stronger).
At other times, this Biblically inspired phrase is combined with one or more others, as in “Jumpin’ Jehoshaphat, Land o’ Goshen and saints preserve us, they’ve done it again.” What provoked all of this indignation? Nothing more, or less, than displeasure with “rascally programmers at NBC” (as reported in The Washington Post).
Whatever its origins and wherever it’s used, the expression “Jumping Jehoshaphat” seems to inspire a certain excitedness: Notice how often it is followed by an exclamation point (!). As if to counter that, we’re ending on a quieter note. In a New York Times review of a book called The Real Animal House, Christopher Buckley notes that, in addition to much that was lurid and revolting, if also hilarious, the movie (of the same name as the book) also contained “a few relatively innocent terms, like the synonyms for breasts, [one of which was] ‘jehoshaphats.’” If that doesn’t stop us in our tracks, at least for a moment, I don’t know what will.
Quick question: Who was Jehoshaphat? Quick answer: A ninth-century B.C.E. king of Judah, popularly known also as Jehosaphat.
Follow-up question: Why has he often been described as jumping?
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