By Jove!

[GeneD]

Which exclamation phrases do you use when you feel like expressing your amazement? Something tells me 'By Jove!' or 'God almighty!' would sound old-fashioned. If so, would you share a couple of newer ones, please?

[Piscean]

'By Jove!' sounds very dated to me, but 'God almighty!' is still heard.

I'm afraid that many expressions of surprise, shock, horror are not too genteel these days. Variants of 'F*** me!' are common for some people.

[Tdol]

And b*gger me, sh*t, etc. We're ruder today than in the By Jove days of yore.

[GeneD]

Which letter have you asterisked, Tdol? I don't know the word.

[Piscean]

The first asterisk is a u, the second an i.

[GoesStation]

Many Americans still avoid vulgarity. You may hear "Goodness!", "Wow!", "Holy moley!" and a slew of other exclamations if you visit our shores when the world reopens.

[Tarheel]

If one "Wow" isn't enough I might say, "Wow! Wow!" Sometimes three "Wow"s.

I haven't tried "Holey moley" yet

[emsr2d2]

The most common, and least vulgar, amongst my friends and relatives is probably "Bloody hell!", closely followed by "Blimey!"

[GoesStation]

We eagerly anticipate a "Crikey!" when someone on the British Antiques Roadshow learns the dusty vase they were ready to throw away is worth a hundred thousand pounds.

(For learners: "blimey" and "crikey" are not used in American English.)

[probus]

One of my friends, a Newfie, always said "Holy muckfay". For the uninitiated, muckfay is what we used to call pig Latin in my ancient school days.