Greatnan I've read that it's short for 'by Our Lady', so perhaps it's blasphemous - or might once have been thought so.
I can remember being shocked, in an admiring kind of way, when a friend said 'bloody hell' when the chain came off her bike. We were told not to say 'Gosh' or 'Jiminy Cricket' at my very strict school.
when I am feeling polite and wish to 'use' a swear word without actually printing it, only two *s come out, when I have, in fact, typed in the appropriate number to show the swear word I wish to use?