(sah-cray bleuh) A very stereotypical (cough blame Americans) French curse, which is actually never used by the French. An English equivalent would be oh my God!. Similarly to its English counterpart, it was once considered very offensive. Sacré bleu literally means sacred blue, but it is supposed to be sacré Dieu (sah-cray dyeuh) or sacred God. Bleu replaces Dieu in order to avoid the vulgarity of explicitly using the name of God (similar to saying oh my gosh! instead of oh my God!). In modern times, however, it is no longer commonly used, as it has been eclipsed by many more offensive curses.