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I have always wondered how this meme started.

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7  
This question is probably off topic here, but at any rate, it has already been answered elsewhere. english.stackexchange.com/questions/25716/who-is-jesus-h-christ – Flimzy Aug 27 '11 at 7:20
How is a name of jesus off topic on a site dedicated to christianity? – Tyler Gillies Aug 27 '11 at 7:22
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The same way asking about the origin of phrases like "Hot d*mn," "Gosh," and "Golly-Gee" would be off topic. That is a language discussion, and really has nothing (or at best, very little) to do with Christianity. – Flimzy Aug 27 '11 at 7:24
I don't believe language and christianity to be mutually exclusive – Tyler Gillies Aug 27 '11 at 7:26
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Certainly not, but on SE sites, when there is an overlap, the one with the closer association with the question is usually the more appropriate place to ask it. Now if your question was "Is the name Jesus H Christ found in the Bible?" then this would be the better site for it. – Flimzy Aug 27 '11 at 7:32

closed as off topic by Flimzy, dancek, Caleb♦, wax eagle♦, C. Ross Aug 27 '11 at 17:39

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2 Answers

up vote 1 down vote accepted

The exact origin is unknown because it seems to have originated from slang. In the Autobiography of Mark Twain, Mark mentions that Jesus H Christ had old origins that were unknown.

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up vote 2 down vote

It could also be that on the Eucharist, in some depictions, the letters IHS are spelled.

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This really is the best guess I've seen. The letters are used other places as well. – Jon Ericson Feb 23 '12 at 19:18

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