Jumpin' Jehoshaphat! (and just plain Jehoshaphat!) originated in the United States during the 19th-century craze for “minced oaths,” pseudo-swearwords that replaced profane or blasphemous words with inoffensive ones.

Who said Jumping Jehoshaphat?

The biblical king Jehoshaphat is the inspiration for the exclamation “jumpin' Jehosaphat!” This alliterative idiom probably arose in the 19th century but was popularized by the cartoon character Yosemite Sam in the 20th century.

Where did the saying Jumping Jehoshaphat come from?

The phrase Jumping Jehoshaphat is first recorded from Mayne Reid's Headless Horseman of 1866, but is probably older. It seems to have been in the tradition of exotic imprecations that Americans of that period were so fond of, with the repeated initial sound greatly helping its acceptance.