Bells are associated with churches and goodness... so there's a bit of softening here

Have been talking about the derivation of "bloody" on and off for a while, and my personal conclusion is that it's primarily a shortening (and disguise of) "by our Lord" - not "by our Lady", which is a common theory. Think about the (English) abbreviation of "my Lord" as "m'Lud", and you'll see what I'm getting at. Oh, and there's probably a tie-in with the Shakespearian "'Sblood" = God's blood, and plenty of other associations with blood and bloodiness thrown in.

What makes this worth mentioning here is that the juxtaposition of "bloody" and "hell" is intensifying rather than softening (which I suggested was the case for "Hell's Bells"). OK, there's a very visible violence in a nasty place as a surface interpretation, but I wonder if the deep-down meaning is very sacrilegious, i.e. "By the lord (of) hell" ?

Food for thought for Brits and Australasians who, like myself, use the oath fairly regularly..