I think the
word 'bejeezus' stems from the phrase, 'by Jesus' and is basically an
intensifier. Like if I said: "You scared the
holy bajeezus out of me." That's a much more
expressive sentence than, '
Gee, you scared me." This
bastardization of words is similar to how
Dad Gum evolved from
God Damn and
biznitch or
biotch from
bitch.
Slang origin is
neat-o,
yo.
sidenote: I am so in love with the fact that the howling fantods is softlinked here.