Translated from the original German:

From: Andrew
To: REC
Subject: holy cow

How do you translate "holy cow" into German? Is it "Holy shit" or "Holy haystack" or something like that? Also, how do you say "Heilige Kuh" in Englisch?

I can see where this is going. I will be amused.

From: REC
To: Andrew
Subject: RE: holy cow

"Holy cow" is an exclamation which can mean, "Wow!", "Holy shit!" or "I don't believe it!" depending on the context.

The German "Heilige Kuh" is what we call a "sacred cow" in English, but the context you used it in makes no sense. A "sacred cow" is something that no one may criticise for any reason, for example the current (useless) "extra security precautions" in US and UK airports."

And that should've been the end of it. But it wasn't. It never is.

From: Andrew
To: REC
Subject: RE: holy cow

o scheiße

He should've sent me the question an hour earlier. Before his conf call. The one with a customer whose native language was also not English. The one which he kept telling said customer that a table's primary reference key is a "holy cow" and can't be changed. Over and over and over.