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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
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>>and he didn't say boo<<
I've heard it, but never (before) used it.
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Joined: Nov 2003
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addict
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addict
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Re politician's response: "he didn't say 'Boo.'"
He didn't say "Boo!", TEdRem, because he was too scared to say anything at all.
A politician really only has 2 choices when responding to a question in public.
He can supply the predictable, politically correct answer or he can pretend he didn't hear you in which case you go away saying "He didn't say Boo."
When a politician "doesn't say Boo", he is actually agreeing with you, but he doesn't want to be quoted on it. [Actually, you only think he is agreeing with you, which is precisely the genius of the "doesn't say Boo" answer.]
It is not generally understood that there are more "didn't say Boo" answers supplied on the hustings than there are politically correct answers.
That's the way most of the "undecided" votes get decided.
Most people think that politics is the art of "spinning doctoring". But, actually, spin doctoring is over-rated. It's mostly the art of ducking the question.
The only thing "undecided" voters have in common is the fact that they have virtually nothing in common at all. In fact, they can't agree on anything. The "doesn't say Boo" answer is tailor-made for them.
Most elections turn on the "undecided" vote. "Doesn't say Boo" answers usually turn the tide.
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 180
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OP
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 180 |
he didn't say 'Boo.'" Which meant that he didn't respond at all.
My grandmother used Boo that way. I've heard several people in the Midwest say that sort of thing, actually.
I just remembered. Wasn't there a character in To Kill a Mockingbird named Boo?
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Joined: Mar 2000
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old hand
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old hand
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why boo and not coo, goo, or soo I think it is a question of the least effort on forming an "attack consonant" at the beginning of a sound utterance. The other consonants require more complex shaping of the mouth. I could also imagine that the contemptful labial originated from spitting..
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old hand
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old hand
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> Wasn't there a character in To Kill a Mockingbird named Boo?Yes, Boo Radley. And there was a character in Monsters, Inc. named Boo also. 
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veteran
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veteran
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I don't see how the voiced bilabial stop, /b/, is any easier to pronounce than its velar /g/ or dental /d/ cousins. Phonæsthesia (sometimes sound symbolism) is problematic at best for me. It seems to be closely coupled with a particular language's phonology. Think of nasals in English, /m/ (written hmmm) is positive though it's also a bilabial. And not all nasals are positive: e.g., /N/ (the final consonant in sing) sounds slightly negative to my anglophone ear. Take the vowels in English: the lax back vowels /a/, /o/, /u/ sound positive, but their tense counterparts /O/, /U/. (The lax/tense contrast is sometimes called open/closed in European linguistics.) Compare front lax vowels: /i/ and /e/ versus their counterparts /I/, /E/, and perhaps /æ/. Diphthongs and triphthongs bring a whole 'nother dimension into the mix.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Dec 2000
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the /b/ or /m/ are in the default mouth position. All you've got to do to start the word is open your mouth and do the /oo/, the /m/ or, more likely, the /b/ (it's more plosive and thus more forceful) just happens as your mouth opens assuming you start the sound before you open your mouth, which I don't take to be much of a suppose.
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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... as well as the unvoiced /p/. I'm sure most of y'all know this already, but it bears repeating: babies' first sounds are generally those "defaults," and then (thus?) attached to their mama and papa.
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Yes, the lips are closed for the bilabials (hence their name). The totally relaxed vocal tract produces an /a/ sound. Experiment: take a cardboard cylinder from a roll of paper handtowels. Blow a raspberry into one end. You get a good approximation of a neutral /a/ vowel. How is close one's lips any easier than closing one's velum? I just don't get it.
I think it boils down to sounds that I make normally in my language (i.e., my phonemic inventory) are by definition easier than sounds made by people who speak other languages.
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Sorry, but I think that bilabials are easier for babies to reproduce because you can see the point and manner of articulation. I've often heard the bilabial-infant story, but I've never seen any cross-linguistic evidence or statistics to back it up. It'll be anecdotal for me until then.
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