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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891
Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
Just a quick-quick question while I have a sec...
When and why did yahoo, the exclamation of happiness, become yahoo, a person who's not too bright?
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
ya·hoo P Pronunciation Key (yäh, y-)
n. pl. ya·hoos
A crude or brutish person. See Synonyms at boor.
[From Yahoo, member of a race of brutes in Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift.]
yahoo·ism n.
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Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 7,210 |
so, it was a brute before it was a cheer?
formerly known as etaoin...
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542 |
Swift did indeed coin the word; OED comments Freq. in mod. use, a person lacking cultivation or sensibility, a philistine; a lout, a hooligan. for the interjection, they waffle a bit, saying to compare other int. yoho and yoo-hoo and In some cases supposedly characteristic of cowboys, esp. when executing daring feats on horseback, etc.
but take a look at the very first citation for the int. and tell me that the source doesn't suggest a bit more of a connection to the noun:
1976 Beano 3 Jan. 6/2 Yahoo! I've won first prize in a crossword competition run by a lemonade company!
and this: 1976 in V. Randolph Pissing in Snow 85 The woman riding behind an Indian, who yells ‘Yahoo’ when she grabs the saddle horn to mount and dismount.
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Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,788 |
YAHOO! INC.: Do you yahoo?
THE VICAR: Certainly not in mixed company!
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
YAHOO! INC.: Do you yahoo?
THE VICAR: Certainly not in mixed company!
Not a vicarious pleasure, I take it?
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Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379
Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 2,379 |
>>Not a vicarious pleasure, I take it?<<
Et tu, Betse?
;-)
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 6,511 |
Heh®
Somebody hadda do it.
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Joined: Mar 2000
Posts: 11,613
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Sep 2000
Posts: 2,891 |
This surprises me. I don't know why, but I had thought the noun definition came after the interjection definition.
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