Boo

[Drew Danielson]

Laurence Horn wrote:
>
> At 10:52 AM -0500 3/3/01, D. Ezra Johnson wrote:
>
> >
> I've never heard diddly-boo (variant of diddly-poo, perhaps?).  But I
> am familiar with the use of "boo" itself as a squatitive (on which I
> have a paper forthcoming), only with "say" as its governing verb.  I
> assume there's some connection with Halloween-type scenarios in its
> origins (see below).

According to American Heritage Dictionary, "boo" in this context means,
"[a]ny sound or anything at all: <i>You never said boo to me about
overtime</i>."  In my experience, both with fictional dialog and
real-life experience, this use of "boo" is found mostly in Southern U.S.
and AAVE variations.  I also have only heard it used with "say", but the
"anything at all" part of AHD's definition is consistent with its use
with "see".