yahoo

[Dennis Preston]

cure, lure, tour, poor , sure, moor, spoor, jury........ Surely not rare.

dInIs


>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: yahoo
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>Thanks Mike,
>
>Being an old geezer with a lot of TV westerns under my belt, I'm not
>as accepting as thee when I'm told that "yahoo" is pronounced
>YAY-hoo (yay as in hay) ~yaehue.  Never heard that.  It's always
>been YAH-hoo ~yaahue as in the website name or yah-HOO ~yaahhue as
>an exclamation.
>
>Right.  There is a second entry that pops up showing "yahoo" as an
>interjection.  So you must cursor down to select it to see the info.
>Why that's a good idea I don't know.  I'd like one word with all the
>info under it so I don't miss selecting something.  I wonder if it's
>new, because I've been using m-w.com for years.  It's a great free
>resource.
>
>If they use OR then a yahoo as defined might not be stupid.  I don't
>think a yahoo is supposed to be smart.  According to that definition
>(using OR) a smart person that happens to be boorish can be called a
>yahoo.
>
>Strange word "boorish" ~boorish.  It has the sound of "oo" in
>"foot".  Before "r" is rare.
>
>Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional Poems"
>at authorhouse.com.
>
>
>
>
>
>>  Date: Wed, 2 Apr 2008 17:31:02 -0400
>>  From: mcovarru at PURDUE.EDU
>>  Subject: Re: yahoo
>>  To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>
>>  ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  Sender: American Dialect Society
>>  Poster: Michael Covarrubias
>>  Subject: Re: yahoo
>>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>  Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>>
>>>  The basic issues were.
>>>  1. m-w.com's majority pronunciation is YAY-hoo (yay as in hay),
>>>but I'd think it is YAH-hoo or yah-HOO.
>>>
>>  OED lists only [ja:hu:] for the N. As I said before -- YAY-hoo is new to
>>  me. But I'm willing to accept that it's out there somewhere regardless
>>  of what I've heard.
>>>  2. m-w.com doesn't recognize yahoo as an interjection, which is
>>>obvious to me as the majority use, as yahoo.com would after the
>>>interjection not the noun (stupid person).
>>>
>>  M-W.com does recognize the interjection. Look carefully after you do the
>>  search. You'll see the following:
>>  yahoo
>>  2 entries found.
>>  yahoo[1,noun]
>>  yahoo[2,interjection]
>>
>>  Click on the second and you'll get your longed-for entry.
>>
>>>  3. m-w.com defines a "yahoo" as a "boorish (rude), crass
>>>(undignified), OR stupid person." I maintain they must mean AND
>>>not OR as one could be smart and boorish and crass as well.
>>>Otherwise a boorish person is a yahoo, a crass person is a yahoo,
>>>and a stupid person is one two.
>>>
>>
>>  I maintain that they mean OR because they mean to say that a boorish
>>  person is a yahoo, and a crass person is a yahoo, and a stupid person is
>>  a yahoo as well.
>>
>>  This allows for the following:
>>  a sensitive and crass and smart person is a yahoo.
>>  a sensitive and delicate and stupid person is a yahoo.
>>  a sensitive and crass and stupid person is a yahoo.
>>  a boorish and delicate and smart person is a yahoo.
>>  a boorish and delicate and stupid person is a yahoo.
>>  a boorish and crass and stupid person is a yahoo.
>>  a boorish and crass and smart person is a yahoo.
>>
>>  n.b. that the last type is *supposed* to be allowed by the construction.
>>
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--
Dennis R. Preston
University Distinguished Professor
Department of English
Morrill Hall 15-C
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48864 USA

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