Earliest Usage of "Doh"

[Fred Shapiro]

The latest issue of the OED News is led off by an article entitled "Doh!
before Homer: the appeals list and the process of continuous revision."
The OED's latest version of the entry for "doh" traces it back to 1945.

I have now discovered a 1931 usage in the Laurel and Hardy film, "Pardon
Us."  Here is the relevant dialogue, taken from a Laurel and Hardy
website:

Professor Finlayson: How many times does three go into nine?
Stan: Three times.
Finlayson: Correct.
Stan: And two left over.
Finlayson (to Ollie): What are you laughing at?
Ollie (snickering): There's only one left over.
Finlayson: D-ohhhh!

Note that this, like the 1945 evidence in the OED, is used to imply that
another person has said or done something foolish, rather than to imply
that one has said or done something foolish oneself.

Fred Shapiro


--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fred R. Shapiro                             Editor
Associate Librarian for Public Services     YALE DICTIONARY OF QUOTATIONS
  and Lecturer in Legal Research            Yale University Press,
Yale Law School                             forthcoming
e-mail: fred.shapiro at yale.edu               http://quotationdictionary.com
--------------------------------------------------------------------------