meh-ness

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On 6/8/06, Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at yahoo.com> wrote:
>
> On Thu, Jun 08, 2006 at 02:33:41PM -0400, Benjamin Zimmer wrote:
> > A Language Log post of potential interest to ADS-Lers:
> >
> > "Meh-ness to society"
> > http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003238.html
>
> _Mad_ magazine used to use "feh," which  expressed, I believe,
> slightly greater disapproval.

I've added an update to the post after Karen Kay alerted me to the
Yiddish origins of "meh". "Feh" I recognize as a Yiddishism, but for
some reason I didn't think of that for "meh". Interestingly, "feh" and
"meh" are both used (as rhymes) in a Yiddish song from 1936 that I
link to in the update:

http://www.starkman.com/aviva/yiddish/yidl.html

Anyone know more about the Yiddish use of "meh"? In the 1936 song it
appears as the sad bleat of a goat, which seems a bit different from
apathetic "meh".


--Ben

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