Expressions that mean duh

[Tom Zurinskas]

from m-w.com

Main Entry: duh
Pronunciation: 'd&, usually with prolonged & Function: interjection
1 -- used to express actual or feigned ignorance or stupidity
2 -- used derisively to indicate that something just stated is all too
obvious or self-evident

Hear the speaker.  He actually says "dah" more than "duh", I think.  Note
the pitch variation.  I guess that's a word with a definite pitch component
about it.


Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL4+
See truespel.com and the 4 truespel books at authorhouse.com.





>From: Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Re: Expressions that mean duh
>Date: Tue, 27 Mar 2007 16:38:35 -0400
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
>Subject:      Re: Expressions that mean duh
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>As quiet as it''s kept, the most common form of this question among
>black St. Louisans, at least when I lived there in the '40's, '50's,
>and early '60's, was, "Will a nigger steal?" Of course, this usage was
>ironic, the underlying assumption being that white people always think
>the worst of black people, so why fight it? Just roll with the punches
>and make a sick joke of it.
>
>-Wilson
>
>On 3/26/07, Alice Faber <faber at haskins.yale.edu> wrote:
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Alice Faber <faber at HASKINS.YALE.EDU>
> > Organization: Haskins Laboratories
> > Subject:      Re: Expressions that mean duh
> >
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> >
> > Patti Kurtz wrote:
> > > Not exactly a dialect question, but a language one.  I'm trying to
>come
> > > up with some different expressions that we use to mean "well, duh"--
>in
> > > response to a question whose answer is obvious-- for example "Does the
> > > sun rise in the east?"  (these are for a novel I'm working on)
> > >
> > > Is there a name for those?  And can you folks cite some examples?
> >
> > I don't know if there's a name for them. But:
> >
> > "Is the Pope Catholic?"
> > "Does a bear shit in the woods?"
> > "Is the sky blue?"
> >
> > --
> >
>==============================================================================
> > Alice Faber                                      faber at haskins.yale.edu
> > Haskins Laboratories                           tel: (203) 865-6163 x258
> > New Haven, CT 06511 USA                             fax (203) 865-8963
> >
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> >
>
>
>--
>All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
>come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>-----
>                                                       -Sam'l Clemens
>
>Dope wil get you through times of no money better than money will get
>you through times of no dope.
>-----
>                                          -Free-Wheeling Franklin
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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