yahoo

[Michael Covarrubias]

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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