yahoo

[Laurence Horn]

At 2:31 AM +0000 4/3/08, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>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.

You may have that preference.  Most of us would prefer dictionaries
to distinguish between polysemy and homonymy, and the standard way
lexicographers do so is by providing several senses within a single
entry vs. providing two or more distinct entries.  (Often, but not
always, related senses corresponding to different categories (parts
of speech) will count as distinct lexemes and thus earn separate
lexical entries.)  Would you prefer a single entry for _bear_ 'ursine
mammal', _bear_ 'carry', and _bear_ 'give birth'?non

>
>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.

That's consistent with my usage. I'm not sure I know what you mean by
saying that you don't think a yahoo is supposed to be smart.  A boor
can be smart or stupid, and for many speakers would qualify as a
yahoo either way.  When you say "X is not supposed to be mean Y",
you're substituting your own intuition for the collective usage
dictionaries attempt to represent.

>
>Strange word "boorish" ~boorish.  It has the sound of "oo" in
>"foot".  Before "r" is rare.

Actually for me (and perhaps others) "boorish" doesn't have the vowel
of "foot" but the vowel of "poor".  In fact, "boorish" rhymes with
"poorish" for me rather than with (one pronunciation) of "flourish",
which does contain the vowel of "foot".

LH

>
>
>
>
>  > 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.
>>
>>  ------------------------------------------------------------
>>  The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
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