[Ads-l] Antedating of "uh-huh"

[Jonathan Lighter]

And check this out. (OED has "uh-uh" only as 'no.')

1888 _Idaho Daily Statesman_ (Boise) (May 1) 1: After four days of
alternate hope and fear we held a hand in hers, looked into her gentle
eyes, and asken [sic], "is there hope?" "Uh, uh," said she, putting the
accent on the last word; and then we fell into her arms insensible.

One suspects that people have been grunting for 'yes' and 'no' since cave
days.  But the grunts only became lexicalized (for writers) in the 19th
century.

JL

JL

On Fri, Oct 25, 2013 at 7:08 AM Hugo <hugovk at gmail.com> wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Hugo <hugovk at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Antedating of "uh-huh"
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> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "uh-huh" (OED: 1924)
>
> 1858:
>
> [Begin]
> "Her name is Peggy ?"
>
> "Uh, huh."
> [End]
>
> White Cloud Kansas chief. (White Cloud, Kan.), 23 Sept. 1858. Chronicling
> America: Historic American Newspapers. Lib. of Congress. <
> http://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn82015486/1858-09-23/ed-1/seq-1/>
>
> Hugo
>
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