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

Tom Zurinskas truespel at HOTMAIL.COM
Sun Nov 11 00:38:51 UTC 2018


For "uh-uh" meaning "no", I think they're getting at a phonetic "ahn' ah"  ~aan'aa, which I heard a long time ago as a child meaning "no".   Definitely needs a glottal stop.

Tom Zurinskas,
Originally SWConn 20 yrs,  college Tenn 3,  work NJ  33,  now FL 14.
truespel phonetics free converter and  tutorials - http://truespel.com






________________________________
From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Saturday, November 10, 2018 10:00 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Antedating of "uh-huh"

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:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Hugo <hugovk at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Antedating of "uh-huh"
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> "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
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>


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