# Interjections!!!



## Ingélou

Interjections are fun. When I taught grammar, I'd reserve a lesson at the end of our 'parts of speech' course for a little exuberance.

I love the history of them - the words that have changed from their religious origins, like _crikey, gee whiz, cor blimey, lumme & drat _(from Christ, Jesus, God blind me, Lord love me, God rot you).

I love the specialised ones, like _eek_, for the lady scared of a mouse who leaps on to a chair, or _psst_ for wanting to have a quiet word with someone. '_Phew_!' can mean a) it's too hot or b) there's a whiff of strong cheese or c) I got away with it.

I love the comic ones, like _stone the crows_, the mock-archaic _struth_, _oh my sainted aunt_, and _Gordon Bennet_ - in Friel's play *Translations* a character goes round saying 'Cripes' all the time, and the boy student reading him lapsed one day and shouted 'Crisps!' - the class collapsed, me included.

They are 'comic book' words, but can also be used in more subtle texts too, an _um_ or an _er_ showing the reader that the speaker is unreliable or feeling nervous.

Which interjections do you use? Which interjections do you love?

Thanks in advice for any replies. And if there are none - _chiz! _


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## Ingélou

I remember our French teacher telling the story about interjections that could be a matter of life and death - that in the war, if German officers suspected someone in France of being English & sent to help the Resistance, they might jab them or stand on their foot, and if the suspected person exclaimed 'Ow!' instead of 'Aie', they were for it.

I don't know if it's true or not, though...


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## Posie

Mine are not nearly as colorful. I mostly use the generic Shoot! or Gosh! I recently took on my sister's bad habit of shouting Crap! all the time. I've kicked it, but my sister hasn't.


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## Taggart

Hmm!

Losh, whit a load o haivers we're likely to get! Ochone and mercy me we'll be having bletheration until tea time. Wheist noo or dod knows it'll be hoots mon or crivens!

Lovely little collection of Scots phrases.

Losh - Lord save us

haivers - an ill judged remark or nonsense

ochone - gaelic for sorrow

wheist - a request to be silent

dod - God

crivens -Christ defend us

Anybody raised on Oor Wullie or the Broons will be familiar with these and many more.


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## mirepoix

Ingélou said:


> I love the history of them - the words that have changed from their religious origins, like _crikey, gee whiz, cor blimey, lumme & drat _(from Christ, Jesus, God blind me, Lord love me, God rot you).


*mind blown*

I say "Hoots mon!" at the drop of a hat.


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## mirepoix

Taggart said:


> Hmm!
> 
> Losh, whit a load o haivers we're likely to get! Ochone and mercy me we'll be having bletheration until tea time. Wheist noo or dod knows it'll be hoots mon or crivens!
> 
> Lovely little collection of Scots phrases.
> 
> Losh - Lord save us
> 
> haivers - an ill judged remark or nonsense
> 
> ochone - gaelic for sorrow
> 
> wheist - a request to be silent
> 
> dod - God
> 
> crivens -Christ defend us
> 
> Anybody raised on Oor Wullie or the Broons will be familiar with these and many more.


Michty me! The Broons. I used to take Daphne Broon a walk up Stoorie Brae.


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## Cheyenne

"Eureka" is always fun, as is a well-timed "ugh" (a very unusual sound in English). I also, characteristically for my age, let out sighed "yeah"s in the Eastwoodian manner. My true favorite is the classical "alas" -- though for me it will always be pronounced "alice". Once, when we were reading _Much Ado About Nothing_ in class, the girl who was reading suddenly cried out "alice" to all our amazement, until we realized she meant "alas"! That pronunciation will probably never depart from me. I can still hear her say it.

As for non-grammatical interjections, a well-timed "Objection" or "Overruled" shouted with lungs of steel never misses the mark.


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## TurnaboutVox

I always thought 'struth' was a contraction of '(God')s truth', Ingelou (certainly my grannie would be 'black affronted' if my grandpa said it in front of us!)

My various relatives also used:

'For pity's sake!'
'For the love of Mike!' 
'Wheesht!' (= be quiet) and 'Havering' (= talking rubbish)
'Hurrah, we're aae daft!'
'Awa' an bile yer heid!'
or just 'Ah, me!' - amongst others.

I use interjections only in jest (I jest, of course )


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## Posie

TurnaboutVox said:


> I always thought 'struth' was a contraction of '(God')s truth', Ingelou (certainly my grannie would be 'black affronted' if my grandpa said it in front of us!)
> 
> My various relatives also used:
> 
> 'For pity's sake!'
> 'For the love of Mike!'
> 'Wheesht!' (= be quiet) and 'Havering' (= talking rubbish)
> 'Hurrah, we're aae daft!'
> 'Awa' an bile yer heid!'
> or just 'Ah, me!' - amongst others.
> 
> I use interjections only in jest (I jest, of course )


Wife: "Oh, for the love of Pete!"

Husband: "Who's Pete? Someone I should _know_ about?"

(from Fairly Odd Parents)


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## Antiquarian

'Watcher!', which I suppose is a contraction of 'What Cheer!" is one that I do NOT use.


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## Ingélou

TurnaboutVox said:


> I always thought 'struth' was a contraction of '(God')s truth', Ingelou (certainly my grannie would be 'black affronted' if my grandpa said it in front of us!)


You're absolutely right - in origins it *is* God's Truth, or His Truth - but when I was young, it was often used by people as a mock historicism, as a joke. Zounds and Gadzooks (God's wounds/God's hooks) were always liberally sprinkled around children's yarns of the seventeenth century, but never made it into adult talk like Struth did.

It shows that the older generation in Scotland were more aware of the religious roots, I suppose.
But when I was a child, nobody would have said 'Oh God' or 'Oh my God' in the casual way of people now (including me ).


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## mirepoix

Ingélou said:


> Zounds and Gadzooks (God's wounds/God's hooks) were always liberally sprinkled around children's yarns of the seventeenth century, but never made it into adult talk like Struth did.


I'm finding this to be fascinating stuff.


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## Ingélou

Cheyenne said:


> "Eureka" is always fun, as is a well-timed "ugh" (a very unusual sound in English)...


What sound do you make for 'ugh'? I pronounce it as a bilious groan - 'urrrr!' - but when we were children, we didn't recognise the spelling in books and used to jokingly say 'ug'! I assume 'yuck' is somehow related to this odd spelling?

Another word which we didn't use or recognise was 'eh', as in 'You like that - eh?' In my circle, we'd have said 'hey', so we didn't know that 'eh' was just -ay, 'hey' without the h, and thought it was a posh sound, like the e in 'bed' isolated.

And what about that very literary sound of disgust, found in early twentieth century fiction, *pshaw*? How on earth does one pronounce that? 

One of the newest interjections is 'meh' which I come across all the time now, but had to google it to learn that it means 'an expression of indifference'. If I use it, will I be cool?


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## Andreas




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## Taggart

What about tut-tut or the American version tsk-tsk?

Then again - Holy smoke! or even Holy cow! or for fans of 1960s Batman holy just about anything. It seemed to Robin's main intensifier.



TurnaboutVox said:


> 'Awa' an bile yer heid!'


usually followed by - ya wee bampot.

Also Bah Humbug! Ideal response to Merry Christmas for some.


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## Ingélou

Q. Which operatic heroine has an interjection for her name?

A. Yum-Yum.


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## Manxfeeder

One of my favorite comic book sound effects was in Mad Magazine. A cowboy was standing at the door of a saloon with his gun blazing. The sound effect was "Barroom!"

A judge I used to work for had a peculiar quirk. When he was stupefied by an attorney's ignorance, he'd sit back in his chair wide-eyed and say, "Gadzooks." Ever since then, I've found myself doing the same thing, though never in a courtroom.

I remember an old Marvel comic which was lampooning Thor and had him exclaiming, "Forsooth, gadzooks, and gosh all hemlock." Well, that does cover all the bases.


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## SimonNZ

I use "Gordon Bennett" just about every day.


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## KenOC

As Nicholas Rokoff used to say, when crossed by Tarzan: "Sapristi!"


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## Ingélou

In comic book strips, you always knew that a French character would say *sacré bleu*, an Italian *mama mia* and a Spaniard *caramba*.
Maybe in *these countries'* comic books Englishmen go round saying *oh golly* and Scotsmen *och aye*?


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## Badinerie

My Interjections tend to be expletives i'm afraid or blasphemous. i.e. Hell's/Gods Teeth man! Hell's ****! Jesus on a bike! Crickey Moses! I Use Blimey! Gordon Bennett occasionally
I wish I could say My giddy aunt Goodness gracious me , or Well I'll be sugared. but they dont seem to drain the tension like a good blasphemous obscenity.


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## Ingélou

They may raise tension in your hearers, of course! 
I like 'my giddy aunt' & have heard it used - always by an older politely educated man, as a joke. I may adopt it now you've reminded me!


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## Jos

KenOC said:


> As Nicholas Rokoff used to say, when crossed by Tarzan: "Sapristi!"


Thank you KenOC for stirring up my memory!! I have used "sapristi" for a while when I was at uni, you know, collegeboy behavior, speaking in archaic tongue and using these odd expressions.
But the memory is even older, from childhood: Tintin. I believe Cuthbert Calculus (Tryphonius Tournesol), the absentminded professor used it often. Lookin' forward to rereading them all again soon!

View attachment 48839


Cheers,
Jos


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## TurnaboutVox

Another three from long-ago childhood, in rising order of emotion:

"Michty!"

"Michty Me!!"

"The Lord God Almichty, man!!!" (this last usually reserved for home decorating disasters)


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## Badinerie

Well I'll go t'top of our stairs! 

Actually Sapristi Reminds me of Moriarty from The Goons. Good old spike!


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## drpraetorus

I'm rather fond of Red Dwarfs "smeg". Around here, there are some localisms that are used frequently to avoid stronger words. "Oh my heck" to avoid hell. "Flip" and "fetch" to avoid the stronger F word. Yiddish is favorite source of interjections "Oy' is one of the most frequently heard. It has so many meanings it is almost universally useful. I must say, I have found that there some difficulties in using interjections from other cultures. I am a fan of Monty Python and once told my cat to "Bug.er off" in the presence of a very prim English woman. Honestly, at the time I had no idea it was as bad as, apparently it is. Also, do not say Chingada with a Spanish speaker around. 

Some written interjections need to be spoken in the correct accent to be understood. I was reading the Harry Potter series and kept coming across (that word is often pronounced "acrosst" in American English) the interjection "erm". I never heard it in the movies. It made no sense until I remembered that the "r" is often not pronounced after a vowel in English English. So, dropping the "r" it comes out as "um" which is a standard place keeper in spoken English. 

There are a couple interjections that I hear in theatrical situations that I would like to ask about. Do real Scots say "Hoot Mon"? Do real Irish say "Faith and begorah" often followed by "woora woora"?


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## drpraetorus

ARRRRRRGH me Harties!


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## TurnaboutVox

drpraetorus said:


> I'm rather fond of Red Dwarfs "smeg".


I'd not use that in polite company, drp... It might be OK with Red Dwarf aficionados and younger adults, mostly.



drpraetorus said:


> _ kept coming across...the interjection "erm". I never heard it in the movies. It made no sense *until I remembered that the "r" is often not pronounced after a vowel in English English*. So, dropping the "r" it comes out as "um" which is a standard place keeper in spoken English. _


_

The 'r' is silent after a vowel only in some UK English dialects, but yes for this word often written 'erm', basically people say 'ehm' or 'um' or 'ehh'



drpraetorus said:



There are a couple interjections that I hear in theatrical situations that I would like to ask about. *Do real Scots say "Hoot Mon"*?

Click to expand...

No, they don't say 'Hoots, Mon', or at least not where I come from anyway. This sort of parody of Scots used to turn up in exaggerated portrayals on the stage or on radio / TV. Many Scots nowadays might consider it a bit offensive._


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## SimonNZ

Not sure why but "Oy Vey" is very common here at work.


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## Cheyenne

Ingélou said:


> What sound do you make for 'ugh'? I pronounce it as a bilious groan - 'urrrr!' - but when we were children, we didn't recognise the spelling in books and used to jokingly say 'ug'!


That depends on the language which I am speaking! In Dutch I say it with the the typical hard, groaning g -- it sounds like gargling to foreigners. In English it sounds more like "uh".


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## Manxfeeder

Ever since Billie Piper appeared on Doctor Who, I occasionally hear the interjection around my house, "Oy."


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## Badinerie

You'll find a lot more interesting interjections from her if you watch "Secret Diary of a Call Girl"


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## SimonNZ

"Ay Oop!" has been a faily common affected greeting with coworkers I've had. One, originally from York, used to greet me every morning with "Ay Oop, Chook!"


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## PetrB

_*Gadzooks!*_
late 17th century: alteration of God's hooks, i.e., the nails by which Jesus Christ was fastened to the cross

_*Egad(s)!*_
late 17th century: God, a God, the Gods.

_*Jumpin' Jehosephat!*_ (yeh hose ef at)
American, conjectural etymology only....


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## Manxfeeder

Hi


Badinerie said:


> You'll find a lot more interesting interjections from her if you watch "Secret Diary of a Call Girl"


Well, I don't think my wife would approve. I'll just take your word for it.


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## Ingélou

Oh, another delicious interjection - the slightly archaic 'ahem', which is the sound of a cough, or of a warning cough, as in wanting to talk privately or to point out someone's mistake.


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## TurnaboutVox

PetrB said:


> _*Jumpin' Jehosephat!*_ (yeh hose ef at)
> American, conjectural etymology only....


Ah, my dad used to use that, I wondered where he'd picked it up from. Although Scots through and through, he did his Ph.D. at Syracuse in the late 50's


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## Taggart

Jumpin' Jehosephat! - had a certain vogue in the 50's and 60's. I think it came up as a Yosemite Sam catch phrase.

Then there's suffering succotash! from Sylvester - usually with a lisp.

One of my favourites in this genre is Geronimo! - usually used as you went off the top diving board. Health and safety would have had problems with out local baths - top board 12' into 6' of water - tricky. The worst was the 10m board going into 10m of water where you could touch the bottom of the pool. The trick was then getting back to the surface.


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## mirepoix

drpraetorus said:


> Do real Scots say "Hoot Mon"?


Yes, as TurnaboutVox has pointed out that's sort of a caricature. However, I still say "Och". That rhymes with "Loch", which in turn doesn't rhyme with 'Lock'. To say 'Och' try to make the sound of a dry gargle(?)


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## Ingélou

'Michty me' should also be sounded in a throat-curdling way!


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## Taggart

drpraetorus said:


> There are a couple interjections that I hear in theatrical situations that I would like to ask about. Do real Scots say "Hoot Mon"?


Only if there's "a moose loose aboot this hoose" (as sung by Lord Rockingham's XI)



drpraetorus said:


> Do real Irish say "Faith and begorah" often followed by "woora woora"?


No only humorous ones. And they only say Woora, Woora to describe the hills near the Karlamilyi National Park.


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## Ingélou

An Interjection Family:

Um - I'm not sure...

Mmm & its cousin yum - this chocolate mousse tastes gorgeous!

Hmmm - I can't agree or approve of what you just said.

Hmmm? - I didn't hear what you just said.

And another:

Brrrrrr! - It's freezing!
&
Grrrrrr! - Watch it!


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## drpraetorus

Manxfeeder said:


> One of my favorite comic book sound effects was in Mad Magazine. A cowboy was standing at the door of a saloon with his gun blazing. The sound effect was "Barroom!"
> 
> A judge I used to work for had a peculiar quirk. When he was stupefied by an attorney's ignorance, he'd sit back in his chair wide-eyed and say, "Gadzooks." Ever since then, I've found myself doing the same thing, though never in a courtroom.
> 
> I remember an old Marvel comic which was lampooning Thor and had him exclaiming, "Forsooth, gadzooks, and gosh all hemlock." Well, that does cover all the bases.


The Mad magazine sound effect was done by Don Martin. He was a master of the written sound effect. When I was a kid he was one of the main reasons for buying Mad. The magazine is not as good as it used to be, sadly.

Pshaw!


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## drpraetorus

I will use "ahem" when trying to get some ones attention. Usually, theatrically. I remember on Superman, the editor Perry White, used to say "Great Caesars Ghost"


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## aimee

'Oh, boy!' That's a lot to learn. I'll pick up one at a time, easy ones first.


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## Vaneyes

"Excuse me?"


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## SimonNZ

I have a friend who likes saying "Ee By Gum, Lad!"


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## Klavierspieler

My go to exclamations are "Shoot!", "Darn it!", and "Oh, man!". I've also picked up "Ochone!" from reading MacDonald and "Manometer!" from German class. 

My pronunciation of "ugh" varies depending on why I'm saying it. If it's "ugh, I'm so tired" then I say "unhhhh," but if it's "ugh, that's so disgusting" then I say "ug."


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## Klavierspieler

Ingélou said:


> Maybe in *these countries'* comic books Englishmen go round saying *oh golly* ... ?


In American comic books they often say something like "I say, jolly good show, what what?". No joke.


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## Igneous01

i just straight up swear.


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## Taggart

Igneous01 said:


> i just straight up swear.


Wrong thread - try http://www.talkclassical.com/28451-do-you-eff-blind.html


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## Badinerie

Achtung...Himmel! Sorry i've been googling 'Commando Magazine' where the Achtung...Himmel Banzai! and Aaeeeiiiiiii count is formidable. Actually...In retrospect, I didnt realise how Homoerotic those mags were I read as a kid. Its amazing I grew up straight


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## Ingélou

It was all these Germanic interjections that persuaded my little bro that German was a *manly* language, worth opting to study at O-level, instead of that *cissy French stuff*. 
_(Not that it made much difference - languages weren't his forte.)_


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## Blancrocher

Ingélou said:


> It was all these Germanic interjections that persuaded my little bro that German was a *manly* language, worth opting to study at O-level, instead of that *cissy French stuff*.
> _(Not that it made much difference - languages weren't his forte.)_


My Italian friends always seem to mention cats at odd times, especially when they're upset, though I have no idea why.

It's quite endearing--makes me feel like I'm on the Internet.


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## drpraetorus

Klavierspieler said:


> In American comic books they often say something like "I say, jolly good show, what what?". No joke.


You forgot "Pip, pip" and "Cheerio". 
By the way, how long has "Brilliant" been the thing to says in U.K. parlance for anything good?


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## Taggart

drpraetorus said:


> You forgot "Pip, pip" and "Cheerio".
> By the way, how long has "Brilliant" been the thing to says in U.K. parlance for anything good?


Of persons, it has been used since the 1840's; of anything good since the 1970's. The simpler brill (*not *the flatfish) comes from the 1980's and made the OED in 1989.


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## Ukko

had to log on to accept a new Friend, and now am forced to advance the proposition that the only acceptable interjections are _injections. _As in _*Abomination!*_

They can, of course, be indications of approval. In my service days, one of my barracks mates was extremely fond of _F****ing Aye_.


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## Ingélou

Ukko said:


> had to log on to accept a new Friend...[/I].


*Jumpin' Jehoshaphat! *

_(*Ye're aye welcome, Charlie Stewart!  )
_


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## KenOC

Yosemite Sam: Great horny toads! Yes, you can get a ringtone.


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## Headphone Hermit

FROST!

My gran used it to express surprise - she would never swear of use any profanity of any kind, but this could be as strong as any Glaswegian's invective .... and it has the added advantage of tripping up a listener :lol:


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## Headphone Hermit

Badinerie said:


> Achtung...Himmel! Sorry i've been googling 'Commando Magazine' where the Achtung...Himmel Banzai! and Aaeeeiiiiiii count is formidable. Actually...In retrospect, I didnt realise how Homoerotic those mags were I read as a kid. Its amazing I grew up straight
> 
> View attachment 49104
> View attachment 49105
> 
> 
> View attachment 49106
> View attachment 49107


Donner und blitzen!

I bought a load of these a few years ago as a reminder of childhood ..... it is astonishing that there are almost no women at all in them, except for the occasional mother who makes a good square meal on one page before the hero goes off to war. And even if there is a woman, she almost never says anything.


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## Badinerie

Told you! we were being Groomed...


Oh...And I just used 'Oo-er Missus!' in The Jazz Hole forum.


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## Headphone Hermit

Badinerie said:


> Told you! we were being Groomed...
> 
> Oh...And I just used 'Oo-er Missus!' in The Jazz Hole forum.


Blimey!
**********


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## Ingélou

Stone the crows!

For some reason, 'blimey' sparked off this one - but when I google it, there's no explanation of what it's about. It's thought to be Australian, but the only reason I know it is because I heard it in Hancock's Half Hour many many many moons ago - though whether uttered by Tony Hancock or Sid James, I don't remember.


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## Badinerie

Cor Blimey. Contraction of God Blind Me. Shortened to, Blimey!


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## Ingélou

I was thinking this morning - *'It's never too late to be a Woman of Mystery'*









- and a very useful interjection came to mind. 

*Would you like to know what it is?* - *Aha!*


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## Ingélou

The other use of Aha! - coming on something unexpectedly - I also fondly remember. I was teaching a very bright O-level class in a girls' school and needed to fetch their exercise books from the staff room. They were busy with group discussion work, so I left them to it, fetched the books, and tiptoed back. When I got near the door, I took my shoes off for extra quietness, then flung the door open -

*'A-ha!' *

The girls, who were getting on quietly, looked politely surprised, and then smiled.

What a lovely class.


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## Badinerie

Lucky you didnt work on a maternity hospital ward!


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## SimonNZ

I'd like to cultivate some Captain Haddock-isms, but I doubt I could pull it off:


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## Jos

SimonNZ said:


> I'd like to cultivate some Captain Haddock-isms, but I doubt I could pull it off:


Haha, we do that sometimes, in Dutch obviously,with our son, who is also a Tintinfan. "Duizend bommen en granaten, bashjiboezoek" etc
Would love to hear Stephen Fry have a go at those Haddockisms!

Cheers,
Jos


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## ptr

Jos said:


> Would love to hear Stephen Fry have a go at those Haddockisms!


Having Stephen Fry reading the Tintin-adventures in Audio Book format would be a hit with me! Where do I sign up?

/ptr


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## drpraetorus

Here's an older one that I used to hear. "Land o' Goshen" It was usually run together as one word.


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## Huilunsoittaja

I'm kinda plain in my interjections. I don't have any American heritage of special phrases, nor do I use Anglofied versions of anything Scandinavian. _"What the heck?!" "What in the world?!" "For goodness sake!" "Shoot!" "[Oh/Aw] man!" "Geez!" "Gosh!" "Freak!" "Frikkin'" _Are about all I say for interjections, and all of them happen to be softened versions of vulgar language (I really don't like cursing and refuse to do it myself). On the internet, I tend to say "Indeed!" a lot, but not as much as real life. I've always secretly wanted to use "Stravo!" or "Prok!" as angry interjections, but I've never had a chance, plus no one would understand me. lol


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## mstar

It's funny that I come across this thread. After reading Victor Hugo's "Hunchback of Notre Dame", I couldn't get particular interjections out of my head... 
1. Thunder and Mars (This one, I have no idea what it means...) 
2. Odds bodikins 
3. Zounds 
And now read them all in your head in a surprised man's voice, over and over again, and you will experience what I did when reading that novel... 
Later, I was doing a puzzle late at night and the idiotic words kept repeating in my head, and I imagined a more incredulous voice each time, until I just put my head down on the puzzle and laughed until the words got out of my head.


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## Taggart

!. Looks like some sort of mistranslation or being too clever - Jupiter is the thunderer so presumably it's an extension of By Jove!

2. Is a contraction of a phrase found in Henry IV Part 1 (Act 1 scene 2) in full - 1st Carrier: God's body! the turkeys in my pannier are quite starved; and in Hamlet in a modified form coming closer to this - Hamlet: God's bodykins, man, much better: use every man after his desert, and who should 'scape whipping?

3. We have mentioned earlier.

A good interjection does catch your attention.


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## KenOC

If it hasn't been mentioned: *Sufferin' succotash!








*


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## science

Has anyone mentioned "ouch!" yet? I looked but didn't notice it. 

Also, fiddlesticks! My parents actually used to use that one without any sense of irony. We were so strict, we couldn't get away with "jeez" or "shoot" let alone something like "crap" or "fudge." But "fiddlesticks" was in bounds. 

I was so innocent, when my great-uncle (grandfather's sister's husband) smashed his thumb with a hammer, I was shocked to hear him say, "Dang it!" I was eight, I still remember thinking something like, "Oh, Uncle Dewey is a bad man." (Speaking of "oh," oh!) The truth is he was one of the best men; there is no one I have admired more. I was a stupid little kid.


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## drpraetorus

In "Gone with the Wind" Scarlet O'Hara's favorite interjection is "Fiddle-dee-dee". One from the American south is "Lawzy Days" I'm not really sure what lawzy means. On the subject of "Gone with the Wind", does anyone know if there has been an opera made from it? I figure, if Prokofiev could make and opera from "War and Peace", surely someone could do "Gone with the Wind".


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## Ingélou

Well, they're not in the same literary league, but I enjoyed both books.


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## Guest

Bugger.


(as said oop north of Watford)


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## Taggart

drpraetorus said:


> In "Gone with the Wind" Scarlet O'Hara's favorite interjection is "Fiddle-dee-dee". One from the American south is "Lawzy Days" I'm not really sure what lawzy means.


I suspect its a version of lawks a day or lawks a daisy cognate with lawks have mercy with a heavy southern or mountain accent. Where lawks is a softening of Lord (for God).


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## Ingélou

One of my favourite interjections is 'Rassenfras', which I mistakenly thought to be a German word used by Muttley the dog in the cartoon 'Wacky Races', shown regularly on British TV in the 1970s. But when I googled, there's no such word & it turns out I misheard what Muttley was mumbling. According to Wikipedia, 'Muttley does not really talk; his main examples of speech are his trademark "wheezy snicker" (usually at Dick's expense) and a mushy, sotto voce grumble against an unsympathetic or harsh Dick (usually along the lines of *"Rashin' fashin' Rick Rastardly*!"). - My italics.

But never mind. I like 'Rassenfras', and it perfectly expresses my feelings when things go wrong...


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## georgedelorean

Although it's more of a prepositional phrase, my favorite is probably "at any rate."


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## TxllxT

Listening to Russian conversations (that I partly understand) I love the blank word interjection "вот" [vot]. It means something like 'here', but it also marks an end to the singing tone of a Russian speech flow with an bass lowering into an almost grumbling blurt of: "вот".

The Hebrew interjection‎ אֲהָ֣הּ has entered the Dutch language as "Ach!" and the English language as 'Alas!' The Dutch "Ach!" is a literal rendering of ‎ אֲהָ֣הּ and who knows the famous hard 'g' in Dutch originates from the truthful copying of Hebrew gutterals. But 'Alas!' is not following the gutteral utterings of Hebrew. The King James translators obviously disliked this hard g-sound.


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## Annied

My favourite, although I can't say I find a need to use it very often is, "I don't give a tinker's cuss".


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## Totenfeier

I don't know how I came up with this one, but when I need a good, strong, loud expletive, I frequently resort to "good NIGHT *NURSE!*"

I'm also rather taken with Nero Wolfe's "pfui" in the detective novels of Rex Stout. It's pronounced "phooey," but I'd rather _read_ "pfui" than _hear_ "phooey," if you see what I mean. If I ever had occasion to use it, I would _pronounce_ it "pfui," again, if you see what I mean.

(P.S.: that's "ph" with the value of "f").


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## Varick

What a great thread. I completely missed this one in it's heyday (not sure if I was a member then). I have learned a great deal thanks to many people's (especially Ingelou's) description of the origins of these phrases.

I've always enjoyed the lengthy "Jesus Jumpin' H. Christ!"

I had an uncle who recently passed always said "Jesus crackers!"

I've adopted a few from a movie I loved as a teenager "Johnny Dangerously." There was a character from some foreign country who had such a strong accent, he mispronounced all the curse words. The two that I remember specifically and still use is "Somonabotcha" and "Fargin Icehole"



Badinerie said:


> My Interjections tend to be expletives i'm afraid or blasphemous. i.e. Hell's/Gods Teeth man! Hell's ****! Jesus on a bike! Crickey Moses! I Use Blimey! Gordon Bennett occasionally
> I wish I could say My giddy aunt Goodness gracious me , or Well I'll be sugared. but they dont seem to drain the tension like a good blasphemous obscenity.


This quite nicely sums up my position.



science said:


> I was so innocent, when my great-uncle (grandfather's sister's husband) smashed his thumb with a hammer, I was shocked to hear him say, "Dang it!" I was eight, I still remember thinking something like, "Oh, Uncle Dewey is a bad man." (Speaking of "oh," oh!) The truth is he was one of the best men; there is no one I have admired more. I was a stupid little kid.


You're great uncle is a much better man than me. I try to never use profanity around children. My attitude is simple: protecting innocence is a beautiful thing and every man and woman should act as good examples for children whenever around them. But like in everything else, there are exceptions. A few years ago I was helping my brother move an old, heavy dresser in his house, it slipped and landed on my foot, to which I involuntarily yelled, "F#*k1ng Wh0re!!!" I turned to see my little nephew standing there staring at me wide eyed (he was about 5 years old). I gave a humorous sheepish grin, put my finger to my lips and said, "Shhhhhh." He then just giggled, turned around, and ran downstairs.

V


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## Ingélou

Varick said:


> What a great thread. I completely missed this one in it's heyday (not sure if I was a member then). I have learned a great deal thanks to many people's (especially Ingelou's) description of the origins of these phrases.
> 
> I've always enjoyed the lengthy "Jesus Jumpin' H. Christ!"
> 
> I had an uncle who recently passed always said "Jesus crackers!"
> 
> I've adopted a few from a movie I loved as a teenager "Johnny Dangerously." There was a character from some foreign country who had such a strong accent, he mispronounced all the curse words. The two that I remember specifically and still use is "Somonabotcha" and "Fargin Icehole"
> 
> This quite nicely sums up my position.
> 
> You're great uncle is a much better man than me. I try to never use profanity around children. My attitude is simple: protecting innocence is a beautiful thing and every man and woman should act as good examples for children whenever around them. But like in everything else, there are exceptions. A few years ago I was helping my brother move an old, heavy dresser in his house, it slipped and landed on my foot, to which I involuntarily yelled, "F#*k1ng Wh0re!!!" I turned to see my little nephew standing there staring at me wide eyed (he was about 5 years old). I gave a humorous sheepish grin, put my finger to my lips and said, "Shhhhhh." He then just giggled, turned around, and ran downstairs.
> 
> V


When I was in teacher training, it was the fashion (1970s London, the innovative National Association for the Teaching of English) to collect tapes of ordinary people talking and take them in to your classes for analysis.

One of the tapes an Education Lecturer played for us teaching students was of a London docker recalling an old colleague of his who never swore. Since most dockers did, he got a lot of ribbing, but always replied that his Missus swore enough for both of them.

One day the old man was on the docks unloading a cart when the huge carthorse stood on his foot. Tears were streaming down his face and in his pain and anguish, he said to the horse: 'You great *Teapot*!'

Now there was a man! :tiphat:


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## Varick

One of the biggest boons for me on this thread is learning what havering means. I was always perplexed by the line in the song, "I'm gonna be (500 Miles)" by the Proclaimers, _"And when I'm havering, I'll be havering with you."_ Now I know!

V


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## Strange Magic

My father was a man of great reserve and self-control; the only interjection to escape his lips during a moment of extreme surprise or stress was "*Great Caesar's Ghost!*"


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## TxllxT

Czech language has a lot of German sounding interjections, that deride the German predilection for militaristic bombast: 
* himlhergot!!* Most Czechs don't even know what the phrase means; just let it drum roll .
Perhaps Czech is inclining towards monotony, but a trove of interjections like "Ty jo!", " ty brďo!","ty kravo!" restore the balance.

For those who like to learn a language I advise to get first acquainted with its interjections.

A website with a collection of Czech interjections:
http://www.hradec.org/gustav/city.html


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## georgedelorean

Here's one I came up with quite some time ago: COAS. Pronounced "coze," it's an acronym for "crap on a stick."


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## Pat Fairlea

Interjections appear to have merged with expletives, and we don't want that sort of thing in the genteel world of TC.

I confess to having adopted the interjection of Father Jack Hackett: "****!" said explosively and with an emphasis on the 'r'. The TC Gentility Bot will have asterisked that, so it rhymes with 'farce'. :devil:

Another one that may be peculiar to Mrs Pat and I is to interrupt long and tedious back-and-forth arguments with the phrase "And ninthly...".


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## Ingélou

Pat Fairlea said:


> *Interjections appear to have merged with expletives,*...


Just what I was thinking myself! 

http://www.talkclassical.com/28451-do-you-eff-blind.html


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## KenOC

*Jumpin' Jehosaphat!
*


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## Totenfeier

KenOC said:


> *Jumpin' Jehosaphat!
> *


And when Bugs Bunny tricks him off yet _another_ cliff: "Aszerackin'farkerknackin'carkindingaratzenfingali*BAM*! (small circular cloud of dust far below)


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## KenOC

One from Peanuts.


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