Words such as "oh", or "wow", which are used to indicate an isolated emotion on the part of the speaker, without an explicit grammatical relationship to the rest of the sentence.
17
votes
2answers
2k views
What is it called when an interjection is inserted inside another word?
Typically (as far as I can think), the interject is something vulgar.
For example:
Radio-bloody-active (from an episode of Family Guy)
Ri-god-damn-diculuous
Un-fucking-believable"
What is the ...
13
votes
1answer
1k views
Where does the use of “why” as an interjection come from?
Examples:
Why, I'd love to.
Why, of course!
I get the concept of starting a sentence with a word not completely related to the overall response, but this one seems to be a particularly ...
8
votes
2answers
2k views
“Good bye”, “Bye”, “Bye bye”
I'm a non-native English speaker and sometimes it's hard for me to pick up the right word in some situations.
Could you, please, explain when it's better to use "goodbye" for ending a conversation, ...
4
votes
3answers
385 views
How should “aargh” really be pronounced?
The common interjections "argh!", "aargh!", "aaargh!", etc., is pronounced, as far as I know, the same as "aaa!" For most of my life, however, I (and I imagine many other second language speakers) ...
9
votes
2answers
4k views
Origin of “man!”, “(oh) boy!”, and “oh brother”
Where did these interjections:
man!
(oh) boy!
oh brother
come from, and why are they all male?
If you don’t know their current meanings as interjections, it sounds very strange to say Man! when ...
15
votes
3answers
427 views
You don't want to answer this word-placement question, now do you?
Prompted by this question I got to thinking about the placement of the word now.
If it's placed before the comma, it refers to an immediate condition:
You don't want to answer this word-placement ...
10
votes
4answers
978 views
What part of speech are non-human “interjections” like “oink” and “bang”?
As a spin-off from this comment:
If a human exclaims something like "ouch!", I believe it's considered an interjection.
But if a pig exclaims "oink!", what is the part of speech?
And if a bell goes ...
9
votes
3answers
3k views
Origin of 'tada'
What is the origin of the word tada — as used as an exclamation? Is it an onomatopoeic form of sound effects used in, say, television or does its origin lie elsewhere?
4
votes
5answers
1k views
Is it a splice comma if an interjection-phrase is involved?
It's certainly poor style, if not actually wrong, to join independent clauses with a comma when a semicolon or other punctuation would have sufficed. But interjections are usually offset from other ...
12
votes
2answers
1k views
What does “boy” mean here?
Recently, in a magazine, I read the following line:
It's been an eventful year and boy, has it flown past!
My question is, what does the word "boy" mean here? Is it an idiom? What is its usage?
7
votes
4answers
434 views
What are specific cartoon-type interjections like “cough” and “sigh” called in English?
In comics, for example those by Walt Disney, interjections that describe or emphasize in words what the characters in the image are doing are quite commonly used (cough, sigh, tweet).
According to ...
8
votes
3answers
1k views
How to use the expression “lo and behold”
How should this expression be used, and what is its origin?
3
votes
2answers
123 views
Use of “measles” as an interjection
I have a friend from Illinois USA who uses measles as an exclamation of frustration or disappointment. For example,
Measles! My flight was just canceled.
I find this odd. Is it commonly used ...
6
votes
1answer
489 views
Interjection “et voila”
I know et voila is a French interjection and means there it is.
It is very much used in the US. Why is the use of et voila so popular in the US?
Which historical fact has made it so popular?
3
votes
3answers
258 views
What's the origin of saying “yoo hoo!” to get someone's attention?
A character in D.H. Lawrence's novel Women in Love (published 1920) calls out, "Shu-hu!" to hail her sister in a crowded place.
This must be the same as "yoo hoo". What is the source of this ...
2
votes
6answers
2k views
Would “Greetings” be a better word to greet someone any time than the word “Hello”?
Would "greetings" be a better word to greet someone anytime than the word "hello"?
Let say I meet Mr. Jackson at 2pm and Mr. Anderson at 7pm. Would it be better to greet them as "Greetings Mr. ...
1
vote
4answers
4k views
Interjection for the sound of a bell
I saw this other question, but it's not quite what I'm asking.
A bell makes a sound. How would you write that sound in English? As an interjection, e.g. "boom!"
I'm sure it varies with the type and ...
