15

What is the origin of the word "duh" as in the interjection:

— It's hot in the desert.
— Well, duh!

If it is of onomatopoeic origin and only appears in modern English as some sites suggest, I would be interested to know when it started appearing in English writing.

Improve this question
7
  • 2
    I remember seeing speech bubbles for Moose a few decades ago from Archie Comics that often began with "Duh!"
    – Randolf Richardson
    Jul 22, 2011 at 3:34
  • 1
    The reason Moose said it so often is that he is a "low intelligence" character. I don't remember ever reading it from the Jughead though, and it's not a normal part of his character (that doesn't mean his character never used that word though).
    – Randolf Richardson
    Jul 22, 2011 at 3:45
  • @Randolf - I have to post a correction for the sake of the internet. My eyes were playing a trick on me and the place where I thought it mentioned Jughead was actually a second reference to Moose. I have removed the comment above.
    – going
    Jul 22, 2011 at 3:51
  • No worries! I think your comment was fine, actually (and I encourage you to undelete it if you can).
    – Randolf Richardson
    Jul 22, 2011 at 3:57
  • 2
    Just a personal note: As a child, I remember using duh for the exact reasons stated above. I feel sure I was using it when I was in the 10 to 13 year old range and I am 76 now, so that puts it in the 1947 to 1950 range for me. Of course it likely started before that.
    – user35918
    Jan 17, 2013 at 9:37

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
10

According to Merriam Webster, duh is an interjection which has two meanings:

  1. used to express actual or feigned ignorance or stupidity
  2. used derisively to indicate that something just stated is all too obvious or self-evident

Apparently this first appeared in 1966 (per Merriam Webster). If you look at Google NGrams, "duh" has appeared even in the 1800s but a quick look at the results shows that in the early cases "duh" was used mostly as a syllable in a foreign language or as a form of "the". You can see that there is an increase over time, regardless, after 1960.

enter image description here

The etymology of the interjection is, as you suggested, onomatopoeic in origin. One site, Think-Ink, devotes an entire page to the discussion of the word. One thing they mention is an etymology, from the American Heritage Dictionary:

Imitative of the utterance attributed to slow-witted people.

Improve this answer
3
  • Thanks for the answer, in many places this is quoted as the first appearance which predates the 66 date by quite a few years: "1943 Merrie Melodies (animated cartoon) in J. E. Lighter Hist. Dict. Amer. Slang (1994) I. 672/1 Duh... Well, he can't outsmart me, 'cause I'm a moron."
    – going
    Jul 22, 2011 at 4:26
  • Also the Archie character Moose has been around at least since 1949.
    – going
    Jul 22, 2011 at 4:26
  • I wonder if duh as used to imitate slow-witted folk was just a variation of the hesitant uh, which can be used similarly?
    – user13141
    Oct 9, 2011 at 9:01
3

The OED's says it's origin is imitative and gives a first quotation from a 1943 Merrie Melodies cartoon (as documented in J. E. Lighter's Historical Dictionary of American Slang (1994)):

Duh... Well, he can't outsmart me, 'cause I'm a moron.

Checking further, the cartoon is Jack-Wabbit and the Beanstalk starring Bugs Bunny, and the quote is from the giant. Here's some more dialogue from IMDb:

Bugs Bunny: [Nervously] Eh, what's up doc?
Giant: Duh, caught ya choppin' up my victory garden, huh?, Well don't try nuttin' funny cuz I got ya covered! [Pulls out a gun]
Bugs Bunny: [to the Giant] Hey come here Gulliver!, I want to tell you something, come here! [Giant leans over towards him]
Giant: [Bugs takes off his glove and slaps him with it] Duh, duh now why did you wanna go and do that for huh?
Bugs Bunny: You want to fight fair don't you? That means that I challenge you to a duel! Giant: Duh, duel? uh, oh yeah!, okay!

You can watch the cartoon on YouTube.

Improve this answer

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.