Questions tagged [interjections]
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.
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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 odd ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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 ...
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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) ...
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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 ...
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What's a common interjection for the reaction to something creepy and disgusting (like some insects or spooky places, etc.)?
For example,
A: - Look! There is a centipede on the table!
B: - (interjection)!
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Origin of the word "duh"
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 ...
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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?
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Usage of "as if" as interjection
My question concerns the usage of "as if" as an idiomatic interjection. The references I have consulted (etymonline, online dictionaries, etc.) seem to agree that "as if" is used in this context to ...
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“passf***ingport” is it a bad use of interjection?
I was just having a little conversation with a few friends, and I used the word ‘passfuckingport’ out of nowhere. I am not sure what it sparked - my Western friends where alright with it, but one of ...
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What is the origin of the dated British expression "I say!"
It doesn't appear that this expression was a minced oath or something along those lines. Was it shortened from a longer phrase, or did it just enter the vernacular as is (similar to "listen up" or "...
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Onomatopoeia for disgust [duplicate]
Are there any English onomatopoeias for disgust / loathe? What exclamations are commonly used to express repulsion?
Something that could be used like:
(___) dog shit. I loathe it! (some sound here)...
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Is 'hmmm?' an interjection? If not, what is it?
I hope this isn't obvious (although maybe it's better if it is)! I'm working with an interview transcript and I have a participant who says 'Hmmm?' in a way that I want to discuss. Unfortunately, I ...
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"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, ...
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Yes, no, adverbs, and interjections
There appears to be some disagreement over what function yes and no perform in the following sentences:
Yes, you are right.
No, you are mistaken.
According to ODO (yes, no), they are being used as ...
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How to use the expression "lo and behold"
How should this expression be used, and what is its origin?
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Interjection "et voilà"
I know et voilà is a French interjection and means there it is.
It is very much used in the US. Why is the use of et voilà so popular in the US?
Which historical fact has made it so popular?
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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 ...
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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. ...
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The word "pew" (P.U., etc.) and positive or neutral connotation
Normally, whenever I've heard the word "pew" (or its Bugs Bunny-esque cousin P.U.), it's applied to a bad smell of some kind. I just started learning an old folk song from the Appalachians called "...
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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 ...
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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 this ...
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Where does “goodness me” come from?
The expression “my goodness” always seemed clear to me, as it is a simple bowdlerisation of “my God”, as are many expletives. However, I have heard many times the expression “goodness me!”, which ...
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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 ...
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