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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Interjection said to a fisherman/angler for good luck
In some other languages, there are interjections said to a fisherman (especially to an angler) for good luck, other than "good luck!" itself.
Is there any in English too?
I suppose, "good luck" is a ...
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Why is there "the" in "oh the horror"?
I am wondering about the interjection "oh, the horror!". If it should be treated as an interjection directed to "horror" (there are similar expressions in other languages), why does it use the article ...
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What's the origin of the "surprise!" interjection?
This interjection is perhaps most commonly associated with surprise parties, where the person in whose honour the party is held is made unaware, until an opportune moment where the participants leap ...
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Interjection for a longing sigh
Is there an injection or at least an onomatopoeia for a longing sigh that works in writing?
An example would be two colleagues are talking about the new member of the team on which one has a huge ...
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Word for an interjection made when drinking
Is there a word to describe a traditional interjection (in any language) made before drinking?
Examples include:
Cheers! (English)
¡Salud! (Spanish)
Prost! (German)
!לחיים (Hebrew)
A close fit is ...
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Commas between interjectional elements [duplicate]
If one wanted to say something like
no commas: Hello Pete, how are you?
or
commas: Thanks, Julia, this will be helpful!
would he need commas separating the different elements in the ...
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"Enter the Fairies" after a sudden clatter or crash?
In my family, who originate from Scotalnd, people cry "enter the fairies!" if something has caused a sudden crash, smash or clatter.
I am guessing it comes from a stage direction, such as from ...
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Diagramming and use of please as interjection
When diagramming the sentence, "Simon, would you please sing now?", should I diagram Simon or you as the subject? Would you be diagrammed as pronoun and please as an interjection? I am trying to help ...
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Is any utterance in English used only by men or only by women?
In my native language, there are some interjections used only by women. For example Va (pronounced /vʌ/), is an exclamation used to express surprise only by women. If any man happens to use them, he ...
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What is the correct way to write the interjection "ha ha?"
I had a hard time finding the English origin of this interjection and how it technically should be written. I am often ridiculed in written conversations, especially those that are informal, because I ...
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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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Is it correct English to turn interjections such as "ah", "oh", "um" "huh", "hem" into verbs?
For example: she ahhed/ohhed/ummed/huhhed/hemmed. Or is this possible only with some interjections?
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What is a more modern variant of the interjection 'Lo!"
What is a more modern variant of the interjection 'Lo!"
I'm looking for a single word which has the same effect but is less archaic.
It is a very formal context I want to use it in that you may ...
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Punctuation after the interjection "by heaven" [duplicate]
Possible Duplicate:
Exclamation marks in the middle of a sentence
How would you punctuate the following phrase with "by heaven"? It was used by a cricket commentator.
By heaven that's a ...
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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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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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"Oh, dear!" vs. "Oh dear!"
Which is correct, "Oh, dear!" or "Oh dear!"?
My understanding is that the word oh is an interjection, and should thus be followed by a comma. However, is the second usage the correct one because the ...
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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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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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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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'What ho!' of Bertie Wooster
"What ho!" - this strange form of greeting is used all the time by Bertie Wooster, a character of well-known "Jeeves and Wooster" stories by P. G. Wodehouse.
Bertie Wooster: Oh, what ho, Sir ...
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Hip Hip Hooray!
I am looking for the etymology and history of the cheer “Hip Hip Hooray”. I’m curious due to its interesting entry in Wikipedia, which reads thusly:
The call was recorded in England in the ...
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Is it 'bye from now' or 'bye for now'? [closed]
I often hear it in the end of the radio programs. Are they saying 'bye from now' or 'bye for now'? Some times they say 'bye from/for me' if there are more than one person.
What do they mean?
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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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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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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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Grammatical explanation of "what the blank"
In emphatic questions, it's common to see or hear an interjection such as the heck — or something more vulgar — between the interrogative and the verb.
What was that?
becomes
What the heck was ...
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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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Would "well done" also apply to a presently proceeding action?
Would "well done" also apply to a case, in which the performer of the action, the one for which he is receiving a praise, is still performing it at the moment of receiving the praise, in other words, ...
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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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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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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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How is "brrm" pronounced?
I find some interjections to be too tricky to pronounce.
Can anyone help me with this one? Is there any specialized dictionary that reports the pronunciation of interjections?
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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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Does the interjection "steady on!" mean something to a Brit?
More from the BBC adaptation of Charles Dickens' Bleak House. In this particular scene, one character, Sergeant George, is infuriated at another character, Mr. Smallwood, his petty landlord come to ...
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use of the interjection "but lo' ..."
In an article I tried to understand (the german understanding) of:
(...) we’re outside the part of C where the standard Dirichlet series actually converges. But lo’ we can ask what’s the ...
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Is there another interjection that can be used in this example?
'O people!'
Can anyone give me an alternative interjection for 'O' in this example?
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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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Origin of the phrase "Oh, Dear!"
When something bad happens, sometimes you'll hear Oh, dear! or Oh, dear me!
Why is this? Is it a shorter version of another phrase that makes sense in these situations?
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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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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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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?
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What is the grammatical structure of this sentence?
A particular kind of sentence seems a bit strange to me... it might be, for example, "How interesting it was to see him go!" or... "How dreadful I felt when I heard those words."
Are they ...
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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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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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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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"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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