2007-01-13 10:11:28 · 2 answers · asked by SweatLounger 1 in Society & Culture ➔ Languages
Boo can be used in two situations.
The first is "Boo" to scare someone.
The second is "Boo" to express your displeasure with someone, i.e. when an actor on the stage performs badly or when the umpire makes a bad call at a ball game.
I don't know the about origins of saying "Boo" to scare someone, but I have a guess as to the origin of the second.
I live in Israel, where we speak Hebrew, and when something like the second case occurs, people say "Booz" This comes from the Hebrew infinitive "LaBooz" which means to despise, to scorn.
For example, going back to the Hebrew scriptures (which are pretty old): (I Samuel 2:30) "For those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me shall be treated with contempt."
In that case, the word used for "contempt" is the Hebrew word "Booz".
I would say that the Hebrew "Booz" was carried into other languages, and at some point it just got shortened to "Boo".
That's my theory!
2007-01-13 11:03:20 · answer #1 · answered by Sunhouse 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
The origin of the "boo"? Care to be a bit more specific?
2007-01-13 18:19:29 · answer #2 · answered by grahamma 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋