I mean what a random assembly of letters to say when you get a paper cut?!! or scrape your knee. Why not say "yulak" or "Gishw"
Who was the first to say it... and how did he make it stick? Does it have an etymology? a source? a cool story behind it?
2007-03-09 04:47:02 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
This is kind of a chicken - egg question. Spoken language predates written words by thousands of years. People made common sounds and the written word tried to imitate these sounds. Onomatopoeia is a word that imitates the sound it represents. In different languages there are different rules for the phonetics of sound. That's why different countries have different words / spellings for the same sounds. For example, we may say a cat meows and believe that fairly well mimics the sound a cat makes. In France or Germany they have totally different words to imitate the same sound. Does a cat in France really sound different than one in America? No, but the way people interpret and mimic that sound does differ.
2007-03-09 05:02:22 · answer #1 · answered by SA Writer 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Interesting question, I've never thought about it before. If you look at every major language their word when experiencing sudden pain is similar. My educated guess would say that when we experience pain our first instinct is to yell "Aaah." We are socially conditioned as young children that sudden yelling is bad etiquette so we feel we have to suppress the noise. So we take "Aaah" and make it taper off which turns into "Ouch" or "Ow".
2007-03-09 13:04:09 · answer #2 · answered by Explode 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We say "ouch" because that is the common word is today's society. If people merely said "oook," then people today would say that. Monkey see Monkey do.
2007-03-09 12:56:01 · answer #3 · answered by Antman 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
i guess it replicates the natural sound we make when something hurts owwww! of course there are alternative words depending on the severity of the pain, but as they swear words i wont type them here!!! lol
2007-03-09 17:47:23 · answer #4 · answered by sydneygal 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
O is for over-exggarating
U is for using gibberish in our daily lives
C is for coping with minor pains
H is for hoping I get kudos for this retarded answer
2007-03-09 12:51:40 · answer #5 · answered by Clay B 2 · 1⤊ 1⤋
its a natural instinct i guess to express our physical pain.
2007-03-09 12:53:54 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Some people say "Mmmmmmm..."
2007-03-09 12:55:20 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋