What is the definition of the word 'duh' (or 'dah')?

Question

What is the root of the word? Where did it come from? Who uses it? Who is allowed to use it? Apparently the proper spelling is 'duh', as the spell checker allowed that spelling to go through, but not 'dah'.

And what difference does it make as to what way the word is spelled?
I know that the word (or sound, really) was used in old cartoons, so its nothing new.

Thanks Dan.

Answer 1

As if you didn't know.... DUH !

:+|

Answer 2

DOH! It's a little word that is designed to be a sound for an emotion or a word that mimicks that little feeling that you get when you figure out an answer to something that should have been clear to you long before you actually "got it". Kind of like slapping yourself upside the head or in the face with your own hand. Another way of saying "I can't believe I just got that" as your face is turning a bright shade of red!
Duh & Dah have different sounds. Using the spell check just ain't gonna get it...

Answer 3

This Site Might Help You.

RE:
What is the definition of the word 'duh' (or 'dah')?
What is the root of the word? Where did it come from? Who uses it? Who is allowed to use it? Apparently the proper spelling is 'duh', as the spell checker allowed that spelling to go through, but not 'dah'.

Answer 4

Dah Meaning

Answer 5

In 1963, the New York Times Magazine explained the usefulness of this little word: "A favorite expression is 'duh.'... This is the standard retort used when someone makes a conversational contribution bordering on the banal. For example, the first child says, 'The Russians were first in space.' Unimpressed, the second child replies (or rather grunts), 'Duh.'"

Well, duh. It's a no-brainer. It began as an outward expression of a slow-witted cartoon character's mental processes, as in a 1943 Merrie Melodies movie: "Duh.... Well, he can't outsmart me,' cause I'm a moron." Later in the twentieth century it blossomed into every man, woman, and child's condescending exclamation upon hearing a self-evident and thereby unnecessary remark. It is so simple that it is one of the first verbal weapons learned by children, so effective that it stays in their linguistic arsenal as they grow to adulthood. For maximum effect, duh can be extended long and loud, with an extra twist in the pitch of the voice.

Because it stoops to the presumed mental level of the remark on which it comments, duh can backfire, implying that the perpetrator rather than the recipient is dimwitted. But since most of us are not Rocket Scientists (1985), who cares? We've made our point, regardless. Duh!

Used by everyone from teens to adults. :)

Answer 6

According to the TV commercial, duh means, "It's obvious; a no-brainer".
Anyone can use it. Maybe it came from "Back to the Future" when Biff said it to McFly because he was so gullible to fall for a gag that was so obvious anyone else could have seen it coming?

Yeah, as the person below mentions, I do remember that it seemed to be about the only work Moose knew.

Answer 7

slang is nothing new. There are slang dictionaries that go back for centuries. Likely, it developed from a word that someone was trying to pronounce, and someone made fun of them for saying it wrong, and associated it with being stupid.

Answer 8

yeah, its a slang term. it doesnt have a root, but im not sure of its actual orgin. i do know that its been around since i was young.... i tend to think that it may have started as a mockery of the person who doesnt "get it". like, a sound that a stupid person would make...eg: "duuuuuhhh what?"

heres what wikki says: "The exclamation may have originated with the Archie Comics character Moose. Decades before "Duh" became a synonym for something so obvious that everyone should know it, Moose's catchphrase was "D-uh", usually uttered as he is contemplating a thought."

Answer 9

I just used that word in one of my answers! It mean " get it stupid? " or used in reverse, " how dumb do you think I am? "
I think it was just one of those words kids throw around until it's picked up by the world! Like funky or grovey in our day! :-)

Answer 10

DUH
an understatement
ironic
stupid
amazing thought process
bringing attention to the obvious
brilliant deduction, already known
stuck on stupid
or anything else that fits the occassion, it is a one word answer for every situation,you can imagine,
duhhhh, usually said with disdain

Answer 11

I doubt you will find an official etymology. I believe it originates from the sound assumedly made by a retarded person.

"Duh" is used to signify a sense of stupidity at the obviousness of an answer. For example, if you said to your grandchild "Would you like an iPod?" his answer may well be "Duh! Of course I would." Another example of usage might be more pejorative, such as "Well, duh!" in response to a question such as "Everyone is on the bus. Does that mean there is school today?"