I think of Duh as the sound made by people trying to imitate a village
idiot. Homer's Doh (or D'oh) is the cry of suppressed rage he makes when he
realizes that what's just gone wrong is entirely his fault.
Best wishes
Matthew
-----Original Message-----
From: Robin Hamilton <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 18 June 2001 03:01
Subject: Re: swallows & gulps
>> > As an editor, I've always treated "doh" and "duh" as UK and US
>variant
>> >spellings, so it's interesting that the OED would render it in
>> >Yanqui--Candice
>>
>> Hey, Candice and all, don't take my spelling as how they rendered it: I
>> only heard this news, not saw it. So I spelt it my way. Sorry if'n I got
>it
>> wrong.
>
>Is it maybe the case that we have here two distinct semantic units?
>
>Homer contemplates a slug of uranium fallen at his feet: "Duh!" (rising
>tone)
>
>Homer tries to read the OpEd column in The New York Times: "Doh?" (falling
>intonation).
>
>Just curious ....
>
>Robin Hamilton
>
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