Goat Day 26 - The origin of "meh"
11One of my favorite websites is etymonline.com. It’s a great site for learning the origin and history of words. The other day I looked up the history of the word “meh,” and the result was:
meh (interj.)
expression of apathy or indifference, in print by 2003, said to have been used in media from 1992. A Yiddish origin has been proposed.
I was shocked when I saw those years because meh has been in my vernacular since I was a wee youth in the early 1980s, although back then, I pronounced it with a silent “m.” Based on when and from whom I learned the word, I’m thinking the word is very likely Yiddish in origin.
What do you think? Or is there already a topic about this? (I didn’t search because if there is one, I’d have to come up with a new 
post.)
Also, another great site if you like words is onelook.com. It’s a fancy and featureful search engine for dictionaries, and it’s how I found out about the etymology site.
/giphy Pomeranian dictionary
- 4 comments, 2 replies
- Comment
I used it in the 1970’s, only I pronounced it as Single Shoulder Shrug.
“meh” is just an onomatopoeia; it’s a word that sounds like the sound you involuntarily make when you’re indifferent to something.
@medz
True, but when was that audible emission of indifference onomatopoeia-ized? And by whom? Also, is the word meh universal, or do different languages have different sounding words with similar meanings?
/giphy contemplative goat Pomeranian
@eonfifty @medz
/giphy Pomeranian onomatopoeia
