Difference between revisions of "D'oh"

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Homer's annoyed-grunt.

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D'oh! (also spelled out as annoyed grunt), is a famous catchphrase created by the fictional character Homer Simpson, from the popular animated television series, The Simpsons. It was also famously accepted into the Oxford English Dictionary in 2002. The quote is normally used when Homer hurts himself, finds out that he has done something stupid, is outsmarted (almost always), or when something bad has happened or is about to happen to him. Other characters from the Simpsons have also been heard using the chatchprase too, the most common being his son Bart.

It is typically represented in the show's script as "(annoyed grunt)", and is so spelled out in the official titles of several episodes.^[1]

When Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer, was first asked to voice the exclamation, he rendered it as a drawn out "doooh", inspired by Jimmy Finlayson, the moustachioed Scottish actor who appeared in 33 Laurel and Hardy films. Finlayson coined the term as a minced oath to stand in for the word "Damn!"^[2] The show's creator Matt Groening felt that it would better suit the timing of animation if it were spoken faster so Castellaneta shortened it to "D'oh!"^[3]

It was first heard on a Tracey Ullman Show short entitled "Punching Bag", which first aired on November 27, 1988. When Bart and Lisa try to hide a punching bag with his face on it, and it knocks him out. Homer's reaction is "D'oh!" The next occasion it was heard was in the first episodes of The Simpsons, "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire", which first aired on December 17, 1989.

Variations

Variations of the catch phrase have appeared in some episodes of The Simpsons.

• In "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" (1989), when being a mall Santa, after Homer bumps his head he says, "Ho-ho-d'oh!"

• In "Burns' Heir", (1994), Mr. Burns decides to make Bart his heir and tries to convince Bart that his family doesn't want him anymore. He allows Bart to watch his "family", actually actors hired by Burns, on closed-circuit television. The Homer impersonator (who bears an uncanny resemblance to Michael Caine) drops his sandwich and exclaims "b'oh!" Bart comments that something about his family doesn't seem quite right. At this, Burns switches off the monitor, scurries onto the set and tells the actor "Homer Simpson doesn't say 'B'oh', he says...(looks through script)...'D'oh'!"; when "Homer" tries again, he says it nearly correctly (da ohhh), if unconvincingly.

• In "Bart of Darkness" (1994), Homer accidentally builds a large barn, when intending to build a pool. An Amish man comments, "'Tis a fine barn, but sure 'tis no pool, English." Homer responds with a "D'oheth!"

• In "Bart Gets an Elephant" (1994), when forced to clean the Simpson home, Homer tries to duck out quickly by volunteering to clean the basement. When everybody agrees without hesitation, Homer exclaims "D'oooh?" (stretched out and with a rising inflection, as if he is asking a question). When he opens the basement door, he exclaims a normal "D'oh!" when he sees what a mess the basement is.
• Also in "Bart Gets an Elephant", when Homer crashes their car into a preserved deer statue, he, Lisa, and Marge say, in sequence, "D'oh!" (doe), "A deer!", "A female deer!", an allusion to the "Do-Re-Mi" song in The Sound of Music.

• In "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" (1999), on a family trip to Japan, Homer said something in Japanese along the lines of "shimatta-baka-ni," which was translated in subtitles as "D'oh!" Shimatta in Japanese is roughly equivalent to "damn it!", whereas Baka ni is, by Japanese grammar, more literally taken as an adverb (pointed out by the particle ni after a na adjective radical), meaning "stupidly", with the root word baka being used traditionally to describe an idiotic or foolish person or thing. Japanese speakers normally use baka in relation to silly animals or inanimate things; it is considered extremely rude when used in reference to humans. In the actual Japanese dub, "D'oh" is not translated, but is written in hiragana as どっ！ (do!!).

• In The Simpsons Movie, when the dome is put over Springfield, Homer cries 'D'oooooooooooooome!!!'

Episode names

When originally created, the word didn't have an official spelling. Instead, it is written as "annoyed grunt". In recognition of this, several episodes feature the phrase "annoyed grunt" in the episode title where one would usually expect the term "d'oh" (because it rhymes and sounds better). Such episodes include "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot" (instead of "I, D'oh-bot", a play on I, Robot), "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" (a parody of the song Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious in Mary Poppins), "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" (a parody of Old MacDonald Had a Farm), and "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)" (a parody of G.I. Joe). Even in Closed Captioning of the show in early airings showed [annoyed grunt] in place of where 'D'oh!' is heard.

Five episodes so far have "d'oh" in their titles (all in later seasons): season 10's "D'oh-in' in the Wind," season 11's "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses," season 14's "C.E. D'oh," season 17's "We're on the Road to D'ohwhere", and season 19's "He Loves to Fly and He D'ohs".

Usage

The term d'oh! has been adopted by many Simpsons fans, and even by people that are not specifically fans. The term has become commonplace in modern speech and demonstrates the reach of the show's influence. "D'oh" has been added to the Webster's Millennium Dictionary of English, the Macmillan Dictionary for Advanced Learners and the Oxford English Dictionary. It is defined as: "expressing frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned, or that one has just said or done something foolish. Also (usu. mildly derogatory), implying that another person has said or done something foolish (Duh)." The OED etymologizes the word as "popularized by" The Simpsons, but lists usages as early as 1945. It is also now becoming a popular minced oath for many various curse words, especially damn.

In the German-dubbed version, "d'oh!" is translated to "Nein!" (No! - pronounced like the number 9). In the Spanish-dubbed version, d'oh! is changed to ¡Ou! (pronounced like the letter O). The pronunciation, with the proper Homer-like intonation, has entered as well in the popular culture of many Spanish-speaking countries. The closed captions for the program (at least in the U.S.), spell "D'oh" as "D-ohh!". In Italy, the parts where Homer utters the word are left unedited, thus still bearing Castellaneta's voice.^{[citation needed]}. In French, due to a prononciation mistake, "d'oh!" became "t'oh!"

Other websites

• The definitive "D'oh" list
• Homer Simpson says "D'oh!" 32 times (WAV sound file)
• D'oh! joins the Oxford English Dictionary - BBC News

Sources