A couple of standard English words which I don’t know how to spell:
glottal stop-accented nasal schwa-glottal stop-schwa, and schwa-aspirate-accented schwa.
Un-huh and uh-huh maybe. I’m wondering how old they are and where they came from. Everyone who speaks English uses them, but what’s their history? And are there similar expressions in other languages, or is it a peculiarity of English?
I’m stuffing them into etymology because they are words, not interjections, they mean what they say. And I don’t know where else to stuff them.
What’s the earliest citation for un-huh  and why don’t  most dictionaries include it or its opposite,  the lovely uh-huh.
curious,

-melissa

Uh-huh is not particularly English but you can say that it has European route.  When I mistakenly use this grunt in place of indigenous [(?)N.] in Japan, I get scathing remarks like, "you are a show off" or "you speak an enemy language very well."

Barbarian-speak. I should have known. Not implying that it’s a purely English invention, I’ve heard Frenchmen say ‘On On’ with that nasalisation and meant ‘non’ but I would never think of trying it in Japan.
I propose that  it came from Norman French. Oh Non is after all a small step from unh-oh. But u-huh is not even close to that.  The English must have invented that one.

Mostly I hear five variations on this "noise".

"uh-huh", which is generally taken to mean "yes", or a doubtful acquiesence.

"nuh-uh", which is generally taken to mean no.

"err-uh", which is usually a pause to let the brain catch up with the mouth

"uh-oh", which signifies that the speaker has made a mistake, or sportted a mistake that someone else has made, or is about to get into trouble over something.

"uh-uh!", which is a more emphatic negative, often employed when speaking to children or pets. If you see a child reaching for something they are not allowed to have, for example, or a pet attempting to eat something off the floor.

As for where they came from ... no idea. I suppose they are space-filling noises, whose spelling and accepted meanings are arrived at by consensus.

For example, I’m pretty sure that animals make pretty much the same noise wherever they are. In English, we say that a dog says "woof woof". In French, they say "oua oua!", in Japanese "wan wan!", in Italian "bau bau", in German "wau wau". A cat says "meow" in English, "miaou" in French, "nyan nyan" in Japanese.

The noise is the same, but our consensus on how to represent that noise is dependent on how our ears are refined toward hearing it.

In the same way, an Aussie represents "uh-huh" like that because (a) that’s how he hears it, and (b) that’s the consensus way of representing that noise. In American novels and scripts I’ve seen it written "uh-hunh". To my ear, there is no "n" in it. But to an American ear, clearly there is.

Azh
(who has overheard one end of a phone conversation that went like this: "uh-huh. uh-uh. er-uh. umm. uh-oh. uh-uh." <click>)

[quote author=Katy link=board=etymology;num=1127652716;start=0#3 date=09/25/05 at 12:30:24]
[an enemy language, and so forth]
I find that unutterably sad.

Kt
(do all Japanese feel that way, I know you can’t speak for everyone, but is it a genrerally accepted thing?  )

The reference to an enemy language is not about political resentment.  I admit such a xenophobic expression is a bad taste but it is invoked to express the strong discomfort against an important communication code being violated.  It’s a non-commital joking utterance but the irritation that it is supposed to hide is barely covered.

From my observation and introspection violations against implicit communication codes such as grunts and gestures are greeted with more animosity than those against explicit ones.  I regard gestures and grunts are important because they are closer to the heart than language and are not sufficiently explained to both group members and outsiders.

I remember once I had to surpress my instant annoyance when an American friend gestured me to come closer to her.  She jiggled her index with her palm up at the sky.  "She commands me like a dog," an impression flashed in the background processing area of my brain.  I didn’t take offence but the gap between desirability (a la japonaise) and my friend’s good personality caused me some trouble.

The proper Japanese gesture is to point one’s palm to the earth both for waving someone closer to one and away from one.  All four fingers should be wiggled.  "Come to me" is gestured by fingers first bent to one and then stretched away from one.  "Go away" is gestured by fingers first stretched outwards and then bent to one.  The wrist is bent slightly more inward for the former than the latter, gesture.  There is only a theological difference in the gestures per se.  Context plays an important role in understanding them.

Many Japanese are mono-lingual and mono-cultural.  Japan’s not so commendable modern relationships with almost all its neighbours has done little to encourage cross-cultural contacts at citizen level.  This is sad but not the key point for the problem I am discribing.  Gestural intolerance can be found in any cutures.  A devote Catholic may find uncomfortable the way the Orthodox church make a sign of the cross.

Or am I discussing everything with hapaxlegomena as I am wont to?

Actually, that’s a matter of training.

My 15mth old staffy cross responds perfectly to hand gestures, mostly without needing verbal commands.

If I click my fingers to get his attention, and point at the floor with my index finger, he sits. If I move my whole hand down while holding it flat and palm downwards, he lies down.

If I crook my finger towards me (as Flam described) he comes to me. If I hold up my hand in the classic "stop!" gesture, he stands still and waits for me to give him another command - though I usually reinforce this one with the verbal command "wait".

When he’s on his leash and we come to a road, he stops and sits, and waits either for the verbal command "forward" or for the hand gesture of the open palm swung beside the body in a forwards direction.

If I pat my chest, he jumps his front legs up to my hands to "dance", and if I hold out my hand flat with the palm uppermost, he puts his front paw on it to shake. If I clap my hands together hard once, he knows he’s got to stop whatever he’s doing and sit.

He also knows the verbal commands for all these actions, of course.

So dogs can quite easily be taught to understand body language and gestural communication.

That being said, I don’t find it rude for someone to say to me "come on", and crook their finger at me. I would probably find it rude if they used any of the other dog-training gestures towards me, especially if I didn’t know them well (or at all). The most objectionable, in my mind, is the clicking of fingers to get a person’s attention, when a polite "excuse me" would be much more civilised. However, I use this as a dog training cue because it’s not a sound I make by accident, it’s a sound he always associates with me giving him a command.

Azh

Mostly I hear five variations on this "noise".

Azh, you forgot uh-HU-uh,  the correct affirmative if you’re 5 and get into an argument.
And may I say you have an unusually bright dog,  and you’re a very good trainer.  I don’t have one myself, but most dogs I see appear to be untrainable. Along with their owners.

-melissa

[quote author=melissa link=board=etymology;num=1127652716;start=0#8 date=09/26/05 at 19:07:12]
Azh, you forgot uh-HU-uh,  the correct affirmative if you’re 5 and get into an argument.

oh, yeah. I don’t know many five year olds currently, so I haven’t heard it for a while, though I’d probably transcribe it either as "uh-HUH!" for an affirmative, or "nuh-UH!" for a negative.

And may I say you have an unusually bright dog,  and you’re a very good trainer.  I don’t have one myself, but most dogs I see appear to be untrainable. Along with their owners.

Thanks

When we first chose this one from the litter, from a very young age I brought him inside with me. Initially I used a lot of food rewards, to teach him to sit.

Realising that he would be a big strong dog with a lot of will-power, I discussed it with my sons and we formed a united front on the training so that we were all using the same words/gestures for the same actions, and the level that we would tolerate things like jumping and barking were all pretty similar.

Fortunately, for all that I call him "Doofus", he is quite bright and affectionate. He will sit on the mat by the open door and wait to be invited inside. He understands "slowly" and "gently" as modifiers to other commands, important concepts to teach a dog who can (and has) puncture steel cans with his teeth.

The one thing I haven’t quite been able to teach him yet is "fetch", so that when he runs for a ball or stick, he doesn’t usually bring it back to be thrown again, though if commanded he will drop whatever he’s holding/carrying and allow me to come and pick it up either to take it away or to throw it again. I’m sure the idea of "fetch" will occur to him in time, when he realises that bringing the ball back to me will result in the game going on longer.

Azh
(proud of her well-trained wuppy)

I discussed it with my sons and we formed a united front

You have to. From what I know of dogs, one son saying ‘I want to feed him anyway’ while he’s just peed on the carpet  is enough to produce a very bad wuppie.  And it’s hard to break the habit of ‘ok I got the ball, it’s mine now and I’ll chew on it till I’m bored.’  Becoming bored with the game faster than them will eventually turn them around.  Not really a dog person, but they’re fun when they get that look, like oh, I get it, it can be more fun if I learn the rules.
Now  I want a wuppie. I’ll pass on the five-year-old.

-melissa

when he gets the ball or the stick, he generally just races up and down the back yard, coming within a few feet of whoever’s throwing for him, but not quite close enough to catch. He loves to run, and we’re fortunate to have a very large securely fenced backyard where he’s allowed to freely run and play as much as he likes. In addition he gets 2-3 walks most days; the boys tend to take him on one walk each daily, about 3-10km or so depending on the weather. Being younger (20 and 24, respectively) and fitter than I am, they walk or run very briskly. I prefer to go at a more sedate pace.

His current favourite toy is a not-quite-fully-inflated basketball that we kick around for him. He has realised that we "claim" the ball by putting one foot on it, and has started doing the same thing, which is rather cute. I’ll have to see if I can find a picture of him doing it.

Azh

[quote author=Katy link=board=etymology;num=1127652716;start=0#12 date=09/27/05 at 12:50:46](one word from me, she does exactly as she pleases)

;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

[quote author=Katy link=board=etymology;num=1127652716;start=0#14 date=09/28/05 at 10:11:22]My mother used that phrase, it does not apply to MY dogs.oc.

I used to say of my daughters "She has a whim of iron".

I don’t think many people really understood.

Azh

[quote author=Katy link=board=etymology;num=1127652716;start=15#16 date=09/28/05 at 22:56:59]I say "I’ve a mind like a steel sieve."   Any more fractured idioms out there?

I’ve always rather liked

"He has a mind like a steel trap - rusty, and full of dead mice"

"That boy’s about as sharp as a bowling ball"

"This man is depriving a village somewhere of an idiot"

"Not the sharpest spoon in the drawer"

"Mark my words - leopards don’t change their shorts"

Azh