Words

d'oh, interj.

Friday 02 July 1999 00:02 BST

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THE NEW Yorker reports upon vexation at The New York Times. Each day there is editorial comment about the latest issue, such as a report on Hartford's reaction to its appearance in The Simpsons (Homer thought that the prize on offer in "How Low Can You Go?" was Hawaii). The piece ended with "D'oh!" - Homer's regular, bow-smiting cry, a genetic condition from his long-lost, hippie mother.

Bill Borders, a Times editor, circled it: house-style is duh. Neither is in the OED, but Jonathan Lighter finds duh first in a 1943 Merrie Melodies cartoon and quotes from an unpublished 1988 piece by the Simpsons creator Matt Groening: "Is TV the coolest invention ever invented? Well, duh." D'oh is the official version of Homer's gut-wrenching inflexions.

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