Origin of "Yee Haw"?: Philosophy Forums

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Origin of "Yee Haw"?

Norseman
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Posted 08/01/04 - 02:55 AM:	#1
Where did this(these) strange word(s) come from? I can't imagine the root of this(these) word(s), and the dictionary is useless for finding the root because it's a two part word. Could anyone help me out?
"If Atheism is a religion, then health is a disease!" "A man without religion is like a fish without a bicycle." "Jesus' last words on the cross were, "My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?" hardly seem like the words of a man who planned it that way. It doesn't take Sherlock Holmes to figure there is something wrong here."

phenyl_engine_rods
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Posted 08/01/04 - 08:33 AM:	#2
Sounds like just a spontaneous exclamation. I don't think it has roots for the same reason "Whee!" doesn't have roots.

CrazyDave
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Posted 08/02/04 - 03:38 PM:	#3
I'm not sure. Perhaps find an etymology website for your research. It's an old expression no doubt, so you could even trace it to the right books. A random term of exclamation might indeed be correct. I don't mean to dismiss you by any means, because I've always been fascinated by words, but that is not a philosophical question. It can be answered flatly with the appropriate facts, so these forums aren't especially the place.
"Philosophy is intellectual masturbation." -Me

megashawn
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Posted 08/03/04 - 10:10 PM:	#4
phenyl's got it. It isn't a word, more of an expression of emotion. I'm known to let out a yelp of some sort when catching mad air or climbing a monster hill. I mean, use Yee Haw in a statement. You can't really.

co0l N=me
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Posted 08/29/04 - 11:20 AM:	#5
i am not sure about this, but i think it's of north american origin. it's probably a bad imitation of the sound which a donkey makes. i think it's a dead cliche, i think it expresses when someone achieved something, "yee haw". is this expression still common ?

Job
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Posted 08/29/04 - 07:12 PM:	#6
Isn't yee-haw the sound a donkey makes?
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Joking Clown
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Posted 08/29/04 - 07:49 PM:	#7
It doesnt happen to have anything to do with directing a horse around does it?

roobarb
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Posted 08/29/04 - 09:37 PM:	#8
Job wrote: Isn't yee-haw the sound a donkey makes? No thats Hee haw Robert Guy who is drinking coffee

Casiopeia
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Posted 08/30/04 - 10:29 AM:	#9
This perhaps does belong in the language section of philosophy. I am also fascinated by the origins of expressions and words. Good luck
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Stringjeans
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Posted 08/30/04 - 10:39 AM:	#10
I think it comes from doubling the syllables in the word "yeah" to provide emphasis. Ye-Ha. And to answer another question, I'm from southern Kansas originally, and I used to hear it all the time.
Every man knows well enough that he is a unique being, only once on this earth; and by no extraordinary chance will such a marvelously picturesque piece of diversity in unity as he is, ever be put together a second time. ~Friedrich Nietzsche

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