Booing
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Booing is the act of showing displeasure for someone or something, generally an entertainer, by loudly yelling "boo" (holding the "o" sound) or making other noises of disparagement, such as animal noises, usually the sound of a donkey. The sound is often accompanied with one or two hands giving the thumbs down sign. If spectators particularly dislike the performance they may also accompany booing by throwing objects onstage, though the objects aren't usually meant to physically hurt the performer.
Examples
- Spectators enjoy booing poor performers almost as much as quietly enjoying good ones.
- Booing is a regular, if undignified, feature of the British House of Commons.
- In sports, booing players after poor play is quite common.
History
Booing performers has a very long history, possibly even back to the days of ancient Greece, where audiences would boo and applaud good and bad performances. This practice has in recent times come under criticism. The opinion is often expressed that to boo a bad performance is unkind and demonstrates a lack of sophistication. However, the counterargument goes that the combination of booing and applause help keep the quality of public performance high, by emotionally rewarding the good and punishing the bad.
This debate is especially relevant to the opera world where passionate applause and rowdy booing have long been a part of the tradition. Recently in the United States, however, this practice has come under attack. As opera attendance has become viewed as an indulgence of the rich, the act of booing has fallen out of favor. Proponents of booing blame this trend for what they view as a general decline in the quality of modern American opera.
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