D'oh!
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"D'oh!" is the comical catch phrase of Homer Simpson, from the long-running animated series The Simpsons. It is typically used when Homer injures himself, realizes that he has done something stupid, or when something bad has happened to him.
Origin
The cry of "d'oh!" is typically represented in the show's script as "annoyed grunt." When Dan Castellaneta, the voice actor who voices Homer, was first asked to voice the exclamation he rendered it as a drawn out "dooh", inspired by Jimmy Finlayson, a moustachioed actor of a number of Laurel and Hardy films. 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!"An interpretation claims that Homer simply uses D'oh! as a euphemism for damn. This last interpretation is supported by Castellaneta himself.
Variations
Variations of the catch phrase have appeared in some episodes of The Simpsons.- 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" is used to describe an idiotic or foolish person or thing.
- When Homer had his jaw wired shut in the episode "Jaws Wired Shut" he was reduced to communicating with others by writing on a chalkboard, including going so far as to write "D'oh" (which confirms the correct spelling of the phrase). The spelling also appeared in Lisa's Sax, in the inscription in Lisa's saxophone.
- In the episode "Bart of Darkness", while talking to an apparently Amish man, Homer expresses his frustration over building a barn instead of a pool. The Amish man tells him, "'Tis a fine barn, but sure 'tis no pool, English." Homer responds with a "D'oheth!"
- In the episode "Burns' Heir", 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 (Duh-oh), if unconvincingly.
- In the episode "Bart Gets an Elephant", when forced to spring clean the Simpson home, Homer says "I call the basement." Bart and Lisa both say fine, followed by Homer saying "D'oh?" as if asking a question. When he opens the basement door, he exclaims a normal "D'oh!" when he sees what a mess the basement is.
- In the same episode, when Homer crashes their car into a preserved deer statue, he, Lisa, and Marge say, in sequence, "D'oh!", "A deer!", "A female deer!", an allusion to the "Do-Re-Mi" song in "The Sound of Music".
- In the episode "The Itchy & Scratchy & Poochie Show", due to falling ratings Homer is hired as the extra character Poochie on the show. However, it is a disaster and after the first viewing it becomes clear that Poochie is universally despised. Homer finally asks himself if he liked it. His brain replies that he doesn't want to know and instructs him to look sad and say "D'oh!". So Homer shakes his head and very sadly says "D'oh!".
- In the episode "Two Bad Neighbors", Homer befriends Former President Gerald Ford, whom popular culture frequently portrays as being unusually clumsy; at the end of the episode, the two men share a mishap and simultaneously cry "D'oh!"
- In the episode Itchy & Scratchy Land the family gets stuck in traffic and all yell "D'oh!".
- The term has also appeared in Simpsons creator Matt Groening's Life in Hell comic strip, written "D'ohh! [after the manner of Homer Simpson]" twice in the same strip.
Episode names
"D'oh!" is not often written as such in The Simpsons scripts. 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 expect the term "d'oh". 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 Mary Poppins) and "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)".However, "d'oh" is always uttered in the show's promos that are run by Fox. For example, when Fox promoted the episode that was scheduled to air immediately after Super Bowl XXXIX, it was billed as the "Super Bowl Halftime D'oh!" because Homer interrupts the promo's announcer with "d'oh," which obviously was intended to be a replacement for "show."
Four episodes so far have "d'oh" in their titles: 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 the upcoming season 18 episode " G.I. D'oh!"
Usage
The term d'oh! has been adopted by many Simpsons 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 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 (cf. DUH int.)." The OED etymologizes the word as "popularized by" The Simpsons, but lists usages as early as 1945.In the German-dubbed version, d'oh! is translated to Nein! (No!). In the Spanish-dubbed version, d'oh! is changed to ¡Ou! (pronounced like the letter O), the same as Ouch! (replaced in later episodes with D'oh, at least in Latin America). 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!
Kenny Mayne of ESPN's SportsCenter has uttered the quote, "That must be a Homer, 'cause the pitcher just said D'oh!" Stargate SG-1
A local FOX affiliate in Los Angeles, KTTV, regularly uses a soundbite of d'oh! on its nightly 10'clock newcast. The sound is played during the Sports segment when reviewing footage where a ball is dropped or other mistake is made.
Usages in other media
After popularized by the Simpsons the expression has been used widely
- In the Nintendo DS game in the history record there is a part that says "You've been ambushed 50 times! D'oh!"
- In My Gym Partner's a Monkey(Guano In 60 Minutes) when Jake fell back on the portable he says "Ahhhhh!...D'oh!"
- In the Nintendo 64 game GoldenEye 007 in the multiplayer summary screens, if one player manages to kill all four players with a single attack it will read "Quad Kill! D'oh!"
- In South Park episode Ike's Wee Wee, Mr. Mackey becomes addicted to drugs and some guy driving stopped his car and said that he [Mr. Mackey] and Homer Simpson have one thing in common, D'oh (sounded like Dope).
- In when ranking a D the D stands for D'oh!
- In the "Sword of Destiny" episode of Arrested Development, Dan Casetellaneta exclaims "D'Oh" as Dr. Stein in a bit referencing his role as Homer.
- In , Qui Gon Jinn pushes away a battle droid with The Force and the droid makes a yell similar to D'oh
- In Stargate SG-1, before entering the stargate, Jack O'Neill says D'oh, explaining that he had forgotten to tape the Simpsons.
- In some of the English translations of the DiGi Charat manga, Dejiko will occasionally interject "N'yo!" in a play on both her own signature "Nyo," and Homer's famous "D'oh."
- Sometimes Squidward Tentacles of Nickelodeon's SpongeBob SquarePants yells "D'oh!" when SpongeBob does something wrong. It's happened in a few episodes.
- In the English version of the games ,,and , Son Goten says D'oh when he's hit sometimes.
- It appears in some of the fantasy novels of Diana Wynne Jones as 'doh,' perhaps most delightfully in The Dark Lord of Derkholm as "'Doh!' said Galadriel" (Galadriel being an awkwardly-named dwarf). Jones' usage predates The Simpsons.
- In the 2006 remake of Charlotte's Web, Templeton says "D'oh!" when Elwyn farts in front him.
- In the Futurama episode Mars University Gunther the intelligent monkey yells "D'oh" when he sees his parents swinging on the chandelier at a college parents reception.
Origin
Many people in Homer's life (including his wife, son, daughter, boss, next-door neighbor, and both parents) have been heard using the exclamation. However, his half-brother Herb Powell is unique among these, in that he was given up for adoption shortly after birth and was raised in another city (where he could not have learned the phrase from any of those others). This implies that Homer and Herb somehow genetically inherited "D'oh!" from their father, Abe Simpson.
See also
External links
- [The definitive "D'oh" list]
- [D'oh! joins the Oxford English Dictionary] - BBC News
- [Kenny Mayne's Simpsons quote]
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