Collins English Dictionary has a new word in its lexicon. The word is “meh” and it was entered by a British resident who defined ‘meh’ as an “expression of utter boredom or an indication of how little you care for an idea.” The term first gained widespread usage after it was feautured in an episode of The Simpsons in which Lisa and Bart, glued to the TV, listlessly utter “meh” to rebuff Homer’s offer of a day trip.
Meh was selected by Collins to become the general public’s entry in the dictionary. Collins; editorial director explained they ran the word competition to encourage the general public to tell us about the words they use every day but aren’t in the dictionary. It was chosen over such other entries as jargonaut, frenemy and huggles.
The U.K. based publisher of Collins explained that the word ‘meh’ – meaning ‘mediocre’ or ‘boring’ as in “‘the Canadian election was so meh.”
Now what the hell do you make of that?
Well we had several linguistic families already. Seems we will have to add one more: the Simpsonian. Meh.
Not to say anything, but I’ve been using ‘meh’, ‘bah’ and ‘bope’ way before The Simpsons (the greatest show in the history of man and alien kind) and each has been used repeatedly on my blog since inception since 2004.
That being said, I don’t think this is smart.
Meh.
Bah.
.
Feh.
I see i’m in the company of many linguists
.
Aw, pshaw!
I learned the word from my students’ email, some time ago. As for the remark about Canadian elections being meh, not a bad choice of example.
Duuh!
Ouache!
My cat has better and more interesting expressions than this!
I prefer Boriiing it has a much better ring.
I forgot! Miau!
“‘the Canadian election was so meh.’
“Now what the hell do you make of that?”
I think whoever said it was absolutely right! It was meh!
Oh…you mean the word? It’s been in use for awhile, and until now, I had no idea that it came from a television show I never watched.
English is not only a living language, it’s an energetic one, bouncing and leaping about the globe, wearing what it wants and saying what it needs to say to whomever will listen. The term, “meh” is onomatopoeic, and is therefore perfect for the use to which it is being put!
Good morrow, all!
Being somewhat of a connosieur (correct my spelling, if you will) of classics, I much prefer Nero Wolfe’s “Pfui!” Of course, the next step will be “Grunting For Dummies” or “The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Inarticulation, Second Edition” (sold only to Republicans) Me digress, yah?