Sunday, February 22, 2009

Woo woo woo

After reading through the comments on my recent "A word of advice" post it occurred to me that some folks out there in blogland might not be familiar with the phrase "woo woo woo" in the same sense that my coworkers and I hear it.

Woo woo woo is not to be mistaken for Homer Simpson's exuberant "woo hoo", nor is it to be mistaken for the joyous hooting that goes on in the presence of strippers or go-go dancers.

Woo woo woo is the ghetto equivalent of "yadda yadda yadda" or "blah blah blah".
Sometimes woo woo woo is used interchangeably with the phrase "whatevah whatevah". According to this entry from Urban Dictionary it originated in Chicago:
Woo-woo-woo was made in Chi-Town (aka Chicago) and used by G.D. members. Woo-woo-woo takes place as blah blah blah/and so on/etc.

Jose was talkin all this shit and saying, "Oh you shady,you stupid, woo woo woo..." it was messed up.
The first time I heard it was in 2002, during an armed robbery investigation. The offender, a 16 year old black kid, was explaining how he'd picked our victim, an addled 15 year old white kid who wanted to buy some weed and instead got robbed of $50. Our offender, who was not from anywhere close to our town, explained that he came to our mall to look for a likely target because "no offense, but white people is stupid and all, you know, woo woo woo."

Since then I've heard it from a wide variety of downwardly-mobile young people of all races and ethnic backgrounds, ranging in age from 13 to 26.

I wish I had a way to demonstrate the proper body language and hand gestures that accompany this phrase, but I don't.

On a final note, the phrase woo woo woo has nothing at all to do with beloved Chicago Cubs fan Ronnie "Woo Woo" Wickers:








8 comments:

dguzman said...

Thanks for the education, Bubs!

SkylersDad said...

Thanks for the opportunity to raise my street cred quotient from -25 to -20.

Distributorcap said...

and i was thinking

Where have you gone, Joe DiMaggio
A nation turns its lonely eyes to you (Woo, woo, woo)
What's that you say, Mrs. Robinson
Joltin' Joe has left and gone away
(Hey, hey, hey, hey, hey, hey)

but that's just stuck in a time warp me

Cormac Brown said...

Oh, of course the fact that it hasn't caught on outside of that area, shows how well it is not translating everywhere else.

A friend of mine used to say "breakin" on someone, as in "don't be breakin' on me." That didn't catch on because a few months later, it had to contend with breakdancing. Though I'll hear someone here and there bring it up (not me, I could never get used to it).

Conversely I've heard the New Orleans saying "where you at?" all over America, even though the Boost Mobile pre-paid cell phone company co-opted it, which national advertising usually means death for a saying.

Doc said...

Thanks for the explaination. I was thinking of Arsenio Hall with "woo woo woo" with the fist pumping and all. It makes much more sence now.

I sure hope you and the missus have a wonderful time down south. Should you get the chance, drink an unusual beer and tell us all about it.

Cheers,
Doc

Gifted Typist said...

That is so interesting. I wonder when itwill enter the white suburban middle class dialect like "What up my homie"

Erik Donald France said...

I thought it was some weird morphing of the woo-hoos in "Sympathy for the Devil" or the boo boo's in "Sweet Home Alabama" . . .

Pitching woo, and 23 skidoo . . .

bubbles said...

That was very helpful. I had no idea. These comments are so funny, aren't they!!??