Words at Play : 10 Words That Are Older Than You Might Think

#9: D'oh

Earliest Known Usage:

1945

Example:

"Simpson cognoscenti have been exclaiming 'd'oh!' for years, but the multipurpose expletive has begun to work its way into common parlance..." – Elinor Brecher, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, 1997

About the Word:

Although d'oh has been popularized (some would say immortalized) by Homer Simpson's repeated use of the interjection to respond to any one of numerous indignities or injuries, the word predates the television show on which it appears by several decades. The Oxford English Dictionary provides evidence of the word's use from a BBC radio script from 1945. And since interjections occur in spoken form before they are written down, it is likely that d'oh! was in use for some while before that.

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