D'oh!

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Image:D oh.jpg "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.

1 Origin
2 Variations
3 Episode names
4 Usage
- 4.1 Usages in video games
- 4.2 Usages in other media
  - 4.2.1 In feature films
  - 4.2.2 In television
5 See also
6 External links

[edit] 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!"

(Oliver Hardy and Edgar Kennedy also used forms of "D'oh," as cries of pain or frustration.)

One interpretation claims that Homer simply uses D'oh! as a euphemism for damn. This last interpretation is supported by Castellaneta himself. On the other hand, many people think "D'oh!" is related to the expression "D'uh" uttered by the none-too-bright character of Moose in Archie Comics. "D'uh" originated as a mean-spirited attempt to imitate some mentally deficient individuals whose speech can resemble "D'uh." The correct pronunciation of "D'uh"—unlike "D'oh"—uses two syllables: first a plosive D syllable that stops abruptly as the tongue slides down off the upper front teeth, and then a prolonged uhhhh sound while exhaling.

Image:Homer doh2.png When Homer had his jaw wired shut in the episode "Jaws Wired Shut", he was reduced to communicating with others by writing on a blackboard, including going so far as to write "D'oh" (which confirms the correct spelling of the phrase).

Many people in Homer's life (including his wife, son, daughter, boss, next-door neighbor, casual acquaintances, and both parents) have been heard using the exclamation.

It was first heard on a Tracey Ullman Show short entitled "The Krusty the Clown Show," on January 15, 1989. The segment ends with Krusty shaking Bart in anger, while Marge and Homer watch TV. Homer's reaction: "D'oh!"

[edit] Variations

Variations of the catch phrase have appeared in some episodes of The Simpsons.

In "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire" (1989), when being a fake Santa Claus, after Homer bumps his head he says, "Ho-ho-d'oh!"

In "So It's Come to This: A Simpsons Clip Show" (1993), 32 consecutive "D'oh!"s (with some repeated) can be seen in a montage of flashbacks.

In "Burns' Heir", (1994), 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 "Bart of Darkness" (1994), 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 "Bart Gets an Elephant" (1994), 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 "Thirty Minutes over Tokyo" (1999), 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 ni" is an adjective describing something that is "extreme" in an absurd sense though, by the Japanese grammar, it is more literally taken as an adverb (pointed out by the particle ni after a na adjective radical), meaning "stupidly". With the root word "baka" being used traditionally to describe an idiotic or foolish person or thing. Japanese speakers normally use "baka" in relation to silly animals or inanimate things, it is considered extremely rude when used in reference to humans.

In a commercial for The Simpsons, Homer's phrase "D'oh!" was shown in consecutive flashbacks resembling the song "Jingle Bells."

[edit] 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), "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)" (a parody of Old MacDonald Had a Farm), and "G.I. (Annoyed Grunt)"(a parody of G.I. Joe).

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," and season 17's "We're on the Road to D'ohwhere".

[edit] 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, the Macmillan Dictionary for Advanced Learners 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!'. In Italy, the parts where Homer utters the word are left unedited, thus still bearing Castellaneta's voice.

The Arrested Development episode "Sword of Destiny" references Castellaneta's role as the voice of Homer in a way typical of that series' subversive humor: his character (Dr. Stein) utters the word "D'oh", but in about as flat and un-Homerlike a delivery as can be imagined.

After being popularized by The Simpsons, the expression has been used widely in Computer and video games as well as other media.

Twentieth Century Fox has filed for a trademark for "the spoken word 'D'OH'" [1].

[edit] Usages in video games

Nintendo's uses it in several of the games for their various home video game consoles:
- In Super Smash Bros. Melee, "D'oh!" is often spoken by Mario (and Dr. Mario) when he's knocked out the field.
- In Advance Wars: Dual Strike in the history record there is a part that says "You've been ambushed 50 times! D'oh!"
- In Baten Kaitos Origins, the quest magnus of Dull Times' description reads "What? You're bored right now? D'oh."
In Viewtiful Joe, the lowest rank you can get is D, which stands for "D'oh!"
In Crash Bandicoot 2: Cortex Strikes Back, at the intro when Neo Cortex falls in a cavern and observs the crystal he says: "Muhohohahahahahaaa... Crystals... of course! D'oh!"
In the English language versions of Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 2, Dragon Ball Z: Budokai 3, and Dragon Ball Z: Budokai Tenkaichi, Son Goten sometimes says "D'oh" when he's hit.
In the PC game Guildwars, you can type "/doh" as one of the emotes and the character you control slaps his/her head.
In Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney, the game's protagonist, Phoenix Wright, thinks "D'oh!" to himself, after having presented the wrong piece of evidence to the judge during a case.
In Banjo-Kazooie, when Banjo loses a life, the Wading Boots or the Running Shoes. he groans "D'oh!".

[edit] Usages in other media

The top of The Daily Mirror's cover on November 4, 2004 read, "DOH! 4 MORE YEARS OF DUBYA" as an editorial comment on the re-election of George W. Bush.

In Limp Bizkit's song "Rollin' (Air Raid Vehicle)", it is said at one point during the song.

The term has appeared in Simpsons creator Matt Groening's Life in Hell comic strip (twice in the same strip), written "D'ohh! [after the manner of Homer Simpson]".

In an issue of the comic book Star Trek: Deep Space Nine published by Malibu Comics, the alien character Jadzia Dax was seen to exclaim "D'oh!" after making an error.

[edit] In feature films

In the 1995 film Toy Story, after the character Etch draws a perfect picture of a gun, Sheriff Woody exclaims "D'oh! Got me again!"
In Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace, Qui-Gon Jinn pushes away a battle droid with The Force and the droid makes a yell similar to "D'oh!".
In Scooby Doo in Where's My Mummy?, Fred Jones says "D'oh!" twice.

[edit] In television

Stargate SG-1's Jack O'Neill, in keeping with his (which is to say actor Richard Dean Anderson's) near-obsession with The Simpsons, has been known to utter it on occasion, notably in the episode "Window of Opportunity" when just before entering the stargate, O'Neill pauses and groans, "D'oh! ... I forgot to tape The Simpsons".
Kenny Mayne of ESPN's SportsCenter has uttered the quote, "That must be a Homer, 'cause the pitcher just said D'oh!"
KTTV, a local FOX affiliate in Los Angeles, 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 some other mistake is made.
It was also said repeatedly by various characters in Mystery Science Theater 3000, particularly during the movie segments.
Sometimes Squidward Tentacles of SpongeBob SquarePants yells "D'oh!" when SpongeBob does something wrong. In other animated television series:
- In the South Park episode "Ike's Wee Wee", Mr. Mackey became addicted to drugs. A passing motorist stopped his car, and said that he, Mr. Mackey, and Homer Simpson "have one thing in common ... Dope!" (it sounded like "D'oh!")
- In the Futurama episode "Mars University", at the reception for parents, Gunther the intelligent monkey yells "D'oh!" when he sees his parents swinging on the chandelier.
- In the Family Guy episode "Mother Tucker", Stewie Griffin was doing a Butterfinger commercial (like Bart Simpson does); after saying "Nobody better lay a finger in my Butterfinger!" he said, "D'oh!"