Etymology of 'Eh?'

**dpex** · 24th September 2008, 18:30

The first recorded use of the pan-verbal word 'Eh?' can be found in Norse history (circa 907AD) when Eric The Horrible ordered 2,000 war helmets with the horns on the inside.

Upon supply the supplier said, 'Pay'! Eric replied, 'No way!' Norvel The Giant was listening but misinterpreted the words, then whispered to Gerbal The Great, 'No pay!' Gerbal, in turn, whispered to Axle, who told Muxel who told Weazel. Weazel told Drafum, 'No Eh' ...

'No what?'...

'No Eh'

'Eh?'....And the universal question was born.

God's truth. That's how it happened.

But a much more interesting etymological course can be found in the word 'fuck'

Fuck is the only word in common use which can be used in any grammatical sense and still make sense.

For example, a person not given to using the word fuck might say to another,

'Would you believe it? That bloke shagged my girlfriend.'

Whereas a more gregarious sort might assert the same thing by saying, 'That fuck fucked my fucking fuck for fuck's sake.'

The word can define and refine and encapsulate great emotion, often far better than non-fuck equivalents.

You're rounding a corner too fast. The trash-out is certain. You might think/say, 'Oh bother!' But it wouldn't have the same emotional impact as, 'Fuuuuuck!'

You hit a bus at 100kph. Your last thought, as your brain passes through your arsehole might be, 'I say, I really messed up here.' Or it could be, 'Fuuuuuck!'

You see? One word can supplant the many. And that, of course, was Shakespeare's genius; making a simple sentence replace a thousand words.

For example he wrote, in Troilus and Cressida, "Time hath, My Lord, a wallet at his back." Nine simple words. At the time both speaker and listener were at war, but the listener had had a gutful of fighting. Now apply Fuck in the same context.

'Listen. Fuckhead. You either fucking get fucking with the fucking enemy or we're fucked!'

Fourteen words to replace nine.

We all expect, in fact demand precision of our bikes, but when it comes to language, precision falls in first rank to the abject rear of fuck. Shakespeare proved it.

Eh?

Fucked if I know.

**Hinny** · 24th September 2008, 20:00

I remember being regaled with a war story. A truck had broken down and a Pommy mechanic happened along.
He was pressed to make a diagnosis of the aflicted vehicle.
He climbed underneath the truck and after a short while he emerged to give his diagnosis....which was..."the fucken fucker's fucked".