My Biggest Pet Peeve
My biggest pet peeve is when people say boo-urns when showing displeasure for something. And I hear it a lot.
What about it that really bothers me is that it is an improper usage of the term. Boo-urns is the opposite of boo. Boo is the word you use when you want to show displeasure for something. For example, if you’ve just seen a film that you didn’t like, you say “Boo!” But, if you liked the film, you can say “Boo-urns!” Especially if the film stars Charles Montgomery Burns.
Say, isn’t that the origin of the term? Why, yes it is. In an episode of The Simpsons, Springfield holds a film festival. Mr. Burns makes a film, a sort of inaccurate bio-pic, to be shown at the festival. At the conclusion of the film, Mr. Burns receives a round of boos from the audience. Having been surrounded by yes men for so long, Burns is unfamiliar with being booed. He asks Mr. Smithers if the audience is booing him and Smither replies “No, they’re saying Boo-urns, Boo-urns.” In order to re-assure himself that the film was good. Mr. Burns asks the audience what they were saying and they repeat the rounds of boos. Hans Moleman appears to be the only audience member to have been saying “Boo-urns.” So I take it, Hans enjoyed the film.
I have a friend who constantly uses the term boo-urns to show displeasure. Eventually I confronted her about the usage of the term. She was unaware of the words origin and true meaning. I took the time to drop some knowledge on her, yet I have found her still using the term improperly.
Even urbandictionary has problems with this term. Yes, I know, you can’t trust user-written sources on the Internet, but it does show the extent of the misuse of the term.
Can you imagine if people starting misusing a word like d’oh. “D’oh! I just won the lottery.” Do you see how that makes no sense? Do you see how stuff like that can really piss me off? Do you see how petty I can get in regards to irrelevant references to pop culture?
From now on, I will openly boo anybody who misuses the term boo-urns.
Recommended Listening: Communication Breakdown by Led Zeppelin. If you would like to hear some different interpretations of that song, pick up a copy of BBC Sessions. That Led Zeppelin collection contains a bunch of variations of the tune. And all are very good.
August 15, 2007 at 9:09 am
Boo Urns!!!
August 15, 2007 at 9:42 am
Way to take a stand.
August 15, 2007 at 9:44 am
what friend are you talking about?
August 15, 2007 at 10:30 am
Thanks for the informative explanation. I have actually never heard this used. Must be a crazy Canadian thing.
August 15, 2007 at 11:26 am
Miss Ash - Thank you very much.
Wiwille - Thank you very much.
Bob - the one who keeps saying boo-urns! Duh!
JLee - Maybe it is a Canadian thing. Other Canadian things you may find crazy: metric system, knitted wool caps with a puff-ball on top (tuques), hockey and the Barenaked Ladies.
August 15, 2007 at 11:46 am
Don’t forget about Poutine…..
I often say boo urns … in the way you hate
August 15, 2007 at 12:17 pm
Miss Ash - yeah, but poutine is just a French Canadian thing, and it is crazy, so very crazy. I say BOOO to poutine. And I know you say boo-urns in the wrong way. Did you know that you were partially the muse for this post. Stand up and take a bow Miss Ash. You, are my inspiration.
August 15, 2007 at 12:31 pm
Boo-urn sounds like a word coined from the great Michael Jackson. Mix his childish temprament with his love for antique urns and blanketed children and we easily fins a scenario in which this could occur. Just me? Great blog as always.
August 15, 2007 at 1:22 pm
Damnit, this is madness! We must all submit the proper definition of boourns to UD. This is SPARTAAA!
August 15, 2007 at 2:02 pm
other Dave - I think its just you. And thank you very much for the compliment.
Woozie - I hope you’re not being saracastic. Its so hard to tell with lifeless text. I agree whole-heartedly and I’ve signed up with UD to help make this language a better place. Boourns Woozie, boourns!
November 13, 2007 at 1:24 am
No, no no. Just because Smithers tries to convince Burns that the audience is saying “Boo-urns” in an attempt to make him feel less unloved doesn`t make it the equivalent of a cheer. Part of the joke is that what Smithers is trying to do could only be believed by the dimmest people alive at best.
Also the only way “Boo-urns” could possibly be interpreted as a cheer is if someone named Burns (or Boourns if such a name exists) were on the receiving end of it. So if you`re using it as a cheer in any situation, that can`t be any better than someone using it in place of a “boo!”
When it comes to the Simpsons, you my friend have a lot of boning to do.
December 13, 2007 at 8:54 am
[...] don’t care if these words have or have not appeared on Urban Dictionary. I’ve already proved UB contains erroneous [...]
April 2, 2008 at 12:39 am
I had no idea this was a problem. I’m the only one who says it and had no idea it had already evolved improper usage.
June 12, 2008 at 2:47 pm
Your rant has been quite the conversation topic this morning. My friends and I somehow stumbled across your article and have been passing it around via AIM for the better part of an hour, and said action will likely continue well into the afternoon. We’re all avid Simpsons fans, but are also snarky grammar nazis who frequently rant about peoples’ lack of proper pop-culture execution, not to mention the astonishingly bad way most speak normal, plain English.
Ironically, and admittedly hypocritically, it appears we are all using the word ‘boo-urns’ incorrectly, per your diatribe. In fact, I’ve never heard it used in the correct context that you describe, aside from the very episode of ‘The Simpsons’ that embedded the word into our lexicon. While your rant is completely valid, as you are completely on-point in your example, sometimes the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. The term ‘boo-urns’ is infused and just dripping with pop-culture reference, and has successfully conveyed a “more-than-boo” effect to the receiving audience. It’s apparently done so in a slow, sneaky form, because there’s no way it would have had the power required to execute and reverse-engineer the weight of a word like “d’oh” (and more recently, ‘meh’
especially with the number of clip shows Fox and Groening have whipped up to give us 60+ unique, on-screen examples of how that word should be understood and used.
I think this may be one of those times where you will have to embrace the lunacy of the masses. Sure, it’s not like calling Pepsi, Sprite and Coke all ‘coke’ but it’s agonizingly close. The question I’ll ask myself after this is whether or not I shall continue using the term incorrectly. My answer will most likely ask another question, regarding who thinks it’s incorrect usage in the first place?
A+ on the rant, though. Well done. It’s up there with my own personal hated of fellow Los Angelinos who don’t use turn signals when changing lanes, or…get this…making turns!
June 12, 2008 at 3:07 pm
Best, comment, ever.
Thanks for reading Matt. You level-headed-ness and logic are equalled only by your verbosity (or verboseness or verbositude or verby-worby-bossy-boo… I got nothing,).
But, unfortunately for me, I’m the sort of person who swims against the tide, often until it drags me down and kills me (metaphorically, not physically). I continue to lecture people whenever I hear a misheard usage of ‘boo-urns’ in my presence.
Or sometimes, to throw a curveball of sorts, I interpret the word the way it is meant by my ears, and not the mouth of the person who said it. That often confuses the person to the point where he/she loses his/her train of thought, enabling me to continue doing whatever it was I was doing that he/she disliked but showed his/her displeasure inappropriately.
I will continue to fight (or bitch, moan and complain) for what I know in my heart to be right.
P.S. Do you have any idea how hard it is for an ignorant lout like myself to respond to a comment (or anything for that matter) written so eloquantly? It takes time man, plenty of it. A couple of rough drafts too.
June 12, 2008 at 3:26 pm
If I may, I’d like to add another huge pet peeve: People who fail to silence their cell phones in the office environment. Especially the Blackberrys that ring incessantly for 30 seconds before AT&T decides my bleeding eardrums have momentarily had enough torture. Hmm, maybe I should get my own blog!
Re: The Simpsons. I’m glad that you enjoyed reading my comment, because I enjoyed writing it. And thank you for your response. It’s just such a fun mock-word to say. There are so many other annoying things to direct our collective wrath at in life - what’s say you give me an individual pass on this on so long as I don’t promote said (mis)usage. Do we have a deal?
June 12, 2008 at 3:32 pm
Deal.
And FYI, I keep my cell phone in my car when I’m at work. I’m there to work, not prattle on about penny whistles and moon pies. Besides, this blog keeps me pretty occupied when I’m trying to look busy at work.