The variability in the written length of phatic interjectives

October 14, 2006 5:25 PM

Aw+

Ar+

Whee+

Ah, the variability in the written length of phatic interjectives...
posted by y2karl (22 comments total)

Ummmmm.....................

Oooooooooooooooh, I seeeeeeeeeeeeee. That's cooooooooool.
posted by Effigy2000 at 5:39 PM on October 14, 2006

[Thiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiis issssssssssssssss goooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooood]
posted by brundlefly at 5:44 PM on October 14, 2006

wee+
posted by quin at 5:50 PM on October 14, 2006

Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!
Heyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!
Hooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo!

Oh, you said phatic.
posted by dhartung at 5:52 PM on October 14, 2006

"Patrik D'haeseleer".
...Harvard Medical School

Since when was harvard giving tenure to klingons?

Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaghhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
posted by lalochezia at 5:58 PM on October 14, 2006 [1 favorite]

Booooooooooooooooooooooooob.

/deeds
posted by mr_crash_davis at 6:09 PM on October 14, 2006

ha
posted by waxboy at 6:13 PM on October 14, 2006

Pshaw.
posted by Astro Zombie at 6:17 PM on October 14, 2006

Weeeeeeee thouuuuuuuught yoooooooooou waaaaaaaaas aaaaaaaaaaa toaaaaaaaaad.
posted by danb at 7:02 PM on October 14, 2006

All part of our evil plan to destroy the English Language...
Bwahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
(alternately) Muahahahahahahahahahaha!!!
posted by wendell at 7:05 PM on October 14, 2006

word.
posted by jdfalk at 7:29 PM on October 14, 2006

I like the word "phatic".
posted by Tube at 7:30 PM on October 14, 2006

but seriously...looks like this is an old paper...I wonder if any new research has been done?
posted by jdfalk at 7:31 PM on October 14, 2006

Does my use of "whee" and "Noooooooooo" make me look phatic?
posted by Cranberry at 9:06 PM on October 14, 2006

.
posted by taosbat at 9:51 PM on October 14, 2006

Hmm, I always pause to think when I use the written form "hmm" to show I'm pausing to think. The longer I have to think, the longer the "hmm" (though interestingly, I never use a single 'm').

<derail>
I've always been interested in the sheer variety of spellings for onomatopoeia; Do animals have accents?
</derail>
posted by davehat at 9:59 PM on October 14, 2006

WHEE!
posted by moonbird at 11:19 PM on October 14, 2006

cooooooooooooooooooooool =]
posted by cholly at 4:09 AM on October 15, 2006

y2karrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrl!

I looooooooooooooooove it!

By the way, this footnote from the final link struck me:

4
   Google.
   http://www.google.com.

If he tried that shit at MetaFilter, he'd get soooooooooooo flamed....
posted by languagehat at 5:20 AM on October 15, 2006

Who you callin' phatic?
posted by I Am Not a Lobster at 8:46 AM on October 15, 2006

Interjectory phasis ensued.
posted by weapons-grade pandemonium at 9:51 AM on October 15, 2006

Raaaahhhhhggghaaammmmmmm-Guh-huh-huh-ahh-huh-gghh ... my mom gave said bears posted in the first link to my girlfriend shortly after her mom (unexpectedly) died.
(In case my phatic interjectives weren't a tip-off: me cry now, on an erstwhile happy Sunday afternoon...)
posted by Token Meme at 3:22 PM on October 15, 2006