Yahoo (expression of joy)

[Ducklet Cat]

When someone is excited or happy about something, they would say "yahoo".
But I'm sure the word has a different spelling, because "yahoo" in dictionaries has a totally different meaning.

Thanks.

 

[RonBee]

Somebody who is excited or happy about something might indeed say "Yahoo!"

 

[Ducklet Cat]

Somebody who is excited or happy about something might indeed say "Yahoo!"

Thanks.
And it has the same spelling?
Because I chcked here and it's not mentioned at all:
yahoo - definition of yahoo by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

So I though that it has another spelling.

 

[Linguist__]

(Not a teacher)

I've never heard yahoo said meaning the meaning found in dictionaries - un uncultivated person. It seems to come from the book Gulliver's Travels However, I've also never heard anyone actually say 'yahoo!' as a form of joy or expression. Cartoon characters and things maybe, but it would be strange to my ear to hear 'yahoo' at all outside the internet search engine.

Note, however, that 'yahoo' meaning an uncultivated person is pronounced YAhoo, with the stress on 'ya'. The expression of joy is either equal stress on both syllables, or more stress on 'hoo'.

 

[Abstract Idea]

Thanks.
And it has the same spelling?
Because I chcked here and it's not mentioned at all:
yahoo - definition of yahoo by the Free Online Dictionary, Thesaurus and Encyclopedia.

So I though that it has another spelling.

Check, for instance, its interjection meaning here:
yahoo - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

 

[Ducklet Cat]

(Not a teacher)

I've never heard yahoo said meaning the meaning found in dictionaries - un uncultivated person. It seems to come from the book Gulliver's Travels However, I've also never heard anyone actually say 'yahoo!' as a form of joy or expression. Cartoon characters and things maybe, but it would be strange to my ear to hear 'yahoo' at all outside the internet search engine.

Note, however, that 'yahoo' meaning an uncultivated person is pronounced YAhoo, with the stress on 'ya'. The expression of joy is either equal stress on both syllables, or more stress on 'hoo'.

I was watching the Smurfs today, and Handy Smurfy said "Yahoo", and yes the stress was on the second syllable.
Thanks Linguist.

Check, for instance, its interjection meaning here:
yahoo - Definition from the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary

Finally! Thanks
I doubted the spelling, because I could not even find it in Oxford dictionary:
AskOxford: yahoo

Why don't most dictionary enlist it? Is it too colloquial to be listed? :-|

 

[Anglika]

I had encountered it in Westerns but just took it that it was a generic sound of excitement. However, I was fascinated when watching a programme on prairie dogs that the animals when a threat has gone [like a hawk or a coyote moving off] stood on their hindlegs, threw their front paws upwards and then plunge back down to normal stance. As they do this, they vocalize and it sounded just like "ya-hoo", the "ya" as they raise their front paws and the "hoo" as they drop back down. So my mind began to consider that maybe pioneers and cowboys saw this behaviour and adopted the sound.

 

[BobK]

...

Note, however, that 'yahoo' meaning an uncultivated person is pronounced YAhoo, with the stress on 'ya'. The expression of joy is either equal stress on both syllables, or more stress on 'hoo'.

:up: ... and as so often, schwa goes with the absence of stress; so the shout of exultation is /jə'hu:/ whereas the (pretty rare, in my experience) 'uncultivated person' meaning has the pronunciation /'ja:hu/. A similar change in stress/vowel quality occurs in the idiomatic (Br English) phrase 'Hooray-Henry' (/'hu:reɪ/ [= a rich and spoilt and loud and stupid young man.])

b