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In English, blah is a word that is sometimes used as an expression for words or feelings where the specifics are not considered important to the speaker or writer. It is not often seen in formal writing, except when transcribing speech. It differs from a speech disfluency such as "um" or "er" in that blah is a word used deliberately to represent other words, rather than as an accidental or temporary interjection into speech. Blah is also used when the speaker cannot say what was intended. "Blah" is also mimed behind people's backs to suggest that they talk too much or that they talk about useless topics for no reason. The word "Blah" can also be used in a mocking or sarcastic tone. Look up blah in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ... Image File history File links Question_book-3. ... Wiktionary (a portmanteau of wiki and dictionary) is a multilingual, Web-based project to create a free content dictionary, available in over 151 languages. ... Speech disfluencies are parts of speech which are not generally recognized as purposeful or containing formal meaning, usually expressed as pauses such as uh or er, but also extending to repairs (He was wearing bla—uh, blue pants), and articulation problems such as stuttering. ...

"Blah" is a token word with no meaning of its own, usually used to illustrate generic, boring speech. It may be used to fill in blank space, or to replace another word or phrase. It's for this last purpose that blah is sometimes assumed to mean something negative because it is used to replace a word that may be unpleasant, but blah itself is neutral. If spoken aloud the tone can usually be used to determine the speaker's intent.

"Blah" is also used within a compound noun, suggesting a psychological state or expressing an opinion; for example, February blahs describes a generally depressed condition during winter. It is also viewed as a word expressing indifference, or lack of a preference. It may also be used to imply that something is not impressive, or it is boring, bland, or without character. For other uses, see Winter (disambiguation). ...

Several alternatives or variants of the word can be observed today, such as bleh, blech, bla, meh or bah, although some differences may be perceived in certain contexts. Generally these variants would only be used in place of blah to show unimportance, disgust or disinterest. The word used is typically left to individual preference.

Etymology and History

As of 1913, Webster's Dictionary had not listed this word. It appeared roughly between 1915-1920,^[1] meaning "idle, meaningless talk". Its meaning soon was also likened to "bland" or "dull". In 1922 Collier's utilized the term "blah blah" to label a tedious length speech on a subject.^[2] It was later used to reflect a depressive state in the late 1960s, first attested in 1969, and believed to have been influenced by the blues. Blah most of the time usually means blank thoughts or expressions. 1888 advertisement for Websters Dictionary Websters Dictionary is the common title given to English language dictionaries in the United States, derived from American lexicographer Noah Webster. ... Colliers (May 7, 1932) Colliers Weekly was an American magazine founded by Peter Fenelon Collier and published from 1888 to 1957. ... Also: 1969 (number) 1969 (movie) 1969 (Stargate SG-1) episode. ... Blues music redirects here. ...

The word likely originated as an echoic, or onomatopoeia. In this case representing a block of speech that is drawn out, boring or vacuous enough, so that all that is heard is the repetition, "blah, blah, blah". For the supervillain, see Onomatopoeia (comics). ...

Historically similar, echoic, and potentially influential words include: Look up onomatopoeia in Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

• Blather - 1524, Scottish word, meaning "to chatter" or "babble"
• Blab - 1535, meaning "one who does not control his tongue" circa 1374
• Blabber - 1362, (of blabbermouth)

Wine, Women, and War, a 1918 journal of Howard Vincent O'Brien (Jul 11, 1888 - Sep 30, 1947) covering World War I and published in 1926, is one of the first known publications to use the word. “The Great War ” redirects here. ...

The sociolect variety that has been emerging in Internet culture has further fueled the popularity and diversity of this word. As of March 2008, a search in the Google search engine results in 30.2 million hits. In linguistics, a sociolect is the language spoken by a social group, social class or subculture. ... A variety of a language is a form that differs from other forms of the language systematically and coherently. ... This article is about the Internet An internet is a more general term for any set of interconnected computer networks that are connected by internetworking Graphic representation of the WWW information network structure around Wikipedia, as represented by hyperlinks The Internet, or simply the Net, is the publicly available worldwide... This article is about the corporation. ...

Examples of use

Negative

The examples and perspective in this article or section may not represent a worldwide view of the subject. Please improve this article or discuss the issue on the talk page.

• I feel blah. — adjective equivalent to "apathetic," related to the above mention of the February blahs
• Blah, blah, blah, blah… - to show irritation towards someone who speaks monotonously or on a tedious topic. Additionally, may be a placeholder for long, drawn-out or overused terms: 'Yours sincerely, blah blah blah...'
• Also, when I… blah… - to show that the speaker forgot what he/she was talking about
• Blah you! — as a replacement for a (usually monosyllabic) expletive
• Hmmmm… blah — to show feelings of indifference
• Sometimes people say "blah blah blah blah blah" to represent their monotonous attitude.
• This tastes so, I don't know, Blah? - to help describe a lack of any specific flavor, used mainly to indicate it's flavorless.

This article does not cite any references or sources. ... A syllable (Ancient Greek: ) is a unit of speech that is made up of a syllable nucleus (most often a vowel) with one or more optional phones (single sounds or phonetic segments). Syllables are often considered the phonological building blocks of words. ... The word expletive is currently used in three senses: syntactic expletives, expletive attributives, and bad language. The word expletive comes from the Latin verb explere, meaning to fill, via expletivus, filling out. It was introduced into English in the seventeenth century to refer to various kinds of padding — the padding... Apathy is the complete lack of emotion or motivation. ...

Other

• "The Blah Story" is a novel by Nigel Tomm. The first volume of "The Blah Story" was published in 2007.
• It is often used as generic placeholder text, as in Blah blah goes here or blah.txt
• "Blah, Blah, Blah…" is a song by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, featured in the 1931 movie Delicious
• "The Daily Blah" is a fictional newspaper featured in Archie comics.
• In cartoons, if someone is speaking while a character is thinking, the speech can be made into blah as a place holder.
• In the now-defunct Fox series Greg The Bunny, the character Count Blah ended each sentence with "blah", a likely reference to a similar use by The Count of Sesame Street.
• Some people use "blah" as a code^{[citation needed]}, such as in morse code - "blah" being a dash, "blahblah" being a dot, and "blahblahblah" being a space.
• In Halo 3 and on Bungie.net forums, anything considered inappropriate for X-Box Live is renamed "Blah!"

Blah is a commonly used word in the world of slang. Filler text is text that shares some characteristics of a real written text, but is random or otherwise generated. ... Gershwin redirects here. ... Ira Gershwin (6 December 1896 – 17 August 1983) was an American lyricist who collaborated with his younger brother, composer George Gershwin, to create some of the most memorable songs of the 20th century. ... See also: 1930 in music, other events of 1931, 1932 in music and the list of years in music. Events Roy Rogers musical career begins Mary Garden retires from the Chicago Opera Alberto Rabagliatis singing career begins Published popular music Adios w. ... Delicious is a 1931 Gershwin musical romantic comedy film starring Janet Gaynor and Charles Farrell, directed by David Butler, and featuring music by George and Ira Gershwin, including the introduction of New York Rhapsody in an imaginative and elaborate set piece. ... Archie Comics is an American comic book publisher known for its many series featuring the fictional teenage Archie Andrews, Betty Cooper, Veronica Lodge, Reggie Mantle and Forsythe Jughead Jones characters created by Bob Montana. ... An animated cartoon is a short, hand-drawn (or made with computers to look similar to something hand-drawn) film for the cinema, television or computer screen, featuring some kind of story or plot (even if it is a very short one). ... Twentieth (20th) Century Fox Film Corporation (known from 1935 to 1985 as Twentieth Century-Fox Film Corporation) is one of the six major American film studios. ... The cover for Greg the Bunny The Best of the Film Parodies DVD Greg the Bunny is a sitcom that aired on the American television network Fox in 2002. ... Count von Count (b. ... Sesame Street is an American educational childrens television series for preschoolers and is a pioneer of the contemporary educational television standard, combining both education and entertainment. ...

See also

• Metasyntactic variable
• The Yada Yada
• The Blah! Party, a political party in the UK.
• Logorrhoea

A metasyntactic variable is a placeholder name, or an alias term, commonly used to denote the subject matter under discussion, or an arbitrary member of a class of things under discussion. ... The Yada Yada is the one-hundred and fifty-third episode of the hit sitcom Seinfeld. ... The Blah! Party is a political party in the United Kingdom aimed at attracting protest voters. ... Logorrhoea or logorrhea (Greek λογορροια, logorrhoia, “word-flux”) is defined as an “excessive flow of words” and, when used medically, refers to incoherent talkativeness that occurs in certain kinds of mental illness, such as mania. ...

Notes