D'oh! is the comical catch phrase of Homer Simpson, from the long running animated series The Simpsons. It is typically used when Homer realizes that he has done something stupid. A catch phrase is a phrase or expression that is popularized, usually through repeated use, by a real person or fictional character. ... Homer Simpson Homer Jay Simpson (voiced by Dan Castellaneta) is one of the main characters in the animated television series The Simpsons. ... An animated series or cartoon series is a television series produced by means of animation. ... The Simpsons is the longest-running animated television series in television history, with 16 seasons and 352 episodes since its debut on December 17, 1989 on the Fox Network. ...

Origin

The cry of "d'oh!" is typically represented in the show's script as "annoyed grunt". When Dan Castellaneta, the actor who plays Homer, was first asked to voice the exclamation he rendered it as as a drawn out "dooh", inspired by Laurel and Hardy. The show's creator Matt Groening felt that it would better suit the timing of animation if it was spoken faster so Castellaneta shortened it to "D'oh!" Dan Castellaneta Daniel Louis Castellaneta (born September 10, 1958) is an American actor who is most known for providing the voice of Homer Simpson and other characters on the television series The Simpsons and Genie in Disneys Aladdin television series. ... A voice actor (or voice artist) is a person who provides voices for computer and video games, puppet shows, amusement rides, audio dramas, dubbed foreign language films, stop motion, and animation works (including cartoons, animated feature films, animated shorts), and radio and television commercials. ... Laurel and Hardy Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy were the members of the most famous comedy duo in film history. ... Matthew Abram Groening (born February 15, 1954) (name rhymes with raining, SAMPA [grEniN]) is an American cartoonist and the creator of the television series Futurama and The Simpsons, where he currently serves as creative consultant. ...

A common interpretation, however, is that Homer started to exclaim damn! but caught himself, replacing the rest of the word with -oh. Another, similar interpretation claims that Homer simply uses D'oh! as a euphemism for damn. This last interpretation is supported by Castellaneta himself. The title given to this article is incorrect due to technical limitations. ...

Variations

Variations of the catch phrase have appeared in some episodes of The Simpsons. On a family trip to Japan Homer said something in Japanese that was translated in subtitles as D'oh!. When Homer had his jaw wired shut in the episode "Jaws Wired Shut" he was reduced to communicating with others by writing on a chalkboard, including going so far as to write "D'oh". In the episode "Bart of Darkness", while talking to an apparently Amish man, Homer expresses his frustration with a cry of "D'oheth!". In the episode "Burns' Heir", Mr. Burns decides to make Bart his heir and tries to convince Bart that his family doesn't want him anymore, hiring Simpsons-family lookalikes, including a badly-trained false Homer who says b'oh! instead of d'oh!. After Burns corrects him, the false Homer tries again, this time exclaiming duh-oh! Official language Japanese Capital Tokyo Largest City Tokyo Emperor Akihito Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi Area  - Total  - % water Ranked 60th 377,835 km² 0. ... The Japanese language is a spoken and written language used mainly in Japan. ... The Amish are a denomination of Anabaptists related to the Mennonites, most of whom are noted for their avoidance of modern devices such as automobiles and electricity. ...

Episode names

"D'oh!" never features in The Simpsons scripts. Instead it is written as "annoyed grunt". In recognition of this, several episodes feature the phrase "annoyed grunt" in the episode title where one would expect the term "d'oh". Such episodes include "I, (Annoyed Grunt)-Bot" (instead of "I, D'oh-bot", a play on I, Robot), "Simpsoncalifragilisticexpiala(Annoyed Grunt)cious" (a parody of Mary Poppins) and "E-I-E-I-(Annoyed Grunt)". I, Robot is a collection of science fiction short stories by Isaac Asimov, first published in 1950. ... Mary Poppins (right, behind) as portrayed in the most famous adaptation of the character. ...

However, "d'oh" is always uttered in the show's promos that are run by Fox. For example, when Fox promoted the episode that was scheduled to air immediately after Super Bowl XXXIX, it was billed as the "Super Bowl Halftime D'oh!" because Homer interrupts the promo's announcer with "d'oh," which obviously was intended to be a replacement for "show." The Fox Broadcasting Company is a television network in the United States. ... Super Bowl XXXIX was the 2005 championship game of the National Football League, the major professional league of American football in the United States. ...

Three episodes do have the term "d'oh" in their names. These are season 10's "D'oh-in' in the Wind", season 11's "Days of Wine and D'oh'ses", and season 14's "C.E. D'oh".

Usage

The term d'oh! has been adopted by many Simpsons fans. The term has become commonplace in modern speech and demonstrates the reach of the show's influence. "D'oh" has been added to the Webster's Millennium Dictionary of English and the Oxford English Dictionary. It was defined as a colloquial term "expressing frustration at the realization that things have turned out badly or not as planned, or that one has just said or done something foolish. Also (usu. mildly derogatory), implying that another person has said or done something foolish (cf. DUH int.). In German dubbed versions of the Simpsons, d'oh! is translated to nein! (no!). The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) is a comprehensive multi-volume dictionary published by the Oxford University Press (OUP). ... German (called Deutsch in German; in German the term germanisch is equivalent to English Germanic), is a member of the western group of Germanic languages and is one of the worlds major languages. ...

External links

• The definitive "D'oh" list (http://www.snpp.com/guides/dohs.html)
• D'oh! joins the Oxford English Dictionary (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/1387335.stm) - BBC News