Why has 'hey-ho' made a comeback?
By Laura Schocker
BBC News Magazine
The phrase "hey-ho" is set to make its debut in the new edition of the Collins English Dictionary. But how did an old-fashioned saying make its way into modern usage?
It's off to work they go...
Fans of The Ramones will know "Hey! Ho! Let's go!" and anyone who has watched Disney's Snow White will recall the seven dwarves singing "Heigh-ho" - although they pronounce it hi-ho - as they head home from work.
But why has this old-fashioned expression resurfaced again?
It appears the rather archaic phrase is enjoying a bit of a resurgence over the past five years or so - capped off with its inclusion in the latest edition of the Collins English Dictionary, to be released on Wednesday.
The new Collins "hey-ho" entry, which recognises both the hey-ho and heigh-ho spelling variations, defines it as "an exclamation of weariness, disappointment, surprise, or happiness".
"It's the verbal equivalent of a shrug," says Duncan Black, an editor for the dictionary. "You say 'hey-ho' or 'that's the way it goes' or 'c'est la vie.'" It's quite a British way to stoically say "mustn't grumble", he adds.
The saying first appeared in print in 1471, according to the Oxford English Dictionary, which says it has nautical origins, meant to mark the rhythm of movement in heaving or hauling.
Eventually, it blended meanings with the similarly spelled "heigh-ho," which was first recorded in 1553 and is defined as an expression of "yawning, sighing, languor, weariness, disappointment."
Hey-ho is similar to phrases like "hey, hey" and "heave ho," says Jane Johnson, senior editor of etymology for the Oxford English Dictionary. And over time, it has become a "meaningless" refrain in various chants and songs.
It had fallen out of favour in the past few decades, but recently hey-ho references have begun to creep back into popular usage.
Mwah, mwah
Hey-ho first made it into Urban Dictionary, an online collection of American slang, in 2006. The dictionary defined it as "a word used when something has not gone according to plan, to dispel one's feeling of disappointment. 'Oh, we've just missed the bus. Hey-ho.'"
So why has it come back into fashion now?
Mr Black thinks social networking sites are responsible, as it appears to be for other new additions to the Collins English Dictionary - words like "mwah" (a superficial air kiss) and "meh" (don't care or disappointed).
Internet users are prone to take sounds and expressions that are usually only used in speech and use them in written form.
"A lot of internet communication is written speech, or transliterated speech," says Tony Thorne, a language consultant at King's College London. "Social media is all about nudging and poking. It's a more amplified conversation."
Ultimately, finding written ways to express the visual - like shrugging - is a key component of internet communication and social networks, says Mr Thorne. "People introduce these light hearted conversational things which normally you only find in speech," he says.
In that way, he suggests, "hey-ho" could just be the new emoticon.
― Mark G, Tuesday, 1 September 2009 15:35 (fifteen years ago)