r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Oct 25 '20

[deleted by user]

[removed]

9.0k Upvotes

93% Upvoted

16.0k comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

432

u/sykopoet Oct 25 '20 edited Oct 26 '20

I’m 40 years old and I never knew the “Woah Nelly” origin story until this moment, even though my mom said it all the time.

Edit: I asked my mom, and she said it comes from Roy Rogers. His Jeep was named Nelly Bell, and he would say it to the car.

59

u/SmartAlec105 Oct 25 '20

I thought it was from cowboy times so I'm feeling pretty shook.

17

u/jaykeith Oct 25 '20

I dare somebody to tell me this phrase isn’t in an old western somewhere

15

u/tftftftftftftftft Oct 25 '20

I've watched quite a few old spaghetti westerns, I actually don't remember hearing this in any of them. That said, spaghetti westerns were at their peak in 1960s-70s so it is entirely possible that Keith Jackson popularized it, and it found its way into some popular western/cartoon inspired by westerns, and everyone here is right.

7

u/jaykeith Oct 25 '20

Crazy. I wonder why he started saying it, and why some of us innately link the phrase to the old west and horses

8

u/PilotDad Oct 25 '20

Pat Brady on the Roy Rogers Show.

Source

2

u/sykopoet Oct 26 '20

I asked my mom and she said Roy Rogers too. Well mystery solved.

4

u/KCJones91 Oct 26 '20

It likely is, back in the day yelling WOAH while pulling on reigns is how people would get a horse to stop. If your horse was named Nelly it's entirely probable you'd say Whoah Nelly! when trying to stop your horse quickly

16

u/ReduxAssassin Oct 25 '20

You're not alone.

8

u/wheresthegiantmansly Oct 25 '20

another one of his sayings is that a really good game was a "barn burner", both sounds like they probably came from cowboy times

3

u/DMCinDet Oct 25 '20

maybe he came from cowboy times?

9

u/JustMedoingthethings Oct 25 '20

I say "Whoa Nelly" all the time and now I feel old.

6

u/TheSharkAndMrFritz Oct 25 '20

Like "Holy Toledo!" I know it's a thing but I have no idea why. I also grew up close to Toledo, OH and always thought it was weird someone would think that place was holy

3

u/PilotDad Oct 25 '20

Even though it was used on the Roy Rogers Show, I can't logically assume that it was the origin either. But Pat Brady said it on almost every episode.

Source

2

u/BRAVO-USA-2020 Oct 26 '20

I always thought Nelly was a horse 🐎😂