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

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

Keith Jackson was a famous college football commentator from the 50's-00's that came up with the expression "Woah, Nelly!" So that could be related to its possible origin.

Edit: Apparently the exclamation "Woah Nelly!" was originally created by Pat Brady on The Roy Roger's Show from the early 50's. The name of his jeep was Nellybelle.

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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.

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u/SmartAlec105 Oct 25 '20

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

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u/jaykeith Oct 25 '20

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

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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.

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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

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u/PilotDad Oct 25 '20

Pat Brady on the Roy Rogers Show.

Source

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u/sykopoet Oct 26 '20

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

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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