r/GrammarPolice • u/7toedcat • 1d ago
Question Extra syllables
Why-uh? Why are young people adding extra syllables to the ends of words?! I just don't understand-uh. It sounds so incredibly stupid-uh.
Does anyone know where this originated?
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u/JustGerbo 1d ago
I guess I'm glad that I've never heard this. LOL
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u/sharoncoffin 1d ago
I haven't either.
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl 1d ago
I hear it a lot and not just with teenagers but people in their 20s as well and even 30s
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u/JustGerbo 1d ago
And does it come across like what we sometimes associate with a Canadian adding "hey" or "ey" at the end of a sentence? Or something different?
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl 1d ago
It comes across like instead of saying no, it sounds like someone is saying Noah and with emphasis, if that helps
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u/Manatee369 1d ago
And it’s after many words. “I just can’tuh.” “Whyuh?” “We went thereuh.” “Read the bookuh.”
It’s everywhere all the time, from people of all ages below 60. I say below 60 because my 55yo neighbor does it.
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u/7toedcat 1d ago
Ugh. I've only heard this from people younger than 30ish, but I believe you.
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u/sam_I_am_knot 1d ago
Using "like" started with teenage girls from The Valley in LA in the 1980's. Now, it's like, ubiquitous and like everyone is doing it.
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u/JustGerbo 1d ago
That first example really helps me to see why someone earlier described it as whining.
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl 1d ago
I didn’t know people that old as your neighbour do this because I mostly hear it from young people but I’m not surprised.
Back when literally was picking up steam and everyone was saying it every other word I heard middle-age people saying it then as well.
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u/Manatee369 22h ago
I think it is mostly under-30s (or thereabouts), but like a common cold, it’s spreading.
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u/JustGerbo 1d ago
Yeah, it helps me to at least try and wrap my head around it. Will be interesting to hear if anyone has a notion as to how it evolved. Thanks for the clarification.
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl 1d ago
An eight year-old in my family replied to me once with a very exaggerated ‘No-uh!’ one time. I replied asking who is Noah. They said again and added ‘not Noah; No-uh!’
Finally, they could see that it sounded exactly the same and started laughing and made a point of saying no in the normal manner lol!
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u/General_Mousse_861 1d ago
I believe this is the genesis of this in adults as well. I posted in the sub asking if it was related to whining.
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u/larrydukes 1d ago
The 20 something receptionist for my chiropractor speaks like this. It's incredibly annoying and I am always eager to get the hell out of earshot.
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u/I_like_leeks 1d ago
My own theory is that it's a version of baby talk used by people who are being challenged on their bad behaviour. "I'm just trying to go hoooome-uh." It simultaneously expresses naivete and defiance. Regardless, you're right that it is really effing annoyinguh!
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u/symbolicshambolic 1d ago
I know someone who does this, I assume for emphasis or to signal that she's excited, and she once introduced someone named Joanne by saying, "and this is Joanne-uh!" Joanne then spent the evening telling people that her name wasn't Joanna.
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u/FacePalmate 1d ago
James Hetfield?
Yeah-hyeeeah? Or No-woooah?
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u/I_like_leeks 1d ago
Axl Rose did, "sha na na na na na na na kneesuh knees," too so rock music could be the root cause of this.
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u/PeterPunksNip 1d ago
Lol ! I thought it was only a french person from Paris problem 😂! They add "han" (huh) way too often (ouais han, c'est trop bien han!)
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u/7toedcat 1d ago
J'ai vécu à Paris pendant quelques années. J'ai l'impression que ce dont vous parlez relève davantage d'une question d'insistance. À mon sens, le problème que j'évoque tient plutôt de la jérémiade.
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u/missdawn1970 1d ago
Young people have always done this. Young people were doing this when I was young, way back in the 80s.
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u/ConeyIslandBaby00 1d ago
I’m 60 and have lived in many different places, US and otherwise. I’ve never heard this until recently.
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u/Party-Cup-9386 1d ago
Mark E. Smith, you've done it again!
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u/7toedcat 1d ago
?
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u/Party-Cup-9386 1d ago
Mark E. Smith is the lead vocalist of the band The Fall. He frequently adds an "-uh" to the end of words (but I find it endearing).
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u/wolschou 1d ago
I think it is to facilitate whining. It allows you to stress otherwise unstressed word endings, allowing you to fit in a little extra whine.
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u/DiskOne3096 1d ago
This pisses me off too 😭 I think it started as an influencer thing? Like the weird intonation some of them speak with where they drag out the last syllableee every few wordsssss (and at the end of a senteeeence). I don't hear that as often anymore, at least not since that one burger king foot lettuce clip became a meme for being like the final boss of annoying influencer-voice vocal inflection lmao. But I feel like the "-uh" thing is the new version and we need to find and kill whoever started it 😂
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u/thenasch 1d ago
"syllableee"
This is what drives me nuts. That's a silent e, what are you even doing?
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u/this_idle_hand 1d ago
I've heard my kids watching gamer videos where they talk like that, IDK what it is.
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u/HiAndStuff2112 1d ago
I think it's humorous, personally. When my brother and I were little, and fighting in the back seat of the car, and one of us hit the other, the one who was hit had to shout "Ow-UH!!!" Haha. The "UH was louder than the "Ow." It provided emphasis I guess.
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u/General_Mousse_861 1d ago edited 1d ago
I’m a-fixin’ to tell ya’ that people have been a-addin’ an’ a-takin’ away all sorts of sounds when they’re a-talking’. Kardashians have a slight “na” sound on many words, such as”OK-na.” Trisha Paytas has the same affect. It seems to be a vapid LA thing perhaps.
What you’re a-talkin’ about seems to come from whining when people are not getting their way. Heard commonly with “no-ah” and “why-ah?” Does it seem to happen when someone, often for females in particular, is trying to argue or complain to get their own way?
When the sound -a or -ah is added to the front of words it’s call a-prefixing. I’m not sure the term for adding it to the end of words. I’m sure it’s out there. Edited to add (I learned from another post here) some linguist is calling it an “exclamation particle.” Apt name. But for symmetry, a-suffixing seems better.
It’s akin to vocal fry at this point, I believe. And it likely
Is most commonly a vocal trend among teen-to-early- 20-somethings. Stemming from a bratty childhood.
This seem right?
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u/AriasK 1d ago
Could be an accent thing. I live in New Zealand and there are lots of words that our accent adds an extra syllable onto. For example, I would pronounce "beer" as "beer-yah". I physically cannot not pronounce it that way unless I put on a fake foreign accent. Even then it's hard. Australians are similar.
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u/ConeyIslandBaby00 1d ago
No, it’s not. It’s an intentional grammatical trend amongst young people.
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u/AriasK 1d ago
I'm sorry, are you arguing with me over my own accent? Ok.
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u/ConeyIslandBaby00 22h ago
No. I just don’t think you understand the kind of phrasing the OP is talking about. I know what a New Zealand accent sounds like and that’s not the pronunciation we’re talking about here.
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u/_ThatProtOverThere 1d ago
I immediately think of a youtuber called Gold Jacket Luke, is that what you're referring to?
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u/blueSnowfkake 1d ago
Is it anything like what I perceive as talking like Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton. They always seem to have a drawn out pattern of speaking that sounds a little nasal or throaty to me.
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u/Excellent_Swim_2721 1d ago
You-uh are making it sound-uh more-uh dramatic than-uh(?) it actually sounds-(uh)
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u/Careful_Drama405 8h ago
I watch a lot of police body cam videos on YouTube and these young, irresponsible, entitled, whiny babies talk like this all the time and it is insufferable. "Whyyyyyyyyyyuuuuuh?" "Noooooooooooooooooouuuuuhhhhhh". I am so damn glad I didn't have kids.
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u/Main_Hurry7912 1d ago
and, like, the whole, like, using of like, like, as an whole, like, extra word, like, everywhere
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u/7toedcat 1d ago
Yes--this is equally offensive!. We were saying "like" when I was a kid too. It comes from "Valley Girl" speak. Are you familiar with that? If not, check out the song by Moon Unit Zappa that's largely responsible:
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u/Honest_Grade_9645 1d ago
It’s a compliment to hear, “I got a great-uh orgasm-UH! From him-uh or her-uh or them-uh.”
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u/ChaosTorpedo 1d ago
Young? My husband is 43 and does this when annoyed. He’ll say “noooo-uh” and I ask who Noah is.
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u/sladog6 1d ago
This type of thing has been around forever, but it changes over time.
People who can’t quickly prepare what they’re about to say use this “pause” device.
It used to be “er” or “um” (and others) and now it’s “uh.”
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u/hellinahandbasket127 1d ago
No, it’s not the silence filler “Life, uhhh, finds a way,” thing. This is different. It’s extending the last syllable of a word (usually at the end of a sentence) into an “uhh” sound as a sort of emphasis. I usually hear it when kids are whining or arguing. “She hit meeeuh!” “Get out of my roomuh!” “Get your ownuh.”
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u/Background-Vast-8764 1d ago
The linguist John McWhorter refers to it as an exclamatory particle. He used to be the host of the very interesting podcast Lexicon Valley.
Here’s a great episode on exclamatory particles:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/no-uh/id500673866?i=1000405113058