# Boy (or man), as an interjection **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 23, 2007, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793 "2007-07-23T01:30:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/1 "2007-07-23T01:30:15Z")
What’s the origin of using “boy” or “man” as an interjection? When someone says “boy, am I tired” or “man, is it hot outside” is the boy or man supposed to be the person the statement is addressed to? You never hear anyone say “girl, the traffic on the interstate was murder” unless they’re actually addressing somebody they are calling girl but boy and man seemed to be used more indirectly. Or is it a euphemism, using “boy” and “man” instead of a religious interjection like “Jesus” or “God”? ---
**Author:** ![chaoticbear](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f07891/32.png) [@chaoticbear](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chaoticbear)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 2:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/2 "2007-07-23T02:10:51Z")
No real answer, but I like the word “ejaculation” better. ---
**Author:** ![groman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/73ab20/32.png) [@groman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/groman)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/3 "2007-07-23T02:13:59Z")
[QUOTE=chaoticbear] No real answer, but I like the word “ejaculation” better. [/QUOTE] How do people react when you use it as an interjection to complain about the weather? :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Happy\_Lendervedder](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/happy_lendervedder/32/8488_2.png) [@Happy\_Lendervedder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Happy_Lendervedder)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/4 "2007-07-23T02:41:19Z")
[QUOTE=groman] How do people react when you use it as an interjection to complain about the weather? :eek: [/QUOTE] “Boy (or man), is that nasty!” ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/5 "2007-07-23T03:27:40Z")
> [@](#): > > No real answer, but I like the word “ejaculation” better. I was raised on _Schoolhouse Rock_ and as far as I’m concerned interjections show excitement or emotion. Hallelujah yeah. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/6 "2007-07-23T03:32:38Z")
“Boy, oh, boy” goes back in print to at least the teens in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Mindfield](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mindfield/32/19759_2.png) [@Mindfield](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mindfield)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 3:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/7 "2007-07-23T03:58:37Z")
No cite, but I’ve always been under the impression that it’s a hep, generic short-form address that can be extended as, “My man [or my boy], that was just nasty,” which itself was probably a short-form of “My good man…” and/or “My boy.” I imagine that it’s the sort of thing one could expect to come out of the early 1900s and popularized in the Roaring 20s. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 5:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/8 "2007-07-23T05:03:05Z")
> [@](#): > > No cite, but I’ve always been under the impression that it’s a hep, generic short-form address that can be extended as, “My man [or my boy], that was just nasty,” which itself was probably a short-form of “My good man…” and/or “My boy.” I imagine that it’s the sort of thing one could expect to come out of the early 1900s and popularized in the Roaring 20s. I agree this is one likely explanation. But the other one I mentioned seems equally probable - that it evolved from people saying “Jesus, it’s hot out” or “God, it’s hot out”. There are examples of expressions like this (gosh, jeepers, gee whiz, blimey, egads, gol darnit, the deuce, etc). ---
**Author:** ![straight\_man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/straight_man/32/3027_2.png) [@straight\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/straight_man)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 7:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/9 "2007-07-23T07:48:06Z")
[QUOTE=Little Nemo] I agree this is one likely explanation. But the other one I mentioned seems equally probable - that it evolved from people saying “Jesus, it’s hot out” or “God, it’s hot out”. There are examples of expressions like this (gosh, jeepers, gee whiz, blimey, egads, gol darnit, the deuce, etc). [/QUOTE] Of course, those examples all have some etymological relation to the names they replaced. I think calling “man” or “boy” the same thing is a bit of a stretch. (Granted, everyone is just speculating idly right now anyway.) ---
**Author:** ![twickster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ec9cab/32.png) [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 10:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/10 "2007-07-23T10:54:16Z")
One more example – “Brother!” ---
**Author:** ![liberty3701](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/3d9bf3/32.png) [@liberty3701](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/liberty3701)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/11 "2007-07-23T13:11:42Z")
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, the exclamation “Oh, Boy!” dates back to 1917. [Quote=Amer. Mag. Mar. 13/1] ‘I told that dame I was Kid Hanlon.’..‘Oh, boy!’ I yells. [/quote] I don’t think that’s exactly what you’re talking about, but later (1934) in the list of examples is this: [Quote=M. HODGE Wind & Rain I. i. 18] Boy! They don’t wear a damned thing! [/quote] As for man, that seems more complicated. Calling somebody “man,” be it man, woman, or child, dates way back to Old English, with a quote from 1225, that I can’t copy and paste because of the eths and thorns and such. However, a quote I can copy is from 1530: [Quote=J. PALSGRAVE Lesclarcissement 661/2] Plucke up thy herte, man, for Goddes sake. [/quote] Around 1823, it was taken up as an exclamation of surprise: [QUote=J. NEAL Errata I. i. 37] Man! – Man! – I had a heart like a well – into it, every living creature might have dipped. [/quote] I realize after all this I haven’t really given any sort of explanation as to _why_ it’s used. I would hazard to guess it has something to do with the use of the masculine as the gender neutral in English. We were, according to the OED, calling all people “man” for awhile, so using it as an exclamation just sort of fit, and that’s why we can’t say “girl!” or “woman!” unless we’re actually talking to a woman. As far as “boy” goes, I say it has something to do with how awesome the diphthong “oy” is. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 2:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/12 "2007-07-23T14:10:43Z")
Follow-up question: Do they do the same thing in other languages? I don’t think I have ever heard a Frenchman say, “Homme, il fait chaud aujourd’hui!” But you never know. ---
**Author:** ![Sal\_Ammoniac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8dc957/32.png) [@Sal\_Ammoniac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sal_Ammoniac)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2007, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/boy-or-man-as-an-interjection/412793/13 "2007-07-23T16:41:36Z")
Closest I can come up with in French is the interjection _Dame!_ It’s a bit old-fashioned, and a bit closer to God than man, I suppose you may say, in its origin, but it’s the best I’ve got.