# \[i\]goony goo goo\[/i\] and \[b\]gabba gabba hey\[/b\] **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [October 1, 2003, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-goony-goo-goo-i-and-b-gabba-gabba-hey-b/204858 "2003-10-01T05:36:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-goony-goo-goo-i-and-b-gabba-gabba-hey-b/204858/1 "2003-10-01T05:36:19Z")
Am I in the SDMB context guilty of cultural bias if I use these phrases _specifically_, even if I refrain from exposing the races of the persons to whom I am referring? ---
**Author:** ![SlickRoenick](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e68b1a/32.png) [@SlickRoenick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SlickRoenick)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 11:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-goony-goo-goo-i-and-b-gabba-gabba-hey-b/204858/2 "2003-10-01T11:00:52Z")
What exactly are you talking about? Your ggg and ggh have me whooshed. ---
**Author:** ![Ice\_Wolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/dfb087/32.png) [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-goony-goo-goo-i-and-b-gabba-gabba-hey-b/204858/3 "2003-10-01T18:45:24Z")
Well, if you’re talking about [gelatenised wet-spots](http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=gooney+goo-goo) and a [Ramones tribute album](http://www.kauhajoki.fi/~jplaitio/tribute.html), what’s the problem? ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [October 1, 2003, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-goony-goo-goo-i-and-b-gabba-gabba-hey-b/204858/4 "2003-10-01T23:27:13Z")
Goony goo goo: think of _Delirious_ from Eddie Murphy. Gabba Gabba Hey: think of the Ramones. If one makes an offhand comment and substitutes, in place of say,“[unga bunga](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?postid=3749026#post3749026)”:[ul][li]“goony goo goo”[/li]“gabba gabba hey”[/ul]might the listener have cause to become insulted, presuming the listener is Black or Jewish? ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 5:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-goony-goo-goo-i-and-b-gabba-gabba-hey-b/204858/5 "2003-10-02T05:04:35Z")
This seems like it’s taking a serious turn for either GD or CS, but… What’s “Gabba gabba hey” got to do with Jewish culture? (It’s a paraphrased line from the Tod Browning movie **Freaks** , which included the “pinheads” that the song was titled after.) ---
**Author:** ![Arnold\_Winkelried](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/3d9bf3/32.png) [@Arnold\_Winkelried](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arnold_Winkelried)\ **Post date:** [October 2, 2003, 5:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-goony-goo-goo-i-and-b-gabba-gabba-hey-b/204858/6 "2003-10-02T05:33:04Z")
From _The Dancing Detective_, a short story by Cornell Woolrich (1958). The setting: a professional dancer in a dance hall is trying to convince her employer (Marino) and her customer to give her time off for a phone call. > [@](#): > > Marino spotted me, came back and thundered, “I thought I told you–” > “I’m working,” I said. “I’m on this gentleman’s time,” and I goona-gooed the jive with teeth and eyes, one hand on his arm. goona-goo = to flirt jive = customer ---
**Author:** ![El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/41988e/32.png) [@El\_Cid\_Viscoso](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Cid_Viscoso)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2003, 4:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-goony-goo-goo-i-and-b-gabba-gabba-hey-b/204858/7 "2003-10-04T04:01:37Z")
> [@](#): > > From The Dancing Detective, a short story by Cornell Woolrich (1958). Thanks, **Arnold Winkelried**. 😕 So I boosted my old lady’s bent eight tank and agitated the gravel down to the nerd stacks. Drivin’, at least there was a dolly or two in a flip-top, 'cause once I hit the cube closet I think I took you for a shuckster. _The Dancing Detective_? That old story? That’s _pops_ talk, man. A 12-year-old rag is a [pooper](http://hem.passagen.se/orange/woolrich.htm). I will purchase and read of it for my Amazon birthday present. 🙂