# That Whoosh thing ...
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-whoosh-thing/87450
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [October 15, 2001, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-whoosh-thing/87450 "2001-10-15T04:45:17Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2001, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-whoosh-thing/87450/1 "2001-10-15T04:45:17Z")
In the context of posts on the board, what does “whoosh” mean? I’d have searched, but I don’t want to break something in the engine room.
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### Author:  [@MEBuckner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MEBuckner)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2001, 5:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-whoosh-thing/87450/2 "2001-10-15T05:15:54Z")
It means that a poster has evidently not gotten a point, often one involving irony or sarcasm:
**Poster 1:** Why was my thread “Where can I get some anthrax and what would be a good way to get access to the ventilation system at my high school?” closed! My freedom of speech has been violated!
**Poster 2:** Gosh yes, those Moderators are just a bunch of jack-booted fascists all right. I mean, I can’t _imagine_ whey they would have closed a thread like that.
**Poster 3:** I don’t think you should call the Moderators fascists. They’re just trying to do their jobs, you know. Plus, I think the Moderator might have had a safety concern about that thread, is why they probably locked it.
**Poster 2:** _(adddressing Poster 3)_ Whooosh!
The idea is that “Whooosh” represents the sound of a point flying over the poster’s head.
This [Page O Flames](http://fathom.org/teemingmillions/poflames.adp) quotes a classic use of the term:
> [@](#):
>
> I don’t know about the proper sound effect for a punch line going over Cy’s head. The best sound isn’t a ‘whoosh’, or a ‘zing’, more of a doppler-affected “Neeeeeeeeeeyuuuuuum.” (Sorry, onomatopoeia isn’t my strong suit.) But this one was a sonic boom; I have no idea how he missed it.
This [Page O Funnies](http://fathom.org/teemingmillions/pofunnies.adp) quotes a different take on the whole “missing the point” experience:
> [@](#):
>
> Typically, things don’t go over my head.
>
> No, they tend to smack into my forehead with great, resonating _THUND!_ sort of sound, and then drop to my feet, where I will proceed to look at them with the intense sort of scowl that a monkey might regard a football whilst trying to determine whether to try to copulate with it or throw feces at it.
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### Author:  [@Hombre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hombre)
#### Post date: [October 15, 2001, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-whoosh-thing/87450/3 "2001-10-15T09:41:17Z")
For other SDMB inside jokes, see [here](http://fathom.org/teemingmillions/injokes.html).
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### Author:  [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)
#### Post date: [October 16, 2001, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-whoosh-thing/87450/4 "2001-10-16T07:04:55Z")
Thanks, guys. That was a big help.