# What does "meh" mean, please?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-meh-mean-please/321380>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [September 13, 2005, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-meh-mean-please/321380 "2005-09-13T02:22:54Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hypnagogic_jerk/32/4252_2.png) [@Hypnagogic\_Jerk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypnagogic_Jerk)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-meh-mean-please/321380/41 "2005-09-14T03:44:43Z")

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And what I meant by this last sentence is, when I say one of these words (“meh” or “bof” or “enh” or whatever), I also do a small involuntary shoulder-shrug.

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**Author:** ![DarrenS](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/977dab/32.png) [@DarrenS](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DarrenS)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 4:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-meh-mean-please/321380/42 "2005-09-14T04:04:28Z")

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> [@severus](#):
>
> Actually, “bof” doesn’t take a circumflex accent on the ‘o’. And yes, this and “meh” pretty much mean the same thing. Actually, when I say one of these words, I pretty much shrug without thinking about it.

I believe I may have seen a circumflex used humorously on “bof” to reflect a regional accent - perhaps in a “Gaston” strip or in an “Asterix” book. I know that sometimes when mocking Parisians, people add extra circumflexes to vowels.

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**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 4:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-meh-mean-please/321380/43 "2005-09-14T04:09:27Z")

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Looks like it isn’t the same word used by the Coneheads. “Meps” or “mips” or something? Never found out exactly what it meant.

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**Author:** ![tdn](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/94ad74/32.png) [@tdn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tdn)\
**Post date:** [September 14, 2005, 2:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-meh-mean-please/321380/44 "2005-09-14T14:19:37Z")

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> [@Case Sensitive](#):
>
> Hey, _I_ got it. And damn funny it was, too: hats off, **Fear Itself**.

It was hilarious. And I got it right off the bat, too. I just pretended I didn’t.

Yeah.

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**Author:** ![phoebo32](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@phoebo32](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phoebo32)\
**Post date:** [September 15, 2005, 2:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-meh-mean-please/321380/45 "2005-09-15T02:45:31Z")

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_meh_ is _shmeh_ shortened because apparently it was too long to write. Hope that helps :smack:

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