# What Does 'Whoosh' Mean?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [May 6, 2005, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654 "2005-05-06T05:23:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Jim\_B](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jim_B)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 5:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/1 "2005-05-06T05:23:21Z")
I sure I am not the first person to wonder this. So I might as well be the first person to ask this. Sometimes on a thread on these boards someone will jokingly(-?) insert the word **“Whoosh!”**. This obviously means something. But what? Also, like the hampster thing, it might be a reference that only the people on these boards understands.
Someone please help me out here in understanding this odd reference 🙂 .
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### Author:  [@Governor\_Quinn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Governor_Quinn)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 5:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/2 "2005-05-06T05:26:46Z")
> [@Jim B.](#):
>
> Sometimes on a thread on these boards someone will jokingly(-?) insert the word **“Whoosh!”**. This obviously means something. But what?
>
> Someone please help me out here in understanding this odd reference 🙂 .
“Whoosh” (with or without the exclamation point) is a way of alerting a poster that they have misunderstood something in a previous post- taking a joke as a serious comment, for instance.
The ideas is that the comment flew over your head, hence, the “whoosh” noise.
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### Author:  [@Ice\_Wolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ice_Wolf)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 6:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/3 "2005-05-06T06:58:52Z")
Something that’s been around a while, asked about (around here) a lot, and is [everywhere.](http://www.thathockeychick.com/cgi-bin/mb/624.shtml)
> [@](#):
>
> I may know the sport of hockey, but when it comes to the business side of it (and other sports), whoosh, over the head it goes.
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### Author:  [@norinew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/norinew)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/4 "2005-05-06T13:34:43Z")
> [@JimB.\[/quote](#):
>
> Also, like the hampster thing, it might be a reference that only the people on these boards understands.
This goes back to the idea that these boards are powered by hamsters running on their little wheels. When the boards are particularly slow or stubborn, you will often hear talk of the “hamsters being underfed” or some such.
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### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/5 "2005-05-06T14:23:14Z")
And don’t forget the derivatives, like the verb “to whoosh” or noun “a whoosh”:
“Are you whooshing me?” (Are you kidding me)
“You’ve just been whooshed!” (You just fell for something as gospel when I was really putting you on)
“Is this a whoosh?” (Is this less than factual or serious, more of a joke)
Let’s hope the hamsters never get whooshed.
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### Author:  [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 3:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/6 "2005-05-06T15:22:22Z")
> [@norinew](#):
>
> > [@Jim B.](#):
> >
> > Also, like the hampster thing, it might be a reference that only the people on these boards understands.
>
> This goes back to the idea that these boards are powered by hamsters running on their little wheels. When the boards are particularly slow or stubborn, you will often hear talk of the “hamsters being underfed” or some such.
Why the misspelling of hamster, though? Is it deliberate, like the use of “merkin” for American?
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### Author:  [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 3:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/7 "2005-05-06T15:52:19Z")
I had a friend in college who, when told that something had whooshed over his head, would often reply “Yeah, but I caught the splash off the wall!” 😃
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### Author:  [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/8 "2005-05-06T16:20:30Z")
hampster is the offical misspelling of hambster.
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### Author:  [@Daithi\_Lacha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Daithi_Lacha)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/9 "2005-05-06T17:13:04Z")
> [@dictionary.com](#):
>
> Hamster, noun; German, from Middle High German **hamastra** , perhaps from Old High German **hamustro** , of Slavic origin.
All right! So our Board’s engine is German-made!
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### Author:  [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)
#### Post date: [May 6, 2005, 5:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/10 "2005-05-06T17:20:38Z")
So this is like a _meta-woosh_?
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2005, 3:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/11 "2005-05-07T15:54:54Z")
> [@](#):
>
> hampster is the offical misspelling of hambster.
Nah. It’s just that the wheels that they turn by running are made from old, discarded laundry baskets and we’ve conflated the spelling of the hamsters running in hampers.
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### Author:  [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2005, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/12 "2005-05-07T17:36:53Z")
> [@Tomndebb](#):
>
> …made from old, discarded laundry baskets…
This was a significant upgrade from the old, rustic, discarded orchard-style bushels with pokey, pronggy, snaggy wire bits sticking out. They will not be missed.
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### Author:  [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)
#### Post date: [May 7, 2005, 6:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/13 "2005-05-07T18:35:10Z")
> [@Governor Quinn](#):
>
> “Whoosh” (with or without the exclamation point) is a way of alerting a poster that they have misunderstood something in a previous post- taking a joke as a serious comment, for instance.
Formally that’s it, but as always it’s the functionality (how the word is _meant_ or intended) that is more interesting.
Thus, someone who comes up with a different take on a contestable sdmb issue that has largely lost its contestable nature, and has become part of the taken-for-granted “commonsense” background knowledge that is now assumed, will be whooshed when the whoosher knows perfectly well that the whooshee DID get the point, usually an assertion of some kind, but was contesting it. It’s a surprisingly effective put-down, given its crude, manipulative nature.
So, when you see this post responded to by a poster going “Whoosh”, you can be pretty certain that it must have hit near the mark.
Some people raise their voice when they know their arguments are weak. Others lose their temper. Still others go “whoosh”.
And I won’t even mention those who quote those dreadful old bores from Monty Python’s Flying Circus…
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### Author:  [@BiblioCat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BiblioCat)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2005, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/14 "2005-05-08T00:47:57Z")
> [@Daithi Lacha](#):
>
> All right! So our Board’s engine is German-made!
Just like Volkswagens. That’s why they feed the hamsters all that farfegnugen.
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### Author:  [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2005, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/15 "2005-05-08T01:03:10Z")
Since the question has been answered, I’ll just pop into say that my ex-g/f used to call it a ‘trapeze act’ – which is also over one’s head. She’d also make a palm-down slashing motion over her head to indicate a ‘trapeze act’.
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### Author:  [@kniz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kniz)
#### Post date: [May 8, 2005, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/16 "2005-05-08T02:24:25Z")
Don’t pay any attention to the above answers. The fact is that none of them has any idea what **“whoosh”** refers to and are conspiring to pull your leg about the meaning of the word.
Whoosh is a referance to this [**site**](http://www.whooshmagazine.com/nl/index.html) and it is as simple as that. 😉
If you bought that one, you have just been **whooshed.** 😃
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### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 4:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/17 "2005-05-09T16:23:02Z")
The reason we use hampsters instead of hamsters for our wheel-beasts is actually much simpler. You see, due to the strenuous physical and ærobic demands of powering this board, we use only hampsters with prior dance experience. And as everyone knows, it’s [ham **p** sters](http://www.hampsterdance.com) which dance, not hamsters.
**roger thornhill** , I’ve never in my time on this board seen “whoosh” used in that way. Or was that supposed to be some sort of bizarre meta-joke, deliberately missing the point of whoosh?
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### Author:  [@Excalibre](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Excalibre)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 5:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/18 "2005-05-09T17:37:58Z")
> [@Chronos](#):
>
> **roger thornhill** , I’ve never in my time on this board seen “whoosh” used in that way. Or was that supposed to be some sort of bizarre meta-joke, deliberately missing the point of whoosh?
It’s completely nonsensical. It’s just that roger can’t bear to miss a chance to whine that people disagree with him because we’re caught up in our prior prejudices and he gets no respect because he’s (sorta vaguely) new here. Apparently the thought that we just disagree, or that some of his ideas are wrong, is something that he can’t bear to imagine.
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### Author:  [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)
#### Post date: [May 9, 2005, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-whoosh-mean/302654/19 "2005-05-09T18:03:04Z")
Wait a minute, this is not the forum to get out the beating stick for people you disagree with.
If you have a problem with someone, take it to the Pit, don’t do it here.
your humble TubaDiva