# What is the usage of wooshed?

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-usage-of-wooshed/186153
**Category:** About This Message Board
**Created:** [July 4, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-usage-of-wooshed/186153 "2003-07-04T00:38:58Z")
**Posts on this page:** 8
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2003, 12:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-usage-of-wooshed/186153/1 "2003-07-04T00:38:58Z")

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OK, I’m having one of those ‘Durr’ moments and I need someone to answer my question in small simple words I can easily understand. :smack:

What’s with all the “wooshing” on the SDMB? To woosh? Being wooshed?

Is it referring to those “_woosh_ and the info went straight over my head and I missed the technical/obsure/injoke” scenarios?

Is there other meanings or some kind of Grand Unifying Theory of Wooshness?😕

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### Author: ![Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ecd19e/32.png) [@Aslan\_of\_Narnia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aslan_of_Narnia)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2003, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-usage-of-wooshed/186153/2 "2003-07-04T00:43:27Z")

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It does mean going over someones head.

For example, if I were to read a thread about physics, I would be incredibly wooshed.

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### Author: ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2003, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-usage-of-wooshed/186153/3 "2003-07-04T00:48:20Z")

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_whew_  
Oh OK, thanks for for the reply. I’ve seen it used in some slightly different contexts and wanted to know if I was reading on the same page as everyone else, so to speak.

Thanks **Aslan of Narnia** , since my question is answered, the mods are free to delete this thread.

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### 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: [July 4, 2003, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-usage-of-wooshed/186153/4 "2003-07-04T03:33:06Z")

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Uh, **Aslan’s** explanation is only partially correct. On messageboards, it means where, say, the OP makes a tongue-in-cheek statement, which is not quite understood as such by the next poster, who responds in a serious fashion. The second poster has effectively been “whooshed” (from the sound a joke can make when it goes over the head at speed – usually before it hits the wall. )

[Recent explanation thread.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=158990)

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### 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: [July 4, 2003, 9:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-usage-of-wooshed/186153/5 "2003-07-04T09:38:53Z")

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Hmm. Maybe th’ hamsters don’t like talk of “whooshing.” I put my reply through earlier, and it nearly got eaten. Oh, well. 🙂

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### Author: ![dantheman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dantheman/32/9421_2.png) [@dantheman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dantheman)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2003, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-usage-of-wooshed/186153/6 "2003-07-04T16:55:32Z")

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Yeah, it’s not simply something you don’t know about - like **Aslan’s** physics - but rather an inside joke, subtle irony, that sort of thing, that it’s recognizable at first glance for everyone.

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### Author: ![Fern\_Forest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/71c47a/32.png) [@Fern\_Forest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fern_Forest)
#### Post date: [July 4, 2003, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-usage-of-wooshed/186153/7 "2003-07-04T23:14:52Z")

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Does it have its origins in color commentary from American baseball? I always assumed it started there. One of the things Chris Berman of ESPN was known for was saying “The whoosh” whenever a batsman would take a huge swing at a pitch but completely and utterly miss the ball.

Which gives a pretty good explanation of the meaning of being wooshed. You went and made an attempt to get someone’s post but completely and utterly failed to grasp the point of it.

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### Author: ![Rabid\_Squirrel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e0b2c6/32.png) [@Rabid\_Squirrel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rabid_Squirrel)
#### Post date: [July 5, 2003, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-is-the-usage-of-wooshed/186153/8 "2003-07-05T03:29:38Z")

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Hey, thanks for the elaboration people!
