# Why Do Vampires Say "Bleh?" **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [September 15, 2003, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695 "2003-09-15T07:37:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 7:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/1 "2003-09-15T07:37:22Z")
:rolleyes: I’ve noticed this on a number of TV shows. When they’re making jokes about vampires, the vamp will often make say “bleh!” for no discernible reason, like it’s supposed to be scary. Cites: Greg the Bunny’s Count Blah, of course. I’ve seen this on The Simpsons and a few other shows as well. I’ve read _Dracula_, and though it was a while ago, I’m pretty sure Vlad never says “Bleh!” to Harker. Likewise, I’ve seen _Nosferatu_, and none of the title cards had Orlok saying “bleh!” to anybody. Does anyone know where this silly thing came from? ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/2 "2003-09-15T07:38:44Z")
[meaningless accomlishment banner]Yay! I started the 51000th MPSIMS thread! 🆒[/meaningless accomlishment banner] ---
**Author:** ![heresiarch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/278dde/32.png) [@heresiarch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heresiarch)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 7:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/3 "2003-09-15T07:56:52Z")
This question is really making me laugh. 😃 My guess is that some director in a cheesy vampire movie told his star to make a menacing kind of snarl: “Grrrr!” Ooh. and when you snarl, curl your lip back to show those great fangs: “Mwerrr!” Good good. But try it one more time, with a Transylvanian accent: “Bleh!” YES! Now you’ve got it. ACTION! ---
**Author:** ![Skeezix](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/839c29/32.png) [@Skeezix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skeezix)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/4 "2003-09-15T08:04:36Z")
Don’t tell anyone I told ya this, but… It’s the rh factor. It’s really bitter. Actually, thinking about it a sec, I’m hearing a hundred-odd bad impersonations of Bela Lugosi in my head, doing the “I vant to suck your blood!” line. Blood, in the bad accent, becomes bluh (with a shortened, almost silent, d or t sound at the end of the word), which just becomes the one readily identifiable word when you think of someone’s bad Hungarian/Transylvanian vampire-speak. Or possibly not. Possibly I need to stop posting shortly after taking antihistamines. Yes, I think that’s more likely. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 8:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/5 "2003-09-15T08:08:37Z")
> [@](#): > > This question is really making me laugh. 😃 Thanks. I aim to entertain as well as… well, this isn’t really informing. Okay, I just aim to entertain. (Remember: aim low, and when you hit the ground, you’ll bounce.) > [@](#): > > Possibly I need to stop posting shortly after taking antihistamines. Now really, would this board be any fun if people stopped posting while on drugs? ---
**Author:** ![John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/2bfe46/32.png) [@John\_Carter\_of\_Mars](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Carter_of_Mars)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 11:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/6 "2003-09-15T11:13:52Z")
The vampires in your area say “bleh”? The one that lives beneath my barn says: “Who gives a shit?” Dif’rent strokes for dif’rent Stokers, I s’pose. ---
**Author:** ![Shirley\_Ujest](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shirley\_Ujest](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shirley_Ujest)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 12:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/7 "2003-09-15T12:38:54Z")
**Why do vampires say 'bleh’** Because ‘Wazzzup’ was already taken? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/898d66/32.png) [@El\_Elvis\_Rojo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Elvis_Rojo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/8 "2003-09-15T13:05:39Z")
I remember an episode of _The Monkeys_ where they encountered several movie monsters including Dracula. Davey was dressed up like a vampire having a conversation with him, and the conversation went something like: “I want to suck your blood!” “Bood? Bleh!” “Bleh?” “Bleh! Blood? Bleh!” I think it’s just a comical mockery of the horrible accent used in many low budget vampire films, etc. ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/9 "2003-09-15T13:12:01Z")
If you were a [“Greg the Bunny”](http://www.fox.com/greg/set/index.htm) viewer, you would know that it’s [“Blah”](http://www.fox.com/greg/puppet/). ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_Bravo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_bravo/32/493_2.png) [@Johnny\_Bravo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_Bravo)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/10 "2003-09-15T13:16:17Z")
“A’ight, blah?” ---
**Author:** ![Kilt-wearin\_man](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/82dd89/32.png) [@Kilt-wearin\_man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kilt-wearin_man)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/11 "2003-09-15T13:50:18Z")
In the old Pink Panther cartoons, there was occasionally a pudgy vampire character that would menace the panther and hilarity would ensue. Of course, the cartoons were “silent”, so the only spoken line was the vampire saying “Blooh! Blooh!”, which I always took as a parody of Bela Lugosi’s accent. As far as I know, this is the source of the other “Bleh” phenomenon. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 3:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/12 "2003-09-15T15:08:47Z")
The only vampire I ever saw doing this was Count Floyd, on Second City TV (late seventies early 1980s). I vote for the “bad imitation of East European Accent” theory, too. ---
**Author:** ![Capcha](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/82dd89/32.png) [@Capcha](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Capcha)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 3:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/13 "2003-09-15T15:26:02Z")
Maybe they’re just belching? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/14 "2003-09-15T16:28:18Z")
It’s an _homage_ to Bleh Lugosi. ---
**Author:** ![meow\_meow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f04885/32.png) [@meow\_meow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/meow_meow)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 4:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/15 "2003-09-15T16:45:08Z")
I am now going to have to check out all the Worst of the Worst of Ed Wood’s films to find the answer to this. I must know. Bleh, bleh! I’ll be saying that all day now. ---
**Author:** ![Umbriel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/9de053/32.png) [@Umbriel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Umbriel)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/16 "2003-09-15T18:06:57Z")
I think the “blood=bleh” cheesy accent explanations are the closest. It’s one of those bad voice impression tag lines like “You dirty rat!” when you’re supposed to be doing Cagney, or “Nyah!” for Edward G. Robinson, or “Judy, Judy, Judy” for Cary Grant. I don’t think any of them ever actually said those things, but if bad impressionists didn’t we’d have no idea who they were trying to impersonate. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/17 "2003-09-15T18:15:46Z")
I don’t know but I long for a return to the good ole days when vampires wore capes, turned into bats and said “bleh! bleh!” I’m sick of these pretentious, introspective vampires who hang out in raves all night wearing leather pants, Armani shirts, listening to techno and carrying customized Belgian machineguns. Vampires aren’t supposed to reflect - in mirrors or on the meaning of their existance. “Ooooo! Woahh is me! I’m a Vampire! I can’t go out in the daylight! I have to drink blood to live! Dude…suck it up (excuse the pun). You don’t here The Mummy acting like a little bitch!” ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 6:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/18 "2003-09-15T18:22:56Z")
> [@](#): > > If you were a “Greg the Bunny” viewer, you would know that it’s “Blah”. I did note that. But I included it because it’s a big example, and I felt “blah” and “bleh” are cousins from an etymological standpoint. ---
**Author:** ![Duke\_of\_Rat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Duke\_of\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duke_of_Rat)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 6:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/19 "2003-09-15T18:29:15Z")
Yeah, if all I did was suck blood for a living, I’d be “bleh!” too. The girl always has on a low cut dress, showing ample cleavage. Something I’d really like to suck, but NO!! All I get to do is lay a turbo hickey on her neck. Picture Sharon Tate in “The Fearless Vampire Killers” and tell me all you’d suck would be her neck. Bleh!! I say, BLEH! ---
**Author:** ![Rocketeer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rocketeer/32/4437_2.png) [@Rocketeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rocketeer)\ **Post date:** [September 15, 2003, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695/20 "2003-09-15T18:48:21Z")
I believe that it was David Skal, in **The Monster Show** , who traced the current type of vampire imitation (including the “bleh”) to a Lenny Bruce parody of Dracula as an aging Yiddish gent. Is “bleh” a stereotypical Yiddish expression? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-vampires-say-bleh/201695.md?page=2)