Why Do Vampires Say "Bleh?"

I agree. Vampires are supposed to be eerie. Not angst ridden, like a group of goths at a high school.

Exactly. Vampires have slowly gone from the high school football jocks of the monster world to the AV club nerds.

And Kung-Fu! Don’t forget the Kung-Fu!
“Hiyah! Bleh!”

In Allan Sherman’s “My Son, the Vampire” (the theme song to the 1952 film of the same name), he sings the word “blood” in a cheesy faux-European accent so it sounds like “bluuuuuh!”

You may be pleased to hear that the vampire of folklore, as well as early literary vampires, went for the chest (heart) rather than the neck. The neck-biting vampire was probably popularized by film.

I think it was George Hamilton who told a Johnny Carson audience how to practice to speak like a vampire. There are two methods: stacatto (when the vampire is excited) and langorous (normal conversation tone).

To practice the stacatto: use the words “Palo Alto, California”, loudly and quickly, with a Romanian accent, running the first two words together, and the third word separately. All syllables are equally stressed except for the final “to” and “nia”, which drop off softly. PALOALto CALIFORnia

To practice the languorous: use the word “antipasto”, saying it slowly, sounding all sinister, and with the Romanian accent and lisping the “s”. "ahnti-pahhth-toe

<irrelevant aside>

Here in Canada, because we have two official languages, all product packaging must be in both English and French. Sometimes at my grocery store, they place the products so that the French side faces outwards. In particular, I notice that they do this with odd irregularity for a particular brand of cracker - I can’t remember which. In French, the crackers are called “Fins de Ble”. Whenever I see this, I can’t help but use my best version of a vampire accent to say, out loud, “fins de ble…BLE…BLE!”. (The “blah” coming with increasing intensity with each repetition.) People usually give me a sideways glance or two, but that only helps to increase my amusement.

</irrelevant aside>

After wearing vampire fangs last Halloween, I can attest that Dracula would have had a wicked lisp. I’m sure he would have hit on “Bleh!” as something he could say without embarassing himself.

This is perhaps the best riff on “When I was a kid, the world was better” that I’ve seen! “When I was a kid, we didn’t have it easy… we walked seven miles to school evry day, and then home again – uphill, both ways. When I was a kid, we had vampires who were *real *vampires, not angst-laden introspective vampire-wannabes…” :smiley:

Actually, they say “Bleh” at the additives-laden, low-calorie, artificial-sweetener-bearing blood that’s all they can get these days.

Halloween is coming, so I’m resurrecting a zombie.

I remember reading an article about why Dracula says, ‘Bluh! Bluh! Bluh!’, so I looked for it.

The article says [emphasis mine]:

Nathaniel Reha promoted this theory, lifting a quote from the Straight Dope boards

Hypotheses on the page suggest the origin may be:

  • Bela Lugosi parodying his character in the 1953 musical satire My Son, The Vampire;
  • Allan Sherman in his c. 1964 song of the same name. The film was renamed from its original title Vampire Over London for its 1963 re-release;
  • Comedian Gabe Dell’s performance on Steve Allen’s Plymouth Show in 1957 and 1959, and on a 1963 recording;
  • Lenny Bruce doing a Dracula parody in the '60s.

The article concludes, ‘So who’s right? Only one man can judge the true winner of this contest! And we await his verdict.’

Which man would that be?

I’m guessing Bela. The wait may be long… or will it? :notes: Duh, duh, duhhhhh! :notes:

If that wasn’t the intention it has worked out to make the most sense.

Clearly, being undead kills a person’s sex drive.

Another example:

Allegedly from the 1959 broadcast:

I didn’t notice any blehs.

I found this from Lugosi’s 1931 Dracula. It’s not exactly “bleh” but it’s close.

Beat me to it, @Johhny_L.A. :slightly_smiling_face: I didn’t notice that this is a zombie and I really thought the OP was referencing this scene.

The Maximum Fun article that cites the SDMB has turned up again history of - When did Dracula first say Blah Blah Blah? - Science Fiction & Fantasy Stack Exchange

Bleh-d Bleh-d Bleh-d
:bat: