Do you appreciate Huh? Huh?
So a trip to Canada always reminds me of the good use of Eh. I’ve been a fan of Eh for years, and therefore its been in my vocabulary. But what of huh? Some would say Huh and Eh are equivalent. But I beg to differ. Huh has its own uses, which are important. So learn Huh now, and expound your southern vocabulary… all with the use of one word.
The meanings of huh:
#1 The confused huh: Used when a statement is heard which is not understood
Facial Expression Required: One eyebrow lowered one up, cheeks in a bit
Voice Inflection: Start Voice low and then go upward with it
Example:
“The square root of negative one is an imaginary number, its based on the unit circle.”
“Huh?”
#2 The polite huh… used for excuse me. (As when you didn’t hear something).
Facial Expression Required: Both Eyebrows up, eyes open attentive
Voice inflection: Start low and roll upward in pitch… almost sing the expression.
Example:
“Did you hear me?”
“Huuhh?”
#3 The “your crazy what are you talking about huh”.
Facial Expresion: Eyes kinda in the surprise/frown look… confusion concern
Voice Inflection: Should express same concern higher in pitch
Example:
“I’m going to quit my job at NASA and travel the world teaching people to say huh. Really, I’m not joking”
“HUH!”
#4 The “learned something new” huh. You just learned something you didn’t know and its very interesting to you.
Facial Expression: Not important, but nod head angled a bit: possible eye brows upward (normal intrigue look).
Voice Inflection: Start high and go even higher (also can be said very quickly).
Example:
“You know not all numbers are real, some are imaginary?”
“Huh!”
#5 The pondering Huh.
Facial Expression: Look of concern, looking downward or upward (depending on user). Possibly grab chin.
Voice Inflection: Start low, go even lower.
Example:
“Do you understand the proper use of huh?”
“huhhhh?”
#6 The end of statement Huh. Usually means you are looking for a response after your statement.
Facial Expression: N/A.
Voice Inflection: short to the point.
Example:
“You enjoyed learning all this, huh?”
So there you have it 6 meanings for huh… I’m sure there are more. That is why I turn to you the misconstrued user to define the meanings. Please leave your further explenations on Huh?
Comments
Okay, last night we were watching Napoleon Dynamite again. N.P. was drawing a liger. That is when Jared said that they are real animals and everybody was like "huh" (#1 and #3). Then we all proceeded to laugh as Jared stormed out of the room. He went to the computer and pulled up a picture. Everybody was like "huh!" (#4). So it turns out that they are actually real animals. Sheck these links out. It's crazy. They are hugh beast.
http://www.sierrasafarizoo.com/animals/liger.htm
http://www.tigers-animal-actors.com/about/liger/liger.html
Posted by: Tre | January 24, 2005 10:33 AM
Huuuuhh! Yeah, ligers are real. But to hear Jared say, "They're real, I SAW EM ON TV!!" was hilarious.
Posted by: What, You're Expecting My Name Here? | January 24, 2005 12:48 PM
yes ugly freaks of nature they are... but yes they are all in the cat family huh....
that my friends is another use of huh. Its the finallity of statment huh... replaceable with eh.
Posted by: itzjerm | January 24, 2005 01:05 PM
I have no more meanings...I think you covered them all quite throughly. But I have a "huh" story.
One time I was in Miami on the South Beach boardwalk, and I went into a clothing store with a cup of some sort of beverage; we'll say it was juice. The sales woman came up to me and asked me something in French. I said "huh?!"(#1) and gestured upwards with my arms spilling what was left of my juice on the floor. She said, "can I help you?" I said "oh no, I am fine." She looked at the juice I had spilled on the floor, rolled her eyes and walked away.
Those French snobs (shakes fist in anger)
Posted by: Autumn | January 24, 2005 02:53 PM
one i frequently encounter when i tell people about this website.
tb - "You should check out misconstruedthoughts.com!"
response - "huh.com?"
i'll dub it the "bad name to have to spell for a website" huh.
Posted by: tommy | January 24, 2005 08:16 PM
yes... but Jermsgonewild.com was viewed a bad idea.
and well... i think it fits...
but
www.huheh.com is available... hmm cant change now though...
Posted by: itzjerm | January 24, 2005 09:03 PM
Americans seem to use Huh, for pretty much everything, least thats what it sounds like to me. Here in Canada we only use Eh to end a sentence, or make a statement like " That was a crazy hockey game eh" For #3 Canadians would say "Pardon me?" or "I beg your pardon?" Sounds way too formal? Yes.
Posted by: Judi | January 24, 2005 09:13 PM
Grrrr...I am about to kill this quiz. It asked the question "What do the Roman numerals XIX stand for", I clicked 19, LOOKED AT IT TO MAKE SURE IT WAS SELECTED, submitted my answers and it said that I got it wrong, and that the answer was...care to guess???
19!!!!
What is the deal with this thing? It does not like me. My time was under 30 seconds too.
The Collaboration
Posted by: New Paltz Times | January 24, 2005 09:19 PM
yeah, I'm thinking "Huh" is becoming a lot more useful. I guess "eh" isn't what it's cracked up to be.
Posted by: lea | January 24, 2005 09:53 PM
i saw a card today at the store that had "Huh?" on the front of it.(pretty ironic, huh) and inside it said "pretty much sums up the extent of a man's vocabulary." haha...maybe not completely true, but humorous, nontheless;p
Posted by: kathryn | January 24, 2005 10:06 PM
huh?
;)
Posted by: itzjerm | January 24, 2005 10:32 PM
Huh? What? that pretty much sums up my vocabulary right TREMAINE
Posted by: ribchampion | January 24, 2005 10:51 PM
huh?
Posted by: Captian Jonathan!!! | January 24, 2005 11:18 PM
I no wonder people always repeat what they are saying when I say #4 (learned new thing) but they think i am saying #2 (the excuse me)... I realy have to get my huhs down
you left out uh-huh
more on huh:
HUH - Harvard University Herbaria (this is the only acronym for huh, I guess the people at Harvard were not smart on this one)
huh! - new zeland record company
huh.com - a stock broker company... huh? what does that have to do with huh?
huhcorp.com - "We do stuff" how silly
A doctor's name is Sun Huh (MD, PhD)
http://www.subservientchicken.com/ - it came up with huh... and i say #2 huh? I have not been able to come up with things it will not do. how long did it take to do this
Posted by: Priddy the Hut | January 25, 2005 12:13 AM