I use the word “duh” a lot. Y’all remember Mr. T? Well, he hates it when I use that word. He says it’s offensive & insulting. I say it just means “of course”; & have even used it when referring to some silly mistake I made or something simple I forgot myself.

Well, last night I was talking to him & used it, & he got really upset. And was going on about how insulting/awful that word is. So, I thought I’d look it up. B/c I want to be aware, ya know?

Ok, so there’s this website where ppl who’s hobby is “words”. The sounds of words, the origins of them, etc. And I found one instance of them talking about “duh”:

Hot For Words: Duh!

Some think it may also have roots in Russian (Dah) or German (Ja).

But I’ve concluded that he’s right. I found on UrbanDictionary.com this:

Originally an insult. It is the sound that a mentally handicapped person makes. In the beginning, the word was complete with a hand gesture of smacking your wrist across your chest. Means “obviously”.

So, I’m going to try to make a real effort not to use that anymore b/c I do not want anything to do w/ a term that derogatory. I hate when ppl use the word “retard” & essentially, I feel like that’s what I’ve been doing.

Would it be dumb for me to admit here that I also thought it might have come from Homer Simpson (of “Doh!” fame)?