Is "imph'm" obsolete?
Shannon Jacobs
dialog, and "imph'm" comes up a lot. I could figure out most of the
dialog, but that word never did seem to settle into any particular
concrete meaning. More troublesome, I couldn't even imagine what the
source words might have been. Most of the dialog was just
pronunciation and grammatical variations, but "imph'm"?
Mark Brader
> Just finished a book (by Dorothy Sayers) with a lot of regional
> dialog, and "imph'm" comes up a lot. I could figure out most of the
> dialog, but that word never did seem to settle into any particular
> concrete meaning. More troublesome, I couldn't even imagine what the
> source words might have been.
I took it to be a variant of "Uh-huh".
--
Mark Brader, "It is impossible. Solution follows..."
Toronto, m...@vex.net -- Richard Heathfield
John Kane
> Shannon Jacobs writes:
> > Just finished a book (by Dorothy Sayers) with a lot of regional
> > dialog, and "imph'm" comes up a lot. I could figure out most of the
> > dialog, but that word never did seem to settle into any particular
> > concrete meaning. More troublesome, I couldn't even imagine what the
> > source words might have been.
>
> I took it to be a variant of "Uh-huh".
would read "imph'm" as totally non-committal while "Un-huh" seem to
at least acknowledge the speaker's point even if not believed.
John Kane, Kingston ON Canada
Paul Wolff
proletarian witness, I interpret it as a peculiar Scottish vocalisation
that leaves the listener to decide whether the speaker really agrees.
--
Paul
In bocca al Lupo!
tinwhistler
wrote:
Some may say this bit from the NYTimes is off-topic, but I'm not
sure. FWIW:
...Russell Baker, writing of an earlier, more innocent era when women
could be given nicknames like ''The Blonde Bombshell,'' wonders how
Ann Sheridan was dubbed ''The Oomph Girl'' (''A Bird by Any Other
Name,'' column, Aug. 20). Bob Taplinger was head of publicity at
Warner Brothers at the time, 1939. I asked Bob about this very subject
when we were with another company, almost three decades later. Bob
told me Walter Winchell had seen Ann Sheridan in a sexy bit role and,
liking to coin words, wrote in his column, ''she's got an 'umphy'
quality.'' Bob changed the spelling to ''oomph'' and gave the world
the ''The Oomph Girl'' at an ''Oomph Dinner'' for Warner movie stars.
For years after that, whenever Ann Sheridan was asked what ''oomph''
meant, she would say she didn't know, but described it as the sound
that a fat man says when he bends over to tie his shoelaces in a phone
booth. ART ROGOFF New York, Aug. 22, 1988...
Aloha ~~~ Ozzie Maland ~~~ San Diego
Peter Duncanson
The is a Scottish poem called Imph-m:
http://www.spl.org.uk/popular/imphm.html
...
But only said Imph-m! That useful word Imph-m,
Wi' sic' a big mouthfu' he couldna say - aye!
...
An' when a brisk wooer, I courted my Jean -
O Avon's braw lasses the pride an' the Queen -
When 'neath my grey plaidie wi' heart beatin' fain,
I speired in a whisper if she'd be my ain,
She blushed and said Imph-m, that charming word Imph-m,
A thousan' times better and sweeter than - aye!
So "imph-m" means "yes" in that poem.
Although the poem Scotch Words includes:
http://www.rampantscotland.com/poetry/blpoems_scotch.htm
... imph'm which means - anything you like; ...
--
Peter Duncanson, UK
(in alt.usage.english)
nanc...@verizon.net
wrote:
Search this group for that word, and you will discover that we
discussed it (for about 30 replies) in December of 2006.
Here's what Donna Richoux had to say about it at the time:
===== begin quoted text =====
I've seen it in Scottish novels as well. I take it to be the
forerunner
of the modern "mm-hmm" and "uh-huh," a grunt of noncomittal agreement.
Even a bit suspicious, like "Well, that's what *you* say, not me."
It's in the Dictionary of the Scots Language, www.dsl.ac.uk :
IMPHM, int. Also im(p)him, imp'm, euphm, imph. An
exclam., used with a variety of intonation to
indicate attentiveness, decided or reluctant assent,
sarcastic agreement, hesitation or the like: well?,
really, yes, hm!
[Followed by citations such as:]
*Ayr. 1901 G. Douglas Green Shutters xii.:
``Imphm; imphm; imphm; there might be something
in that!'' nodding his head and stroking his
moustache, as he uttered each meditative ``imphm.''
*Dmf. 1915 J. L. Waugh Betty Grier 27:
``Yes, sir,'' ``No, sir,'' ``Ay, ay; imphm!''
have so far been the sum-total of his contribution
to the conversation.
===== end quoted text =====
Richard Maurer
Just finished a book (by Dorothy Sayers) with
a lot of regional dialog, and "imph'm" comes up a lot.
I could figure out most of the dialog, but that word
never did seem to settle into any particular
concrete meaning. More troublesome, I couldn't even
imagine what the source words might have been.
and grammatical variations, but "imph'm"?
Mark Brader wrote:
I took it to be a variant of "Uh-huh".
Close to "um hum" in sound. When that sound is made
while unraveling a household mystery,
"um hum" changes a bit (in the USA) and becomes close
to "imph'm".
-- ---------------------------------------------
Richard Maurer To reply, remove half
Sunnyvale, California of a homonym of a synonym for also.
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Shannon Jacobs
wrote:<snip>
> Search this group for that word, and you will discover that we
> discussed it (for about 30 replies) in December of 2006.
Before posting, I did search here for it, but the spellings obviously
didn't match, and I had no way to guess at alternative spellings.
While I was reading the book, I'd already done my best to sound it
out, and was (and still am) pretty much stumped on that side. There
were some webpages that mentioned it, but none of the ones I looked at
really made it clear what was going on. I wonder if I could find in-
context usage examples on YouTube?
I do thank the people who posted helpful comments here, but I'm still
not fully sure how I should have interpreted in the book, though it
does seem that the answer to my Subject: question is "No, it's not
completely obsolete, but it seems to be on the rare side."
CDB
As has been said, spelled that way it's Scottish. Think of it as
"yes" with your lips pursed.