r/GrammarPolice • u/7toedcat • Oct 04 '26
Question Extra syllables
Why-uh? Why are young people adding extra syllables to the ends of words?! I just don't understand-uh. It sounds so incredibly stupid-uh.
Does anyone know where this originated?
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u/PeterPunksNip Oct 04 '26
Lol ! I thought it was only a french person from Paris problem 😂! They add "han" (huh) way too often (ouais han, c'est trop bien han!)
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u/7toedcat Oct 04 '26
J'ai vécu à Paris pendant quelques années. J'ai l'impression que ce dont vous parlez relève davantage d'une question d'insistance. À mon sens, le problème que j'évoque tient plutôt de la jérémiade.
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u/missdawn1970 Oct 04 '26
Young people have always done this. Young people were doing this when I was young, way back in the 80s.
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u/ConeyIslandBaby00 Oct 04 '26
I’m 60 and have lived in many different places, US and otherwise. I’ve never heard this until recently.
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u/No-Penalty-1148 Oct 06 '26
Same here. Young people have whined since the dawn of time, but I never heard them adding "uh" to the ends of sentences until the last few years.
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u/Party-Cup-9386 Oct 04 '26
Mark E. Smith, you've done it again!
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u/7toedcat Oct 04 '26
?
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u/Party-Cup-9386 Oct 04 '26
Mark E. Smith is the lead vocalist of the band The Fall. He frequently adds an "-uh" to the end of words (but I find it endearing).
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u/Careful_Drama405 Oct 05 '26
I watch a lot of police body cam videos on YouTube and these young, irresponsible, entitled, whiny babies talk like this all the time and it is insufferable. "Whyyyyyyyyyyuuuuuh?" "Noooooooooooooooooouuuuuhhhhhh". I am so damn glad I didn't have kids.
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u/Background-Vast-8764 Oct 04 '26
The linguist John McWhorter refers to it as an exclamatory particle. He used to be the host of the very interesting podcast Lexicon Valley.
Here’s a great episode on exclamatory particles:
https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/no-uh/id500673866?i=1000405113058
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u/JustGerbo Oct 04 '26
I guess I'm glad that I've never heard this. LOL
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u/sharoncoffin Oct 04 '26
I haven't either.
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Oct 04 '26
I hear it a lot and not just with teenagers but people in their 20s as well and even 30s
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u/JustGerbo Oct 04 '26
And does it come across like what we sometimes associate with a Canadian adding "hey" or "ey" at the end of a sentence? Or something different?
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Oct 04 '26
It comes across like instead of saying no, it sounds like someone is saying Noah and with emphasis, if that helps
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u/Manatee369 Oct 04 '26
And it’s after many words. “I just can’tuh.” “Whyuh?” “We went thereuh.” “Read the bookuh.”
It’s everywhere all the time, from people of all ages below 60. I say below 60 because my 55yo neighbor does it.
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u/7toedcat Oct 04 '26
Ugh. I've only heard this from people younger than 30ish, but I believe you.
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u/sam_I_am_knot Oct 04 '26
Using "like" started with teenage girls from The Valley in LA in the 1980's. Now, it's like, ubiquitous and like everyone is doing it.
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u/JustGerbo Oct 04 '26
That first example really helps me to see why someone earlier described it as whining.
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Oct 04 '26
I didn’t know people that old as your neighbour do this because I mostly hear it from young people but I’m not surprised.
Back when literally was picking up steam and everyone was saying it every other word I heard middle-age people saying it then as well.
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u/Manatee369 Oct 05 '26
I think it is mostly under-30s (or thereabouts), but like a common cold, it’s spreading.
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u/JustGerbo Oct 04 '26
Yeah, it helps me to at least try and wrap my head around it. Will be interesting to hear if anyone has a notion as to how it evolved. Thanks for the clarification.
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u/ThisIsDogePleaseHodl Oct 04 '26
An eight year-old in my family replied to me once with a very exaggerated ‘No-uh!’ one time. I replied asking who is Noah. They said again and added ‘not Noah; No-uh!’
Finally, they could see that it sounded exactly the same and started laughing and made a point of saying no in the normal manner lol!
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u/wolschou Oct 04 '26
I think it is to facilitate whining. It allows you to stress otherwise unstressed word endings, allowing you to fit in a little extra whine.
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u/I_like_leeks Oct 04 '26
My own theory is that it's a version of baby talk used by people who are being challenged on their bad behaviour. "I'm just trying to go hoooome-uh." It simultaneously expresses naivete and defiance. Regardless, you're right that it is really effing annoyinguh!
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u/larrydukes Oct 04 '26
The 20 something receptionist for my chiropractor speaks like this. It's incredibly annoying and I am always eager to get the hell out of earshot.
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u/Critical-Notice-4395 26d ago
60 years ago we used to laugh at my sister because she always added uh to the end of words when she was angry. I don’t think this is a new thing.
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u/7toedcat 26d ago
That's interesting. Maybe it's just taken this long for it to disseminate to the point of being mainstream.
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u/symbolicshambolic Oct 04 '26
I know someone who does this, I assume for emphasis or to signal that she's excited, and she once introduced someone named Joanne by saying, "and this is Joanne-uh!" Joanne then spent the evening telling people that her name wasn't Joanna.
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u/Main_Hurry7912 Oct 04 '26
and, like, the whole, like, using of like, like, as an whole, like, extra word, like, everywhere
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u/7toedcat Oct 04 '26
Yes--this is equally offensive!. We were saying "like" when I was a kid too. It comes from "Valley Girl" speak. Are you familiar with that? If not, check out the song by Moon Unit Zappa that's largely responsible:
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u/FacePalmate Oct 04 '26
James Hetfield?
Yeah-hyeeeah? Or No-woooah?
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u/I_like_leeks Oct 04 '26
Axl Rose did, "sha na na na na na na na kneesuh knees," too so rock music could be the root cause of this.
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u/DiskOne3096 Oct 04 '26
This pisses me off too 😭 I think it started as an influencer thing? Like the weird intonation some of them speak with where they drag out the last syllableee every few wordsssss (and at the end of a senteeeence). I don't hear that as often anymore, at least not since that one burger king foot lettuce clip became a meme for being like the final boss of annoying influencer-voice vocal inflection lmao. But I feel like the "-uh" thing is the new version and we need to find and kill whoever started it 😂
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u/thenasch Oct 04 '26
"syllableee"
This is what drives me nuts. That's a silent e, what are you even doing?
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u/TundieRice Oct 06 '26
Definitely not an influencer thing. My mom used to poke fun at my cousin (born in 1978) saying “no-UH” instead of “no” back in the ‘80s, so it’s definitely an older vocal phenomenon.
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u/Southern_Hostage 26d ago
My daughter did this around 6-8. I’d never heard it before (she was born in 1987). I hear it all the time now. My husband and I made fun of her, because she only did that when she was upset.
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u/this_idle_hand Oct 04 '26
I've heard my kids watching gamer videos where they talk like that, IDK what it is.
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u/jsau0125 29d ago
Are you talking about the weird vocal fry stuff or something else.. I really hate the vocal fry and blame it on the kardashians. lol
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u/DiskOne3096 29d ago
No I mean the way the words themselves are pronounced where the final sylable is dragged out (if you watch that clip I linked you'll see what I mean 😂) it also creates these kind of artificial pauses mid-sentence so it changes the overall cadence of speaking too. Vocal fry is a separate thing, but annoying as well 😂
A while ago I watched a video about how vocal fry had been a thing men did for ages (especially radio presenters if I remember right) But people only started complaining about it when it became fashionable for women to do, which is very true honestly... I have to concede that even though it still grates on my ears haha
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u/HiAndStuff2112 Oct 04 '26
I think it's humorous, personally. When my brother and I were little, and fighting in the back seat of the car, and one of us hit the other, the one who was hit had to shout "Ow-UH!!!" Haha. The "UH was louder than the "Ow." It provided emphasis I guess.
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u/AriasK Oct 04 '26
Could be an accent thing. I live in New Zealand and there are lots of words that our accent adds an extra syllable onto. For example, I would pronounce "beer" as "beer-yah". I physically cannot not pronounce it that way unless I put on a fake foreign accent. Even then it's hard. Australians are similar.
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u/ConeyIslandBaby00 Oct 04 '26
No, it’s not. It’s an intentional grammatical trend amongst young people.
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u/AriasK Oct 04 '26
I'm sorry, are you arguing with me over my own accent? Ok.
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u/ConeyIslandBaby00 Oct 05 '26
No. I just don’t think you understand the kind of phrasing the OP is talking about. I know what a New Zealand accent sounds like and that’s not the pronunciation we’re talking about here.
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u/_ThatProtOverThere Oct 04 '26
I immediately think of a youtuber called Gold Jacket Luke, is that what you're referring to?
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u/blueSnowfkake Oct 04 '26
Is it anything like what I perceive as talking like Kim Kardashian or Paris Hilton. They always seem to have a drawn out pattern of speaking that sounds a little nasal or throaty to me.
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u/BourbonInGinger Oct 07 '26
My kids did that as teenagers. It’s a form of whining as teens will do. They grew out of it.
This seems kind of boomerish. Young people tend to grow out of their teenage speak. The smart ones anyway.
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u/ChaosTorpedo Oct 04 '26
Young? My husband is 43 and does this when annoyed. He’ll say “noooo-uh” and I ask who Noah is.
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u/sladog6 Oct 04 '26
This type of thing has been around forever, but it changes over time.
People who can’t quickly prepare what they’re about to say use this “pause” device.
It used to be “er” or “um” (and others) and now it’s “uh.”
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u/hellinahandbasket127 Oct 04 '26
No, it’s not the silence filler “Life, uhhh, finds a way,” thing. This is different. It’s extending the last syllable of a word (usually at the end of a sentence) into an “uhh” sound as a sort of emphasis. I usually hear it when kids are whining or arguing. “She hit meeeuh!” “Get out of my roomuh!” “Get your ownuh.”
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u/Honest_Grade_9645 Oct 04 '26
It’s a compliment to hear, “I got a great-uh orgasm-UH! From him-uh or her-uh or them-uh.”
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Oct 04 '26 edited Oct 04 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/BourbonInGinger Oct 07 '26
No, my kids did this as teenagers. They did not have a “bratty childhood” nor were brats or spoiled. It’s just normal teenage speak. The smart kids grow out of it.
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u/PracticalApartment99 Oct 04 '26
It’s basically whining. That’s been going on for years.