What do I write about when I have no idea what to write about? Huh? Everybody has some sort of idea drawers in their brains, marked good, bad, boring, dangerous, stupid and indifferent. But as a writer what should I do when all those drawers are empty? Huh? Well, actually that’s not true, the bad idea drawer is filling up really fast as I sit here contemplating my navel and wondering what to write! Huh!
What does huh mean? Huh? Is it an expression similar to the Norwegian UFFDA? Huh? Is it a real word? Huh? I looked it up in Merriam Webster’s Dictionary, and it is indeed a real word pronounced as a grunt, first known to be used in 1608 (not 1607 or 1609, but 1608) Huh! The word is used to express surprise, as in when on the rarest of occasions the husband wins an argument with his wife. I was right huh! Another use is for disbelief as in when the husband finds his way without asking for directions, the wife would say, “I don’t believe it, you didn’t need to ask for directions? Huh!”
The dictionary further claims that it is used to express confusion as in “Honest officer, I didn’t realize that the speed limit was in kilometres!” Huh! Disapproval is another use of the word, as in, No dear, don’t wear those jeans, they make your butt look bigger, huh! The word can also be used as an inquiry to invite an affirmative reply. It is better to wear these other pants that make your butt look smaller? Huh? I think I got the hang of it now, or what do you think? Huh?
Another expression that initially caused me to smile and shake my head is, “you don’t say!” I first heard that expression when we lived in Vancouver in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Whenever I encountered an Englishman, who as a result of my strong accent would wonder as to where I was from, I would reply that I’m from Norway. He would look at me with an astonished expression and state with his British upper lip accent: you don’t say! My reply was always “I just did!” Huh! And it didn’t take me long to adopt the famous Canadian end of sentence uttering, eh!
No other English speaking country uses this expression. Canadians would say: “You wanna play hockey, eh?” Americans would say “eh, you wanna play hockey?” Australians would throw a boomerang and say “crickey, we don’t know how to play hockey, mate!” And New Zealanders would just keep on chasing their sheep. Whereas in Britain they would say, “jolly good sport, do you care to join us for a game of golf, old chap?”
Then there is a reply to a question that I believe is the same in any language. The positive with the offset negative response, yes (yeah) and no response to a question. The query might be the husband asking the wife if she wants to watch the Edmonton Oilers playing the Toronto Maple Leafs, and she might answer:, “Yeah / no, maybe not!” Or the wife might ask the husband to do the vacuuming, and he might answer: “yeah / no, I would but I have to go!”
However, if the husband asks his wife a question, any question and the answer is “whatever!” Then he knows that he will be sleeping on the couch that night! Huh!
We all have things to ponder every day, and sometimes we struggle to come up with the right answer.
Ole and Lena wanted to go fishing and were camping out by a lake full of trout. Lena woke Ole up very early one morning; in fact it was before dawn so it was still dark. She woke up Ole and said, “Ole look up at the stars and tell me what you see!”
Ole looked up and said, “I see a gazillion stars, some of them blinking at us!”
“Well,” said Lena, “what comes to your mind when you see all those stars?”
Ole pondered this for a while and then he said, “Lena, when I see all those stars, and I believe that some of them are planets that might have life on them, so it is very likely that the planets with life are like earth, and we might be getting some alien visitors one day!”
Lena shook her head, looked sadly at Ole and said, “Ole you idiot, if you can lay there on your back and look at the stars, it means that somebody stole our tent during the night!” Huh!
Sven was out shopping in the mall when he met his friend Ole walking just outside the jewelry store. Ole noticed that Sven had a small parcel in his hand and it was gift-wrapped. Who is that gift for Sven?" asked Ole.
“Well, now that you've asked," replied Sven, "It's my Lena's birthday tomorrow, and when I asked her this morning what she wanted for her birthday, Lena said, “Oh Sven, I don’t know, dear, just give me something with lots of diamonds!”
"So what did you get her?" asked Ole.
Sven smirked and said, "I bought her a deck of cards." Huh!
