zoo-wee mama

[littleboxes]

Hello friends,

I am reading "Diary of a wimpy kid" by Jeff Kinney, it's a lot of fun and good to learn vocabulary used by kids nowadays. I came across this expression : "zoo-wee mama", they use it after telling a joke, to express surprise. I suppose it doesn't have translation into Spanish, but my question is about the origin of it. Does anybody know anything about it?

Thanks a lot!!

 

[cuchuflete]

Hi littleboxes,

Zoo-wee was a sound used often in popular songs in the 1950s and 1960s. As far as I know, it is not representative of vocabulary used by kids nowadays. Look for the lyrics of a song called "Sea Cruise" or "Let me take you on a sea cruise" for an example.

Ahhh...here they are, not quite at the level of a Shakespeare sonnet:

Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Oo-ee, oo-ee baby
Won't ya let me take you on a sea cruise?

Oo-ee was sometimes changed to zoo-ee in performances.

 

[xqby]

I usually try to avoid making blanket statements, but I feel pretty confident in saying that no one will ever say "zoo-wee mama" unless they are referencing the comic.