BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????

Subject: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Oct 07 - 10:29 PM

There seems to be a local expression around here that goes this way:

"Hey, take a boo at this..." "So I had a boo at the damage to the fender and..."

A what?????? I can never believe it when I hear people saying to take a "boo" at something when they mean to look at it...but that's what some people say around here, including 2 good friends of mine.

I think it's weird. What I want to know is...is it a widespread expression or is it something that's strictly limited to the Barrie-Orillia area in central Ontario, Canada? Could it be because of the water here? ;-) The reason I ask is, I have only heard 2 or 3 people EVER use the word "boo" in that fashion, and they were all from the Barrie-Orillia area.

So I'm doing some research. Where and when did the expression "to take a boo" at something originate, what is its derivation, and how widespread is this expression?

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Rapparee
Date: 15 Oct 07 - 10:41 PM

Never heard of it. Maybe it's from "peek-a-boo".

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: GUEST,Bardford
Date: 15 Oct 07 - 10:43 PM

I think these guys started it.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: catspaw49
Date: 15 Oct 07 - 10:43 PM

Hey Man.....I can give you a few clues of what to do if you do a boo and find blue poo glued on your new shoe...........aw fuck it.......

Spaw

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: GUEST,Barford
Date: 15 Oct 07 - 10:52 PM

Have a gander at this:

Maybe it is somehow related to

tickety-boo

• adjective Brit. informal, dated- "in good order."

— ORIGIN perhaps from a Hindi phrase meaning 'all right'.

Found at askoxford.com

I've heard it out west here too LH.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Oct 07 - 10:52 PM

I don't believe it! LOL! The "Take-a-Boo" Emporium. (the link our guest provided) And it's on Avenue Road in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.

Hmmm. The plot thickens.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Oct 07 - 10:53 PM

Perhaps it does have something to do with "peek-a-boo". I hadn't thought of that before.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Lepus Rex
Date: 15 Oct 07 - 10:58 PM

Well, I was going to say that it started in Barrie, most likely, because people from Barrie are idiots. Because I had a bad experience there once, and I like to believe it's true, but... I also found that antique store, linked above by GUEST,Bardford, and according to the owner, it's "Old English for take a look at everything." So maybe ask one of the old English bastards who infest this place. They'll know. :D

---Lepus Rex

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Little Hawk
Date: 15 Oct 07 - 11:14 PM

Ah hah! The mystery is solved! Or solv-ED...as Inspector Clouseau would say...

Old English, eh? Thanks, Lepus! I shall get confirmation from the next old English bastard I happen to meet. As you say, they're thick around here...

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Ebbie
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 12:26 AM

So: instead of saying 'Take a peek', one now says 'Take a boo'? Not me. I'm tired.

I can't even keep up with fashion in clothing and cars.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: gnu
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 04:46 AM

Been around for a gog's age. A peek is a quick or furtive look at something. But, a boo is when you examine something closely because you are engaged or are in someway taken aback by it, indeed, surprised, as in "boo!".

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: gnu
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 04:47 AM

Now... what's a gog?

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Backwoodsman
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 04:59 AM

No idea, but my ag is frequently og.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: gnu
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 05:11 AM

Hmmmm... "Been around for a dog's age.) ??? I say that all the time. But, most dogs don't lives long enough to make that old saying meaningful. I could understand saying, "Been around for a tortoise's age." ... or a parrot or a redwood tree... maybe if you use dog years?

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: ragdall
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 06:52 AM

I've heard the expression used in BC but only by old people.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Michael
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 07:41 AM

Could it be some form of contraction for 'Take a butcher's'(butcher's hook = look)?

Mike

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 08:28 AM

I vote for derivation from "peek-a-boo". I am from B. C., and might qualify for old at 57, I suppose, you impertinent young whippersnapper. I first heard the expression circa 1970, I think, when it was current among a troop of student nurses with whom I was fortunate enough to associate. One of them was a private school girl and I think she might have introduced it. I am surprised that the term isn't universally familiar.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: *daylia*
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 09:27 AM

I wasn't going to say boo here, but I'm just a Barrie idiot so I can't resist.

Have a boo at this, LH

"To say boo "open one's mouth, speak," originally was to say boo to a goose".

There you go. It is from Old English. And I imagine it would work just as well on a cow. So hey -- let's go out cowtipping after dark, k LH? We'll sneak up on em, give em a BOOOO, and presto -- beef on the side!

Or rather, a side of beef ...

or maybe, just dinner on the hoof?

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 09:34 AM

Boo is also an older name for grass which is another name for Mary Jane which is . . . .

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: *daylia*
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 09:39 AM

Hey, just took a longer boo at the page I linked to above and noticed this!



boo 2       (bôô) Pronunciation Key
n.   Slang
Marijuana.


[Origin unknown.]"

Wow. Pretty cagey, those Yanks. Gives a whole new meaning to "They really got booed at the song circle last night".

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Metchosin
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 11:18 AM

I will second Bob the Postman. The expression was in common usage here in BC at one time. Haven't heard it in many years though, either.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Vixen
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 11:28 AM

I dunno, but I'm willing to bet the phrase enjoys a sudden surge in currency after all this discussion.

To be honest, I didn't know "butcher's hook" was the Cockney Rhyming Slang for "look"...I thought it was "book", which might easily morph into boo'

Folk Etymology...what fun!

V

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Mrrzy
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 11:40 AM

They used to say A coon's age, but people in the US found that racist (a coon can be a racoon or a nigger, apparently).

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 11:42 AM

How fucking eloquent!

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Little Hawk
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 11:46 AM

Yeah, that's right.

Hey, Peace, remember that goofy hippy song "You, and Me, and a Dog Named Boo"? Perhaps that was a sly reference to marijuana too.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Peace
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 11:51 AM

Remember it? I put many quarters in the juke box over that one, LH.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Irene M
Date: 16 Oct 07 - 02:26 PM

My money as also on butcher's hook. Look.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 17 Oct 07 - 07:21 AM

Some folks at work reckon "take a boo" is chickspeak.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Mooh
Date: 17 Oct 07 - 08:47 AM

Sheesh, been saying that all my (and my kin's) life. But I've lived my whole life within a few hours of Orillia, so what's my excuse? Here's having a boo at you, kid.

Peace, Mooh.

Subject: RE: BS: Take a 'boo' (???) at this? A what?????
From: Bob the Postman
Date: 18 Oct 07 - 04:45 PM

Honey Bees make honey. But what kind of bees make milk.



































Boo Bees