yahoo
2018.07.18
Meaning:
Yahoo! is a very successful company (especially in Japan). But do you know what yahoo means? The word comes from an English book written in 1725 – ‘Gulliver’s Travels’. In that book, there is a tribe of dirty, un-educated people called yahoos. So if you call someone a yahoo, you are calling them un-educated and un-cultured. We don’t use the word much in modern English –we use different words, such as oaf (the UK), yob (Australia and NZ) and blockhead (the US). But the owners of the company Yahoo! like their name, even though it has a negative nuance. They started their company when they were young men, and their name shows that they wanted the company to be fun.
Example:
A: Ugh. Simon is being such a rude, drunken yahoo! Look at him dancing on the table-top, spilling beer everywhere!
B: A yahoo? You have such a great vocabulary! I’d just say he’s a blockhead!
Talking Point(s):
Do you know any yahoos? Would you rather say yahoo (sounds old-fashioned), oaf (sounds British), yob (sounds Australian) or blockhead (sounds American)?
大人からの英会話getgo 西船橋・荻窪・津田沼・本八幡