October 31, 2001
K. David

The word "boo" is not a particularly frightening exclamation these days. If degrees of fright can be measured on any type of scientific scale [with 10 being the highest degree of alarm, and 1 being the lowest] the body's endocrine response to hearing the word "boo", is probably a (2) on the Fright Scale; right after "watch out" (3), and right before "excuse me (1)."

Although the recitation of this word seems to increase markedly during this time of year, its ability to scare people does not. The causes for the linguistic impotence of the word "boo" are myriad and complex, but there are several reasons that immediately come to mind.

You don't have to look much further than the definition of "boo" in The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, to realize that its slang definition, "Marijuana," now seems to be widely accepted. This, no doubt, lends to a less sinister use of the word, which results in wide eyed smiles instead of cautious shifty trepidation. And its invocation as a sports fan's jeer of antagonistic bravado [the Bronx Cheer] particularly now around World Series time, also reduces its ability to give people a good case of the willies.

There even seems to be an international effort to relegate "boo" as a vernacular antique. In Bodo, Norway, for example, this word has found a common year-round use as the acronym for the airport code in this city [a round-trip ticket from EWR to BOO currently costs approximately $1200.00 and requires 2 connections each way]. Although the Norwegian translation [if there even is one] for "boo" probably doesn't relate to the Bronx Cheer or a bat of budda, you can be sure that even with the heightened security in airports these days, the excessive use of this acronym in Bodo, won't frighten even the weariest and most paranoid of American travelers.

Further foreign evidence that "boo" has been downgraded in the fright department, is that some clever Canadian business organization has actually co-opted "boo", as an acronym of their own: Brewers Of Ontario. How ironic that a beer brewing association would water down the "boo".

On the Internet, boo.com, boo.net, and boo.org are all in use, and yet none have taken advantage of the obvious reference of this word to getting high, antagonistic sports jeers or Halloween spookiness. In the misguided rush for dot-com names, I suppose these sites had been planning on redefining the English language to suit their marketing goals, much as yahoo, ebay, amazon, and others have had their web site names slide effortlessly into the English lexicon.

In any case, for the time being, "boo" remains with us. Though its uses are varied, on October 31, every year, it reminds us of scary goblins and other imaginary ghostly apparitions. This year, although we have been reminded again by our government to beware of threats less surreal, don't hesitate to get into the holiday spirit. Either have some "boo" yourself, or give your friends a little "boo"... or both.

Happy Halloween!