Whence cometh "woo! woo!", that expression of uniquely female elation
usually accompanied by a rapid double elbow pump? Did it originate at
a women's athletic event--at the end of a victory in tennis or soccer?
Or perhaps at the edge of the dance floor at a singles meetup: "woo!
woo! look at that butt!"?

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Clarification of Question by nautico-ga on 03 Jan 2004 09:30 PST

Here's one person's speculation on its origin:

http://phrases.shu.ac.uk/bulletin_board/17/messages/845.html

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Clarification of Question by nautico-ga on 03 Jan 2004 10:35 PST

Pink: make that your answer, as I doubt we're going to get any closer
to a definitive origin. Woo! Woo! (which I dimly recall having
primally uttered at a strip club).

Thank you for accepting my remarks as your answer. Below I've reposted
some of the material regarding young women making "woo."

======================================================================

The hooting sound I'm thinking of was popularized by the old Arsenio
Hall Show, in which a section of the audience that Arsenio called "The
Dog Pound" would hoot and pump their arms. Apparently New Jersey girls
do this:

"Wulfie, I'm with ya on that one. (does imitation of Arsenio Hall's
Dog Pound, in that way only a true Jersey girl can)."

alt.fairs.renaissance newsgroup post
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=6lae0e%24qia%241%40nnrp1.dejanews.com&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain

======================================================================

There's also an exclamation, "woot" (or, online, "w00t") that is similar:

" woot

Woot is a term used to show extreme exuberation in joyous agreement.
It is best expressed by teen girls excited by an upcoming situation or
just to display common happiness.

-'We need to get some new summer fashions' 
-'WOOT' 
or 
-'We are cool' 
-'wOOt' "

Urban Dictionary
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woot&skip=10

======================================================================

I have one thing to add. I came across this avian reference while I
was out pitching woo, and it seemed oddly appropriate, even if the
species reference is off:

"Sometimes, the female makes a similar hooting sound to the mating
male, however, the female's hooting is less clearly phrased than the
male's, the last phrase having a more wailing quality, approximately
wow-wow-hooo."

Owl Pages
http://www.owlpages.com/species/strix/aluco/Default.htm

======================================================================

Thanks for a fun project, Nautico! It was a hoot. ;-)

Best,
Pink

Thanks, Pink, and woo, woo!!

Oddly, when I think of the exlamation "woo! woo!" I don't think of
"uniquely female elation" at all. To me, the phrase is reminiscent of
1920a males (or, more accurately, of the depiction of such persons
that I've seen in movies and read in P.G. Wodehouse and Dorothy L.
Sayers novels.)

Or The Three Stooges, when Curly could be counted on to come out with
"Woo, Woo, Woo" when something awful was about to happen.

markj-ga

I once worked in a used bookstore, where I learned that books with a
supernatural or paranormal element are called "woo woo books." I think
of the eerie sound of a theremin as the possible origin of that
particular use of "woo woo."

I continue to contend that the use of "woo! woo!" is almost entirely
confined to women, esp young women of the "valley girl" type. I've
also heard it from cheerleaders, as they leap up and down in reaction
to a TD by their team.

I'm baffled. Either this is a regional thing that hasn't reached my
region, or I am misunderstanding "woo woo." Is this similar to a
hooting noise (as in Arsenio Hall's "dog pound" sound made by audience
members), or is it a clear utterance as if the word "woo" were being
spoken twice?

Pink: it's a hooting noise and one that I've heard around the country.

Okay, I think I get you. I have heard young women make a hooting
noise. They do this a lot at strip clubs (don't ask how I know). I
hear young men do this often, too, particularly when they have downed
a few beers. I doubt that it has a traceable origin, since it seems to
be a primal cry kind of thing. ;-)

The hooting sound I'm thinking of was popularized by the old Arsenio
Hall Show, in which a section of the audience that Arsenio called "The
Dog Pound" would hoot and pump their arms. Apparently New Jersey girls
do this:

"Wulfie, I'm with ya on that one. (does imitation of Arsenio Hall's
Dog Pound, in that way only a true Jersey girl can)."

http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=6lae0e%24qia%241%40nnrp1.dejanews.com&oe=UTF-8&output=gplain

There's also an exclamation, "woot" (or, online, "w00t") that is similar:

" woot

Woot is a term used to show extreme exuberation in joyous agreement.
It is best expressed by teen girls excited by an upcoming situation or
just to display common happiness.

-'We need to get some new summer fashions' 
-'WOOT' 
or 
-'We are cool' 
-'wOOt' "

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=woot&skip=10

I recall a wrestler, Rick Flair who would yell "Wooooooo!" and it became his line:

"... compelled me to throw my arm into the air and utter a Rick Flair ?Whoooooo!?

http://www.aint-it-cool-news.com/news/980330/5.html

Which leads me to another origin question, that of "don't go there."
Ever noticed there's no converse? I've never heard anyone say "hey,
let's go there!" (No, forget I mentioned it!)

This is strange. While looking for origins of "don't go there," I came
across this reference to the Arsenio Hall Show, which I had mentioned
earlier:

"Oddly, I remember the first time I heard the phrase 'don't go there.' It was
spoken by actor John Leguizamo on a talk show in the mid 1990s, maybe on the
Arsenio Hall show.  People in the audience tittered at the odd sounding phrase
then."

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=lang_en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&newwindow=1&safe=off&selm=20010821210748.01559.00000630%40mb-cu.aol.com

Perhaps someone needs to start a game called "Six Degrees of Arsenio Hall."

My father (who led a pretty sheltered life) used to use it as the
verbal equivalent of a wink and an elbow in the ribs in response to
something slightly risque or suggestive, even something as low on the
naughtiness scale as a glimpse of filmy pink nightwear.  I think it
must have been in his vocabularly well over 50 years ago.  It was
specifically "woo, woo" or "woo! woo!" (I even remember seeing it
written on a few Christmas gift tags to my mother) and not any other
form, and it was said just as it appears, a double utterance of the
word "woo," with a slight emphasis on the second word, having the same
cadence as "rah, rah," and usually at a higher pitch than a normal
vocalization.  My father died years before Arsenio Hall made his TV
debut, and I doubt that he ever heard of a Valley Girl.

Apteryx

Wow wow. Thanks for the five stars and the nice tip, Nautico!

Woo woo to you, too!

~Pink

I just remembered something that may have a family resemblance to "woo! woo!"

In the film "International House," there is a scene in which W.C.
Fields crashes his autogyro aircraft somewhere in China. Fields calls
out "What place is this?" A rather effeminate fellow (played by the
inimitable Franklin Pangborn) replies "Wu Hu." Fields looks offended,
pulls the boutonniere out of his lapel, and says "Don't let the posy
fool ya."

I've always taken this to mean that "woo hoo" was some sort of
homosexual slang of the time.