Yikes!
interjection

- used to express fear or astonishment

- used to show that you are worried, surprised, or shocked

Merriam-Webster / Cambridge Dictionary

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WORD ORIGIN

“Yikes” appeared in the mid-20th century,… perhaps derived from yoicks, a hunting call used to urge hounds after a fox, which is attested from 1765, and was also used as an exclamation of excitement or triumph.

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TOP TEN COMIC STRIPS

The fine art of written interjections co-evolved with comic strips throughout the 20th century. The 10 most popular comic strips being:

1. The Yellow Kid (1895)

2. Little Nemo in Slumberland (1905)

3. Flash Gordon (1934)

4. Terry and the Pirates (1934)

5. Superman (1938)

6. Batman (1939)

7. Katzenjammer Kids (1897)

8. Keystone Kops (1912)

9. Peanuts (1950)

10. Garfield (1978)

P.S. If you want a really deep-dive into the “History and Politics of Comics", just drop me a quick line and I’ll send you a 300-page dissertation.

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WOW SOUNDS

- Bam! = Bumm!

- Bang! = Knall!

- Bloop! = Blubbern!

- Boo! = Buh!

- Boing! = Boing!

- Buzz! = Summen!

- Clang! = Klirren!

- Chomp! = Schmatz!

- Crash! = Krach!

- Ding! = Ding!

- Grrr! = Grrr!

- Hiss! = Zischen!

- Ping! = Ping!

- Pop! = Plopp!

- Pow! = Peng!

- Sizzle! = Zischen!

- Slurp! = Schlürfen!

- Splash! = Platsch!

- Splat! = Splat!

- Swoosh! = Sausen!

- Thud! - Dumpf!

- Tick-tock! - Tick-Tack!

- Twang! = Twang!

- Wham! = Zack!

- Whoosh! = Sausen!

- Wow! = Ach! Mensch! Hui! Oha!

- Yippee! = Juhu!

- Zap! = Zack!

- Zing! = Zing!

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SYNONYMS

Darn it!, Drat(s)! Egads! Fiddlesticks! For goodness sake! Gee whiz! Good grief! Goodness gracious! Golly gee! Gosh darn it! Heavens to Betsy! Holy mackerel! Jeepers creepers! Oh dear! Oh fiddle! Oh for crying out loud! Oh my! Oh shoot! Sugar! Uh oh! Whoops! YIKES!

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SMUGGLE OWAD into an English conversation, say something like:

“YIKES! My daily newsletter is missing… there seems to be technical difficulties with the mail programme.”

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THANKS to Florian for suggesting today’s OWAD.

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Thanks so much,

Paul Smith
(OWAD-Founder)