Meh.

1992catchphraseclassic

Published September 6, 2026

Meh. is a three-letter interjection used to signal indifference or mild disapproval, a verbal shrug wrapped in a single sound. First spotted on a 1992 Usenet post about Melrose Place and then popularized by The Simpsons, the word later earned a formal spot in the Collins English Dictionary in 2008.

slang memessimpsonsdismissal memesword of the year memesresigned acceptance memes

Overview

Meh. works as an all-purpose reaction word that can slot in as an interjection, an adjective, or a noun ("the Canadian election was so meh"). Speakers reach for it to shut down enthusiasm without offering a real critique, which is what critics say makes it so annoying2. Author John Hodgman famously called it "the essence of blinkered Internet malcontentism" in a February 2009 Twitter rant after too many replies to one of his posts were just the word "meh"2.

Two etymologies compete for the word's origin: one credits The Simpsons for popularizing the colloquial form, and a second traces it to the Yiddish interjection "feh," transliterated as a goat sound in the 1936 film Yidl Mitn Fidl3. Urban Dictionary contributors describe meh as "the verbal equivalent of a shrug of the shoulders," with roughly 70% negativity mixed into the indifference and a calm, checked-out tone5.

Origin & Background

Platform
Usenet (earliest print) / The Simpsons (mainstream spread)
Date
1992

The earliest documented online use of "meh" appears on the Usenet newsgroup soc.motss on July 9, 1992, in a post by John Dorrance discussing the primetime soap Melrose Place3. Five months later, the word broke into mainstream television when Lisa Simpson used it in the December 17, 1992 episode "Homer's Triple Bypass," lamenting her generation's apathy toward others' misfortunes3.

How It Spread

The Simpsons kept reaching for meh across seasons, with the 2001 episode "Hungry, Hungry Homer" giving the word its loudest onscreen push when Lisa spells it out as "M, E, H" to reject Homer's suggestion of a trip to the amusement park Blockoland1. Collins Dictionaries editor Cormac McKeown later pointed to that exact scene when explaining why the word deserved formal recognition1.

Urban Dictionary added its first "Meh" entry from user Harold Lauder on November 16, 2002, and the site named it Urban Word of the Day on May 22, 20075. In November 2008, Collins English Dictionary picked meh over "frenemy," "huggles" and "jargonaut" for its 30th anniversary edition, working from a suggestion by Erin Whyte of Nottingham who described the word as "an expression of utter boredom or an indication of how little you care for an idea"1.

The word kept turning up in serious journalism after that. In September 2011, Nobel economist Paul Krugman titled a New York Times column about a Federal Reserve monetary policy move "Meh, And I Mean That," arguing the central bank was "trying to use a water pistol to stop a charging rhino"4. Two years before that, John Hodgman had already opened his public campaign against the word, blaming its overuse on "toxic Internet art of constant callous one upsmanship"2.

How to Use This Meme

Meh is typically dropped as a one-word reply to any prompt for an opinion, either spoken aloud or typed into chat. Common conventions include stretching the vowel for emphasis ("mehhh"), spelling it out letter by letter for extra flatness ("M, E, H"), or using it as an adjective ("a meh movie," "a meh election"). It works best when the speaker wants to reject something without bothering to explain why5.

Frequently Asked Questions

Meh.

1992catchphraseclassic

Published September 6, 2026

Meh. is a three-letter interjection used to signal indifference or mild disapproval, a verbal shrug wrapped in a single sound. First spotted on a 1992 Usenet post about Melrose Place and then popularized by The Simpsons, the word later earned a formal spot in the Collins English Dictionary in 2008.

slang memes simpsons dismissal memes word of the year memes resigned acceptance memes

Overview

Meh. works as an all-purpose reaction word that can slot in as an interjection, an adjective, or a noun ("the Canadian election was so meh"). Speakers reach for it to shut down enthusiasm without offering a real critique, which is what critics say makes it so annoying2. Author John Hodgman famously called it "the essence of blinkered Internet malcontentism" in a February 2009 Twitter rant after too many replies to one of his posts were just the word "meh"2.

Two etymologies compete for the word's origin: one credits The Simpsons for popularizing the colloquial form, and a second traces it to the Yiddish interjection "feh," transliterated as a goat sound in the 1936 film Yidl Mitn Fidl3. Urban Dictionary contributors describe meh as "the verbal equivalent of a shrug of the shoulders," with roughly 70% negativity mixed into the indifference and a calm, checked-out tone5.

Origin & Background

Platform
Usenet (earliest print) / The Simpsons (mainstream spread)
Date
1992

The earliest documented online use of "meh" appears on the Usenet newsgroup soc.motss on July 9, 1992, in a post by John Dorrance discussing the primetime soap Melrose Place3. Five months later, the word broke into mainstream television when Lisa Simpson used it in the December 17, 1992 episode "Homer's Triple Bypass," lamenting her generation's apathy toward others' misfortunes3.

How It Spread

The Simpsons kept reaching for meh across seasons, with the 2001 episode "Hungry, Hungry Homer" giving the word its loudest onscreen push when Lisa spells it out as "M, E, H" to reject Homer's suggestion of a trip to the amusement park Blockoland1. Collins Dictionaries editor Cormac McKeown later pointed to that exact scene when explaining why the word deserved formal recognition1.

Urban Dictionary added its first "Meh" entry from user Harold Lauder on November 16, 2002, and the site named it Urban Word of the Day on May 22, 20075. In November 2008, Collins English Dictionary picked meh over "frenemy," "huggles" and "jargonaut" for its 30th anniversary edition, working from a suggestion by Erin Whyte of Nottingham who described the word as "an expression of utter boredom or an indication of how little you care for an idea"1.

The word kept turning up in serious journalism after that. In September 2011, Nobel economist Paul Krugman titled a New York Times column about a Federal Reserve monetary policy move "Meh, And I Mean That," arguing the central bank was "trying to use a water pistol to stop a charging rhino"4. Two years before that, John Hodgman had already opened his public campaign against the word, blaming its overuse on "toxic Internet art of constant callous one upsmanship"2.

How to Use This Meme

Meh is typically dropped as a one-word reply to any prompt for an opinion, either spoken aloud or typed into chat. Common conventions include stretching the vowel for emphasis ("mehhh"), spelling it out letter by letter for extra flatness ("M, E, H"), or using it as an adjective ("a meh movie," "a meh election"). It works best when the speaker wants to reject something without bothering to explain why5.

Frequently Asked Questions