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Blowing a raspberry

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"Bronx Cheer" redirects here. For the Law & Order episode, see Bronx Cheer (Law & Order).
A man blowing a raspberry

Blowing a raspberry, strawberry or making a Bronx cheer, is to make a noise that may signify derision, real or feigned. It may also be used in childhood phonemic play either solely by the child or by adults towards a child to encourage imitation to the delight of both parties. It is made by placing the tongue between the lips and blowing to produce a sound similar to flatulence. In the terminology of phonetics, this sound has been described as a voiceless linguolabial trill, [r̼̊],[1] and as a buccal interdental trill, [ↀ͡r̪͆].[2]

A raspberry is never used in human language phonemically (that is, as a building block of words), but it is widely used across human cultures.

Etymology

The nomenclature varies by country. In most anglophone countries, it is known as a raspberry, which is attested from at least 1890,[3] and which in the United States came to be abbreviated as razz by 1919.[4] In the United States it's also been called a Bronx cheer since at least 1929.[5]

Blowing a "raspberry" derives from the Cockney rhyming slang "raspberry tart" for "fart".[6][7] Rhyming slang was particularly used in British comedy to refer to things that would be unacceptable to a polite audience. "Raspberry" was also given the pronunciation spelling "razzberry" in the US, of which "razz" is an abbreviation.

The term "Bronx cheer" is ironic because it is not a cheer of approval, but used to show disapproval. The term may have originated with crowd behavior at Yankee Stadium, located in the Bronx, NYC.

See also

References

  1. ^ Pike called it a "voiceless exolabio-lingual trill", with the tongue vibrating against a protruding lower lip. Pike, Kenneth L. (1943). Phonetics: A Critical Analysis of Phonetic Theory and a Technique for the Practical Description of Sounds. Ann Arbor: University of Michigan Press.
  2. ^ Ball, Martin J.; Howard, Sara J.; Miller, Kirk (2018). "Revisions to the extIPA chart". Journal of the International Phonetic Association. 48 (2): 155–164. doi:10.1017/S0025100317000147. {{cite journal}}: Invalid |ref=harv (help)
  3. ^ "raspberry". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  4. ^ "razz". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  5. ^ "Bronx". Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
  6. ^ "Raspberry tart". Phrases.org.uk. Retrieved 2010-07-28.
  7. ^ Bryson, Bill (1990). The Mother Tongue: English & How It Got That Way (Trade printing, September 1991 ed.). Avon Books. p. 238. ISBN 0-380-71543-0.
  • Video of one long raspberry


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