Gourt Home::Gourt :: Blowing a raspberry
Blowing a raspberry or making a Bronx cheer is to make a noise made to signify derision, made by sticking out the tongue between the lips and blowing to make a sound reminiscent of flatulence. In the terminology of phonetics, this sound does not appear to have an official name, but might be characterized as a labiolingual trill.
Nomenclature varies: in the US, Bronx cheer is sometimes used; otherwise, in the US and in other English speaking countries, it is known as a raspberry, rasp or razz — the origin of which is an instance of Cockney rhyming slang, where the non-rhyming part of a rhyming phrase is used as a synonym. In this case, "raspberry tart" rhymes with "fart", and is first recorded in 1890 .
The term "Bronx Cheer" can also be used to indicate a sarcastic cheer, generally done during baseball games whenever an out is made after a pitcher (or pitchers) for the home team gives up many runs before finally recording an out. It's also been used in hockey games when a goalie makes a relatively easy save after allowing numerous goals or giving up a "soft" goal(s).
Usage
One of the most famous uses of the Bronx cheer is in the song "Der Fuehrer's Face" (from the Disney animated film of the same name), as recorded by musical comedian Spike Jones in 1942, which shows disdain for Adolf Hitler with the repeated refrain "We'll Heil!
The American television show Hee Haw also used the Bronx cheer in a musical interlude: "Where, oh where, are you tonight?/Why did you leave me here all alone?/I searched the world over, and thought I'd found true love;/You met another, and
Another example is in one of the popular series of Monty Python films, 'The Holy Grail' in which, John Cleese, acting as a Frenchman holding a castle, says "You don't frighten us, English pig-dogs! Go and boil your bottom, sons of a silly person. I blow my nose at you, so-called Arthur King, you and all your silly English k-nnnnniggets". He then proceeds to blow a raspberry at the questing knigits.
In the enormously popular 1970s television comedy All in the Family, whenever the main character, bigot Archie Bunker, lost an argument or had no snappy riposte he would frequently issue the Bronx cheer at his liberal son-in-law, the Meathead, or whoever happened to be nearby. Occasionally, his usually sweet and polite daughter Gloria would give him one back, a feat that inevitably appalled the sexist Archie, who couldn't believe that his "little girl" could do such a thing.
In one episode of the 1960s television series Hogan's Heroes German POW commandant Colonel Klink is tricked into thinking that a Bronx Cheer is an American way of showing respect, which leads to laughs as the Allied POWs repeatedly give him the cheer.
In the animated series, SpongeBob SquarePants a town nearby Bikini Bottom is Rock Bottom. In Rock Bottom, the citizens there speak English, only with a "raspberry" in between every 2-4 syllables.
In the USA, some whoopee cushions have "a Bronx Cheer" written on them.
The Razzie Awards appear to be named after this noise.
In many Japanese anime, the "Bronx Cheer" is used as a term of derision. The difference between the American version (where the flatulence sound is prevalent), the Japanese version is more silent, with a "biiiii-da" sound.
See also
References
"Blowing a raspberry"